An occasion for bonding

The novitiate community opened the doors of its heart to welcome a special group of guests this weekend on 27^th May. The residents of Asha Niketan – centre for mentally challenged came to Mount St Joseph for an outing which gave us an opportunity to interact with them. During this friendly encounter, we came face to face with the life-struggles of the mentally challenged persons. We were also entertained by their song and dance. After a couple of relaxing  games, we accompanied our guests to have our campus darshan. All this was a rich experience for us. The programme was planned by novices Sharun, Vinod and Vincent who served in Asha Niketan for almost a month this April for their Hospital Experiment. Novice Sharun would like to share his experiences of the day.

Sharun: For my Hospital Experiment, I was placed in Asha Niketan – the centre for mentally challenged. L’Arche is the international symbol of the organization founded by Jean Vanier in France in 1964. Its mission is to make known the gifts of the disabled people. Asha Niketan is a home of hope for all those who are born as mentally challenged. These people may be weak mentally but are very rich at heart. During my three-week stay, I experienced the warmth of their love intimately. Here I need to consider the assistants who served them as their own family members. Through them I learnt to love, be patient and accept them as they are. Since my experiences were very rich, I wanted my community to experience it. Their coming here on the feast of Pentecost was a unique experience for all of us.