Covid Care Diary: Auto Drivers as Our Trusted Collaborators

MSJ, Bangalore: 20th April 2020

Covid Care Kits are made available through various ways. Many help us in very specific way. One of the such category of people are auto drivers. In our ordinary life, we cannot manage our travel in Bangalore without Autos.

Unfortunately, at the wake of Covid -19 lockdown the auto drivers are hard hit. Most of the auto drivers in Bangalore are single bread winners of the families. Their conditions are pathetic. Now their autos are also lockdown. Moreover, they are daily wage earners. Many of the auto drivers do not own even the autos. Many of the auto drivers own autos thanks to the bank loans. Most of the Bank lending is given upon a huge interest. Now what will the auto drivers do? 

However, the auto drivers are kind people. They do not live in high rise apartments. They live in villages, small houses or huts, away from the city centres. These are the people who help us to identify the needy when we go in search of poorer people.

I suppose auto drivers know nook and corners of Bangalore. They know how to make your journey short but also long! Many of the auto drivers are helpers are on their toes in assisting us to find out the deserving people who need our ration and essential commodities for daily sustenance. I wish our government does something concretely to these auto drivers when they are in such distress.

- Reported by Olvin Veigas, SJ

20th April 2020

Covid Care Diary: Reaching out to the Right People through Documentation

MSJ, Bangalore: 19th April 2020

Yes, Covid care kits are ready and available. But the challenge is to reach the deserving people. The coordinating team along with the volunteers every aspect is taken into consideration that the packs of groceries reach the right people.

When you are in an area which is unfamiliar and the location is new to you, very quickly we try to do is to see and observe. We quickly familiarise with the place. There are many elements involved in this task. In order to get the feel of the place and people, our first task is to get  to know the people. Secondly, always we find there are few individuals who come forward to help us out in knowing the place and people.


There are also times when there are hard headed men who tend to ask many questions, unnecessary questions. Often there is a tendency among the people that whatever we make available are the things from the government. When we say it's a priviate initiative from our Loyola Institutions then things become easier to move forward. There are a number of students from all these areas who have studied or presently studying in our Loyola Institutions.

We do a detailed compilation of the data to know the most deserving people. Thus, when we come back to the place after ten days it would be easier for us to know the people who need our support. This also helps us to know the condition of the families.

Any good documentation is an asset to serve the people better. Even though taking down the name of person, his family members, occupation, whether they need a second instalment of food grains or not is made then and there. The work is hard but it paves good dividends as the right people are served.

We have seen also difficulties in compiling the data. There are also individuals who say lies and do not give right information. As a result, they deny reaching out the other vulnerable and deserving people.

Although the documentation is a herculean task, this also helps to explain to those who assist us in procuring the groceries and other commodities for distribution.

Reported by Olvin Veigas, SJ
19th April 2020

Covid Care Diary - The Large Hearted Volunteers

MSJ, Bangalore: 18th April 2020

Covid Care Kits are made available to the needy and to those deserving people thanks to the meticulous work of the volunteers. We have a good band of volunteers, young and seniors who work day in and day out in packing things. 

They cover themselves well with mask and other protective gears to the best of their abilities. The personal hygiene of our volunteers is the most important element in our Covid Care Kit packing.  The coordinating team has been very particular that all the volunteers adhere to these norms and guidelines. The sanitisers have been made available where the volunteers gather to pack the necessary groceries and other essential sustainable goods 

The volunteers have been very generous with their time and energy. Everyone works with keeping in mind the need of the people. They are in a way good Samaritans of our times. Unfortunately, they have to face the questioning of police while arriving at our packing centre.  Thanks to our good rapport with police force things have been so far well. Police men are also with us when we distribute this ration in different villages and pockets of stranded migrants.

It would not be possible to pack two tonnes of potatoes with a handful of volunteers. They also do a very tiring and heavy task of shifting the gunny bags of farm produce and other goods from the truck which is parked on the road to the grocery packing area. 

Other day, we received a consignment of almost 8 tonnes of tomatoes, potatoes, capsicum, onions, carrots and dal. It is tough to carry a bag which weighs almost 40 to 50 kilos on one's shoulder. We salute our volunteers who do such wonderful work but silently. 

- Reported by Olvin Veigas, SJ
18 April 2020

Covid Care Diary: Catholic Religious Brothers & Sisters at Work

MSJ, Bangalore: 17th April 2020

Even before the Covid Care Kits go into distribution to the needy in our vicinity, a lot of preparation goes in. First of all they have to be equally distributed in each bag like, rice, dal, potatoes, onions, carrots, etc. Therefore we need a number of bags. Keeping in mind the care for our creation only paper bags are used to pack these above things. Thus Carbon footprints is reduced. 

Secondly, the paper bags should be well knitted and glued well. To prepare these bags a lot of time goes in. This monotonous work is ably done by our Religious Sisters, Brothers and Fathers. A lot of them chipped in to do this work. 

Here are a few pictures in action.

Fr Clarence along with Religious Sisters busy preparing paper bags at Mount Saint Joseph

Mount Saint Joseph Jesuit Novices working on paper bags

Prepared paper bags

This lockdown has brought together many men and women of good will. They give in a lot of their time for this noble task. Almost everyday, 1,000 paper bags are prepared to meet the growing demand. Religious Sisters and Brothers devising new ways and means how best to pack these above grocery items. We are running short of bags to fill these essential commodities.

- Reported by Olvin Veigas, SJ
17 April 2020

Covid Care Diary: Reaching out to the Physically Challenged

MSJ, Bangalore: 16th April 2020

One of our primary concerns in reaching out our Covid Care Kit is for the those who are most in need of groceries and other essential commodities for their daily sustenance. During our reach out in our vicinity we found a number of people who are physically challenged either because of birth defects or  due to accidents. We found a number of them. 

While distributing these Covid Kit Cares to the needy and vulnerable, the story of these physically challenged people are really pathetic and heart wrenching. They need our utmost attention during this time of lockdown. Our help in the form of kind words and essential groceries to them brought smile on their faces. We are also glad that we could reach out to them and listen to their stories of sufferings but also joy when they felt they are listened.

Reported by Olvin Veigas, SJ
16th April 2020

Covid-Shalom Listening

COUNSELING by SHALOM

A Jesuit Listening Centre at Mount Saint Joseph
Kalena Agrahara
Bannerghatta Road

Bangalore - 560 076
INDIA

Dear Friends,

We are in a global crisis. Many are struggling to cope with this crisis. Hence we have identified some qualified Jesuits in counseling and crisis management. If you wish to seek their help, kindly call them at the allotted time. The timings will be flexible and can be fixed as you call up the particular priest.

Let’s stay safe and healthy.

NAMES MOBILE EMAIL TIMINGS LANGUAGES

1. Fr Arockiasamy SJ 8310692509 m_arocksj@rediffmail.com 04.00pm-05.00pm Tamil, English & Kannada

2. Fr Arun Kumar SJ 9972137656 kjarunsj@gmail.com 09.00am-10.00am Kannada & English

3. Fr Edward Rodrigues SJ 9448814455 edrodsj@gmail.com 06.00pm -07.00pm Kannada,   Konkani & English

4. Fr Godwin Serrao SJ 8310716508  fr.godwinserraosj@gmail.com 10.30am-12.00pm Konkani, Kannada & English

5. Fr John Pradeep SJ 8668332046 jpradeepsj@gmail.com 09.00am-10.00am Kannada & English

6. Fr Terrence Farias SJ 9448094475 sj.terence@gmail.com 10.30am-12.00pm English

7. Fr William Sequeira SJ 9901842750 williesequeira@gmail.com 10.30am-12.00pm

03.00pm-04.00pm English

8. Fr Olvin Veigas SJ 9483074475 olvinveigas@gmail.com 10.00am- 12.00pm English, Konkani &  Kannada 

Covid Care Diary: Work Continues Reaching the Unreached

MSJ, Bangalore: 15th April 2020

Covid care kits have been distributed in the villages and near by surrounding areas of our Mount Saint Joseph campus. A number of volunteers and our community members have joined in these efforts.  The real needy are identified and needy are given the ration. The ration includes rice, potatoes, oil, tomatoes, onions, cabbage, capsicum, dal, etc. 

Fr Teyol conducting the meeting with the volunteers

Tomatos for distribution

Onions for distribution

Potatoes for distribution

According to Fr Teyol Machado, SJ, Mount Saint Joseph has been turned into another hub of grocery distribution centre. He is the coordinator of the relief services in this campus. For any information you may contact us at our blog contact form.

- Reported by Olvin Veigas, SJ

16 April 2020

New Website of the Parish www.kalenaagraharachurch.org

New Website of our Parish

MSJ - 10 April 2020: Immaculate Heart of Mary Church Kalena Agrahara, Parish in the Mount St Joseph campus has a new website. The new website has a lot of new features offering Christian resources and live streaming of the liturgical services in the wake of Corona virus lock down. Please visit the website: https://www.kalenaagraharachurch.org
(OV)

Month Retreat and Cassock Day 2020

We the first year novices are in an ecstasy after our Month long Retreat under the guidance of Fr.Jossy Rodrigues, our Novice director.

We were blessed to receive incessant graces from God. This experience of Jesus is indeed the foundation for our future Jesuit life. 

We are truly grateful to God for moulding us and shaping our lives according to his plan and design. To double our joy we got Cassocks on 12th of February, 2020.  With that, we also received our Minor Orders from Fr.Provincial.

 The 1st year and 2nd year Novices with the Provincial

 1st year Novices

2nd year Novices

We had a grand celebration on the same day, our second year brothers wished us with a wishing song. (MJ)

Mission Experiment of the Novices 2020

Novitiate is a lab of experiments and so, in the Month of January we, eleven second year novices went to different Mission places such as Manvi, Bijapur-Sindagi, and Mundgod for our Mission experiment.

It was a time of grace for us to walk with the Lord, among the downtrodden and put into practice the graces we obtained in our Month’s Long Retreat.

After being with the poor and the neglected we have come to realize what it is to love and serve the Lord and to follow his footsteps.

“Friendship with the poor, makes us friends of the eternal king” - GC 34. (MJ)

Mushrooms bloom in MSJ Farm

Mount, January 2020: A new initiative in our Mount farm produced good organic mushrooms. Fr Joyson Vas, the young priest of our community led the cultivation. 

Outreach program of the community

On the 17th November 2019, the senior members of the community spent a couple of hours at the Bala Yesu Bhavan - Children's home and the Lourdes Home -Senior Citizens Home located within the premises of Alverna Bhavana, Kalena Agrahara, Bangalore. The community members enacted short skits, sang songs, and made the children and senior citizens happy. For more about these two homes which do so much good to society, please log on to www.balayesubhavanorphanagebgl.org [OV]

Novices' Patron Day

The feast of St Stanislaus Kostka, which falls on the 13th November was celebrated with much  fervour and fun.  The senior Jesuits of the MSJ community made the Novices happy with songs and skits and everyone had a hearty laugh. [OV]