13 Aug 2022  |   07:17am IST

Sisters Adorers celebrate 50 years of empowering young girls in Goa

Sisters Adorers Handmaids of the Blessed Sacrament and of Charity are celebrating 50 years of their congregation setting up their first home in the state. The sisters are relentlessly working to help marginalised women and girls in society live with dignity

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t was a chance encounter with the daughter of a banker, who was deceived into prostitution, that lit a spark in the heart of St Maria Micaela Desmaisières, then just a 35-year-old woman, touring the wards of St John of God Hospital in Madrid in 1844. A spark that would light fires across the corners of the globe including Goa with the state being blessed to receive the congregation that she would go on to establish.

Sisters Adorers Handmaids of the Blessed Sacrament and of Charity or simply referred to as the Sisters Adorers work for the care, rescue, rehabilitation and education of young girls and women in distress. The Sisters Adorers complete fifty golden years, this August, of service for the cause of women in Goa since 1972 as they set up their first home at Nuvem through the patronage of the then Archbishop Raul Nicolau Gonsalves.

It was back in 1972, when with the ardent wish to enter the Archdiocese of Goa and work with the women in distress, two sisters, Sr Constanza Redendo, a delegate from the Mother General in Spain and Elizabeth Rathapilly called on Archbishop and Apostolic Administrator, Raul Nicolau Gonsalves, who welcomed the idea and urged them to follow through. Founding members Sisters Celine Veliyath and Bidgit Kariankal, along with Sr Redendo, arrived in Margao to first study the local language and understand Goa and the needs of the state better. With help from donors, well-wishers and the Archdiocese, the congregation set up their first home in Goa at Nuvem that was initially set up as a dispensary in the village.

It was however, a long-cherished dream of the congregation to help marginalised women and girls in society to live their lives with dignity, which the community was trying to achieve through relentless efforts. They soon set up the ‘Navajyothi Rehabilitation Centre,’ a charitable institute, with the aim to care for women who are victims of sexual exploitation and prevent them from falling back into the exploitation trap, one of the core missions of the Sisters Adorers. Their novitiate too was soon shifted from Odisha to Goa. Much like their founder St Desmaisières, the sisters have been caring for and helping girls grow until they are employed and can stand on their own feet or until they can find a life partner for themselves. Besides Nuvem, the sisters now run homes at Velsao, Tivim and Nachinola for orphaned children and abandoned girls, children who need care and protection.

After they complete their education, children are provided vocational training courses like tailoring, flower-making, beautician courses and fashion-designing. The centres help the inmates become self-reliant and emotionally independent. Working with like-minded individuals and NGOs, the centres are committed to liberating the women and young girls from the oppression of various forms of social evils that enslave them in society. It has virtually been a home for poor and destitute women.

In India, the Sisters Adorers are now celebrating 75 years of their presence. They set up their first home at Puri in Odisha, a nursery in English medium school that continues even today and Blessed Sacrament High School, a full full-fledged high school up to class XII in English medium affiliated to the ICSC Board, Delhi, with about 2,000 students. The congregation has a wide and established presence in West Bengal, where they run several homes for young girls, abandoned children and those who would otherwise be homeless and uncared for.

Spread accross more than 12 states, they have around 26 homes working for the welfare of girls, women and children, making a difference to the lives of thousands. As they celebrate their golden jubilee in Goa, the Sisters Adorers are looking to the future, embracing the complexity of the demands of an ever-changing world that now calls for renewed commitment to one’s life and mission, compassion for fellow beings and the humility to serve the needy and the downtrodden that keeps the community motivated to make sure that no girl is left out.