How can you help?

They look to us with great hope

At Prerana, the staff there are trying to provide comfort to a great many families, but there are many hurdles along the way as we can imagine. With your help, with our help, its possible we can make a huge difference in the mission field of the Lord by helping these special needs children become fairly independent in their lives.

Your prayers and thoughts are much needed and most appreciated.

Financial help from individuals is what sustains the working of Prerana. Establishing a personal contact with the staff there, knowing the details of the working there, paying a visit, trying to understand the needs, providing feedback and advice, helping them with your contacts and knowledge are all some simple and effective ways by which you can help Prerana. They rely on our individual reaching out and help, we got to be there for them.

If you can get orders in bulk for the greeting cards and other art work being created by Prerana, it could be of great help. Pictures of such items are shown here.

Another important way for you to help is to get involved in the channel ICON Charities is trying to establish with Prerana to provide help as noted here.

Here is a link to their current website. It has not been completely updated lately but it is well designed, if you go through it, you will get more information about Prerana.

Visiting Prerana

The walk into Prerana is not distant

Nagpur is one of the major cities in Maharashtra State about 16 hours by train from Mumbai. Nagpur also has an airport. Prerana which is at walking distance from Nagpur Seminary, could become a destination for you. A few hours,  a day, a week or month spent there could result in a life changing experience, it could be an opportunity to get involved in some of the great works undertaken by dedicated and committed individuals to serve the society and the nation.

There are a few guest houses in Prerana which could be made available for your stay. If you could contact Fr. Yohannan, Fr. Bijesh Philip or others at the Seminary, they would gladly go out of their way to welcome and take care of you during your stay there. If this can be planned in advance it could be a heavenly experience. It could also be a time for you to share your experiences and help out with the working of Prerana.

ICON's plan and hope

Indian Christian Orthodox Network (ICON) Charities which is a non profit organization in the USA, has been able to do some work with Prerana in 2012, where several godly individuals and volunteers came together to help Prerana, the details of which we can see here. There has been a strong push from ICON to try and get involved with Prerana at a more substantial level and try to make a difference in the future. To explore this possibility was part of the reason for my visit to Nagpur this January.

I was able to discuss this with Fr. Yohannan at length and am hopeful some good will come out of it. We are hoping that ICON can be a facilitator and a platform for connecting the children at Prerana directly with the many potential donors world wide who may want to help them. In order for this to happen, there needs to be a transparent process put in place which is professionally managed and maintained, where the work flow is smooth and followed through in a timely manner, and a feedback loop created such that the benefeciaries get directly connected with the donors, with minimal involvement of ICON. It is our hope that with God's guidance, and help from the ground staff in Prerana, this becomes a reality.

Once this process is put in place, it is envisioned that it should work similar to how the REAP projects of ICON Charities have worked with some bit of success in the past as seen here. Once this process is put in place, it is hoped that many volunteers such as readers like you, get involved to help Prerana and the children there. ICON Charities works on the strength and courage of will shown by simple and sincere individuals wanting to make a small difference in the world.

We make things beautiful...

Achen opened out to me the beautiful work that the children at Prerana, with help from their teachers, are capable of doing. The beautiful greeting cards, art work all showed to me the hours of care and love that these children and their mentors put into it.

Each of these were numbered, they had carefully built them using a template and could be replicated. "If you give us bulk orders and select the number, we can build those for you as per your requirement and ship them to you" achen explained. This was results of their work at vocational training showing.

The numbering can be used while ordering.

I could see they had a variety of art work on beautiful Christmas cards and seasons' greetings. Birds, flowers, trees - all very skillfully done. Boats, lamps, houses all made with perfect imagination expressed in art. They get orders from churches and organizations all around India. But they need more work and more orders. They do quality work. Hope there are more orders that come in future years.

Besides they have done very beautful work on canvas, using leaves, bamboo and such. All are professionally done. I hope their work gets the visibility they deserve, I hope they get recognized world wide. Their professional work ethic is seen in their work. Kudos to their teachers and the staff that is behind all this hard work.

A template design for making the final product

 

 

The Prerana School in session

A class at Prerana in session

I went to each of the classes in session in Prerana that day. The children were being taught different aspects of basic math and letters. I later learnt from achen that these classes are designed specially for the kids as per their aptitude. The teachers who also come from the local area are specially trained to cater to the special needs of the children.

After a couple of basic level classes, and as they grow up, they are then given some sort of vocational training so that they could fend for themselves as they enter into society in a fairly independent manner.

It is the result of such vocational training that they are able to make different things such as candles which the Seminary buys from them, greeting cards and other art work which different churches and organizations give them orders for. They are also involved in learning the mechanics of screen printing.

one of the students

Also I read in their website that they were planning to buy some orchards near by to support its operations, as well as to give some training to the older students as they pass out.



Trigonometry

As I saw them repeat what their teachers were teaching them, I noticed some of them were indeed enjoying the classes and having fun. I watched them for a while as they played and studied together, forgetting for  a moment the daily challenges in their lives for many things we take for granted. And I thanked God for Prerana and I thanked God for the staff and the teachers there.

They have fun too in class!

The monkey business that is hurting

long cracks on the dorm ceilings

Achen showed me the set of mattresses kept at the far end of the main assembly hall. "The boys also sleep in this hall" achen said. "I will show you why when we reach the dorms".

As we walked into one of the dorm rooms, one of them which was unused, achen pointed to the ceiling - I could see long and wide cracks on the sheets on the ceiling. "The monkeys running all over the roof did it". achen explained. There were such cracks in multiple places visible. Because of the leaks, the dorm, which was previously used by the girls was now unusable. They were then moved to the boys' dorm and the boys to the assembly hall.

Prerana had been in consultation with the local company ISPAT with which it has nurtured good relationships for some kind of help with this. When I called up recently (March 2013) I was told that ISPAT had agreed to supply them with sheets for the ceiling at discounted rates. This would still cost them over Rs. 50, 000/- but atleast there is hope that they maybe able to use the dorm once again soon. Most probably the work on the roof would be done after the current school year ends mid April.

Prerana School - the place

Board announcing Prerana's mission in Marathi

The main gate to the school has the board of Prerana in the local language Marathi. As we walk inside, we see the foundation stone laid long back in 2002 by the saintly Theodosius Thirumeni and also the inscription bearing the innauguration by the saintly Osthathios Thirumeni, both of whom have now  finished their earthly race and are with the Lord. We pass the main office of Prerana, pass the play yard for the children before we come to the main building and the class room and living area of the children.

The main assembly hall is on the ground floor where the assembly of the children are held. This area, as I learnt, also doubles up as the sleeping area for the boys.

Currently there are 42 students of Prerana who also live in Prerana. Out of these the boys have to sleep in the main assembly hall because of a problem in their living quarters, which I explain here.

The kitchen and dining areas for the children are adjacent to the main assembly hall. On the first floor there are living quarters, one of which is used by Fr. Yohannan and his family. Apart from these there are a couple of guest rooms in this area. Besides these there are a few more guest rooms in the adjacent building, (which were used by the German students who had been on a project work there and were leaving when I had arrived)



play area

On the first floor also is the way to the adjacent building which is the living quarters for the children. Currently this building hosts the living area for the girls only.

Outside there is a beautiful orange orchard.  There are several classrooms where the individual classes are held during the day. According to the aptitude of the children, they are placed in different classes.

There is a bus that takes the children who are day scholars to school in the morning and back to their homes after the classes. The play area has a slide, and other equipments that the kids use in recreation.



A section of the girls' dorm

What ails Kalmeshwar?

I first heard it from Yohannan achen. "As we were looking at the number of children applying to Prerana, we realized something was not right" What could explain the unusually high number of mentally challenged children in Kalmeshwar area?

There are 62 students currently in Prerana.All of them belong to the local villages and tribal areas. And there are more children who are not enrolled into Prerana. This naurally raises the question - how come so many children in this area are having mental illness? What ails this region? What's wrong in Kalmeshwar?

students at Prerana

One possible explanation is that since there are different tribes and Adivasis, their marriage within themselves, Gothras, marrying cousins etc could be a cause? Perhaps - but is anyone sure? If so, it should be brought to their attention and the practice stopped. And is this a problem everywhere wherever there is a tribal population? It needs to be studied.

Or is it something to do with the water supply or the environment? Is something wrong with the soil? Not sure. Unless the government or some university takes this up as a research, we will not have the data to support such hypothesis. Hope some professional research is done into this matter.

To Prerana with Yohannan achen

After breakfast was done with, I met with Fr. Yohannan and we both went to Prerana. Prerana special school is walking distance from the Seminary. Yohannan achen, a young achen, is in charge of Prerana.

Fr. Yohannan

oranges

We entered the gates of Prerana, and I saw the oranges - "thats what Nagpur is famous for" I remembered. There were orchards in the lawn before we reached the main building of Prerana. Yohannan achen showed me around a little bit. I saw that some students from Germany who had come to stay and work at Prerana were just leaving, so we bid them goodbye. Just like them, we could have different volunteers coming over and staying, working and experiencing the life in Prerana, I thought.



Morning assembly at Prerana

Achen lived with his young family in one of the rooms in Prerana. We went inside and got umbrellas as it was beginning to drizzle a bit.

We met with the children as they gathered for the general assembly in the morning. They greeted us and I watched them as they began their day.

We spent the rest of the time watching Prerana school in session, going around the facility, watching the art work the children had made and discussing how ICON (Indian Christian Orthodox Network) Charities, a charity run by volunteers around the globe could be more involved to help and support the work at Prerana.



A day at the Seminary

Seminary chapel

I reached Nagpur Seminary by early morning. There was Holy Qurbana in the morning, which I attended as narrated here.

After the Holy Qurbana, I briefly introduced myself to Fr. Bijesh Philip the principal and thanked him for arranging my ride. I also met with Fr. Shaji John and we spoke for a little bit. I paid my respects to Milithios Thirumeni, introduced myself and then Bijesh achen took me to his office and we chatted for some time. When I mentioned my plan to spend time with Fr. Yohannan of Prerana, achen asked me to be back by the time of the noon prayer. Then achen took me to the dining hall and introduced me to a deacon who helped me with breakfast.

I got a glimpse of the breakfast for the Seminarians. I think that day it was appam and curry. It felt nice to be dining with them. After breakfast, I saw that everyone washed their own plates and glasses and kept them back in the shelf. I did the same.

After breakfast, I met with Fr. Yohannan and went to visit Prerana. We were back by the noon time for prayers after which Fr. Bijesh introduced me to the Seminarians.The prayers were in English just like the Holy Qurbana in the morning had been. I later came to know that the Seminary had an entire week for a language - like one week they would have Hindi when everything would be in Hindi that week, similarly for Malayalam and English.



Bijesh achen and Shaji achen were kind enough to invite me for lunch with the staff and Milithios Thirumeni. Thirumeni, who had been to the Seminary for the week to take classes, spoke about different things of interest to me, including HGs frustrations at some of the rigidity in our people and leaders. One particular point I noted in the discussions was the lamentation that many in Kottayam were not adequately focussed or flexible to understand the outside Kerala mission and its related issues. And this was not really news to me, but it felt heartening that the leaders and heirarchy were also discussing it. Change is possible after all, I felt.

View of the outside from the entrance

After lunch I went back to Prerana for finishing up the visit there, then came back to buy some books from the book store including the Hindi Holy Qurbana CD, Qurbana books. Then I paid a quick visit to Shaji achen's home which was in the staff quarters adjacent to the Seminary. It was time to head back and I went back to Bijesh achen to bid goodbye.

Bijesh achen spoke of some of the needs of the Seminary. Most of the Seminary day collections of the Church go to the Kottayam Seminary and hence the Nagpur Seminary was coming up with some innovative ideas for support from friends and well wishers, one of these is the "Friends of the Seminary" concept which is a network of people wanting to support the Seminary. More details are available at the Seminary website here:http://stots.org/

I took a few brochures and pamphlets about the Seminary from achen and took his leave. The Seminary visit which was a memorable experience for me, was getting over. I took leave of Shaji achen and climbed onto the jeep which drove me out of the Seminary and into Nagpur.

An unforgettable experience of Worship

worship at the Seminary

I hurried out after getting ready and in the direction of  where I had seen the two deacons run to, and found the chapel.

I entered the chapel into a world that seemed different from where I had come from. HG Dr. Yuhannon Mar Milithios Metropolitan was the chief celebrant. HG was flanked by several priests, deacons and alter servants inside the Madbaha (the most Holy Place). As I walked into the church, I passed a couple priests standing close to the back wall. So now I had priests behind and in front of me. I was not used to that! :)

But what struck me most was the sight of all the 50+ Seminarians, all dressed in the white cloak (Shushroosha kuppayam). I was the only person in the whole church in normal shirt and pant and without a cloak. To say that I seemed like the odd one out was an understatement.

Mar Milithios

The next thing that struck me was the perfection in the singing, in the responses. There was no music, or if there was, I dont remember; there was no choir, or if there was, I dont recollect; there was only the melodious rendition of Holy Qurbana synching so beautifully with the prayers of the celebrant. I felt that was how the Holy Qurbana was meant to be - where the music, the choir, the individual all blend into the powerful and synchronous participation of the crowd.

I suddenly became conscious of myself, that I was the only one who was standing out, that I was the only one different - perhaps a little bit like Isaiah the great prophet might have felt like when he was taken to the presence of the Lord. "I am in a holy place, I must guard that I am not an obstacle in the flow of the holiness in the place" the thought had crossed me then.

At the end, I watched as the Seminarians and the deacons as well as the priests lined up to kiss the hand of the celebrant. I joined them and kissed the blessed hand of Milithios Thirumeni(bishop) before quietly exiting the chapel in line as I concluded one of the most unforgettable experiences of worship for me.

Reaching Nagpur Seminary

Itarsi Railway station

The train from Itarsi was late allowing me to settle down on the railway station, watch life on the platform (that included men, women, children as well as cattle!) , watch amusingly as the cow and the train battled for space on the railway track and relish on some "Bread Omlett" (beaten eggs with bread). I sent off my cousin Binoy, who had been with me all this while, on the train back to Bhopal . The late train also ensured that I could sleep the whole night and reach Nagpur only by early dawn which was nice because the person coming to pick me did not have to stay up in the night.

Mr. Oommen who was the Principal Fr. Bijesh Philip's secretary had come to pick me up. Bijesh achen was kind enough to arrange this even though I had not directly spoken with achen at the time. I knew Fr. Shaji John since achen had been with us in Albany, NY for a Holy Week service in one of the previous years, so I had been in touch with Shaji achen regarding my trip and he had arranged for another person for my pickup, but the arrangement had to be altered because the train had been late .



St.Thomas Orthodox Theological Seminary, Nagpur - entrance

Nagpur theological seminary is about 26 kms from the railway station, in a place called Kalmeshwar. It helps if first time visitors are picked up by someone, (and if we call up at the Seminary, they will be able to arrange this) but I also learnt subsequently that there are bus routes from the railway station that ply very close to the Seminary.

Mr. Oommen, whose family is in Delhi but has been at the Seminary since a while now and knew the city well, educated me a little bit about the town and the area as he drove me into the Seminary. As I walked out of the car and followed Mr. Oommen through the entrance and into the quiet hallways, I saw a couple of black robed deacons hurrying towards what was the chapel. "There is a Holy Qurbana today morning" I remembered. Mr. Oommen opened one of the rooms on the first floor and asked me to rest a while till its time for breakfast. I thanked him and went into the room for a quick shower. But the urge to attend a Holy Qurbana in the Seminary made me take the decision to forgo the rest, and I was soon glad I took that decision.