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Mission

PROMOTION OF THE HUMAN PERSON

This is done through education, pastoral work, health care activities and more specifically with certain groups, especially the weakest, those who are oppressed, those who are lacking even the most elementary requirements, most often women and children.

 The Sisters come to the aid of children whose lives are in danger : orphans, street children, war victims, children exposed to domestic violence.  They organise centres where they are welcomed, distribute food and clothing, provide opportunities for them to learn, to undergo training and so prepare for a better life in the future.

 In their work of women’s promotion, the Sisters organise many activities which have as a general aim making the women self-sufficient and capable of taking their rightful place in the family and the society.  Through education and health care they are freed from the dependence which their society and culture impose on them.  Micro-projects help them to develop their skills in several areas and to improve their lives.  As groups are organized and the women are trained and taught to collaborate, they learn how to manage money and thus move on to carry out projects within their reach.

 The Sisters also help refugees and displaced persons according to their needs.  This can become a long-term mission, e.g. in India where they work in the Jesuit Refugee Service, or in Sierra Leone in camps set up around the capital for villagers whose villages were destroyed or are not yet safe.  In Pondicherry the Sisters continue to visit a camp for persons displaced by the tsunami of 2004.

 In several places the Sisters provide help and support for immigrants in search of work or better living conditions. In other places they show an interest in workers who are poorly paid or rejected by society.  In India for example they helped the drivers of the cycle-rickshaws to start an association to defend their rights and improve their standard of education. In Brazil they formed a support group for manual workers.  Also in India they started an organization to protect young girls who work as domestics in private homes ;  the Sisters follow up hundreds of girls and intervene with the families if necessary, offering the workers a place where they can spend their free time if they wish, and helping them to build up a dowry.

Some provinces have Justice committees, in others individual Sisters serve on parish or diocesan commissions for Justice and Peace.  In some countries the Sisters have set up rural developmental projects for fruit-growing, apiculture, fishing; they have organized workshops for embroidery and the making of bags or other objects which provides training and the opportunity to earn a regular salary.

Everywhere the Sisters’ aim is to help people to live a full LIFE, giving them the means to do so and accompanying them on the way.

Education - Pastoral Work - Health - Promotion of the Human Person

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