When I saw the mail from the PCF about my appointment as a first year Regent at READ, Bettiah, my spontaneous response was – “Oh! Jesus, save me!” without realizing that it would do wonders in that one year of my life. I had finished my first-year regency and was supposed to go to the place for my second year, filled with a lot of joy, a sense of satisfaction and love. I considered these to be great blessings from the Almighty God.

READ (Rural Education and Development) is a social action centre located at Bettiah in the district of West Champaran, Bihar. A special human resource-building programme is run there exclusively for the Manjhi community. The Manjhi are also known as Musahars. The word Musahar comes from two Hindi words mus which means rat and ahar which means food. In other words, Musahars are the people who eat rats. They are considered outcaste and untouchables. They are the most oppressed and deprived community of Bihar. One year of my life with them was very meaningful and exciting. It has taught me many lessons in life, to be happy and to make others happy. Living with the Musahars has given me many insights into life in general.

Relationship with the people:
I was aware of the vow of poverty in my Jesuit call but READ made this vow a reality. It enabled me to relate freely and form deep relationships with the poor particularly with the Manjhi Community. It sowed the seed of sincere respect and love for them. I was moved by the simplicity and humility of the people. I learned to be a companion of the most deprived and oppressed people of Bihar. Being with them confirmed the spirit of companionship and helped me to personally relate with the Dalits and Mahadalits.

Encountering Jesus everyday in the form of poor and marginalized people helped me to keep in touch with my inner movements. It gave me a new energy to work for the most deprived people.

Examining the movements of the Spirit:
Encountering Jesus everyday in the form of poor and marginalized people helped me to keep in touch with my inner movements. It gave me a new energy to work for the most deprived people. In fact, there were many occasions when I got angry with the children but their simplicity helped me channelize my anger positively. However, there were moments when I had expressed myself negatively but each experience taught me to bounce back and reconcile with that particular person or child. This act of reconciliation enabled me to express my expectations from that person. Examining my inner movements would not have been possible if I were to be rational or if I focused only on intellectual matters. I thank God for the gift of my open heart and mind to accept these people as my own. It helped me to examine my personal worth. I learned to take things positively.

Joy of being available:
There are many reasons behind involving myself fully in the mission. This gave me a sense of belongingness to the place and the people around. I realized that I was distantly responsible for every person whom I relate to. This insight awakened the spirit of service in me. Because of being available I could discover and rediscover my hidden talents and creativity. I was struck by the frequency with which the poor village children performed beautiful cultural programmes, though there were no professional artists to teach them. My life and service for them has rendered to me an intense happiness and meaning to my life. READ is the place which gives opportunity to do multiple tasks. There was lots of work to do but there were many helping hands too. I was moved by the generous people who helped me in many ways. The spirit of generosity prevails among the poor children to a great extent. They generously helped me whenever I needed their help. They taught me how to be available for any kind of work at any time.

Beauty of life:
Regency in READ gave me several opportunities to experience the beauty of life. Many of these children do not have proper houses to live. They have to put up a day-to-day struggle for survival. In spite of their miserable condition, they know how to be happy. They lead a simple yet joyful life. The children are basically warm, friendly and generous. READ is a house where poor girls and boys study and work together. There is a family atmosphere on this campus. The children can interact freely with one another. Living with them taught me how to love life and live it fully.

Spiritual growth:
It was a great joy for me to be in READ, encountering good and well- disciplined children and imbibing positive attitudes to life. The pathetic situation of the poor especially the Dalits and Mahadalits became a part of my prayer. Encountering suffering Jesus every day in my life was a great blessing for me. It offered me a variety of pathways to encounter God in my life.Genuine sharing of my life with the poor enhanced the spirit of inclusiveness and helped me to understand the people who are different from myself. The meaning of working with the poor became clearer. It also taught me to give up my petty and narrow affiliations. As a matter of fact, their lives made me understand the importance of ‘being’ rather than ‘doing’.

I would like to conclude with the dream I have for them. The Manjhi community is a historically oppressed section of the population. Empowering them through education is a major challenge for us. I feel that education alone can liberate and mobilize them. I derive encouragement from the Patna Province Education Policy, 2009, which says, “Our mission in the education apostolate is to go out into those frontiers where children are deprived of education due to various reasons. We pledge to eradicate illiteracy from the face of Bihar in a systematic and sustained manner.”

Therefore, my dream is to provide the Manjhi children with quality education which is beyond the formal education system, in order to build human capital among them.

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