Testimonials

Bridges of Compassion

Every relationship starts with a connection. This is how friendship sprouts, camaraderie begins, humanity develops… Joining in with the KMWSC as a volunteer for 2 months, I am introduced and explained by the director and the staff of the KMWSC about the vision and targets of their projects, with children and women either at non/low-income settlements in remote villages in West Bengal or in Kolkata city, even in red light or high risk of human trafficking areas. I am really touched by the ways of welcoming with colourful heartfelt rituals by everyone. The trips to visit the projects’ places, for me, are not only to meet, know and talk with the people, but also to understand and encounter mutually kindness, compassion and high respect between people from different backgrounds of religious, status of society and levels of education. Though different languages limited our conversations, but I was captivated by everyone’s wide-open eyes and smiles of members of mother clubs and children clubs, and the ways they responded to questions about their dreams, hope and understanding of human rights, women’s rights and child rights, about how they can do and what they should do. I’m strongly impressed  by the reality of hard working that coordinators and teachers help the children in classes under the shapes of trees in dusty brickfields, or in tiny hot rooms, or beside the walls under the bridges in the city. All, I encountered were joys, love, compassion in challenges of people from different places, near and far, in various ways of contribution. And with thoughtful minds and loving hearts, they stretch their hands to create bridges of loving connection that help each other to become better and become more compassionate towards the marginalized people and life around them.

May their bridges of compassion be strong, prolonged and blessed today and always.

Aithien Nguyen

Vietnam

March 23, 2023

Sr. Jwan Kada

IBVM

Australia & South East Asia

Missioned by Wendy Hildebrand IBVM provincial of Australia and South East Asia to the Kolkata Mary Ward Social Centre for two months, involved a real plunging into some of the most vulnerable communities in the world. I visited remote villages where tribal families live well below the poverty line. I went to the informal settlements where children are attending open-air schools under bridges. I was mostly touched by encountering the women of the Red-Light District in Sonagachi, the largest sex trade in Asia where women are seen as a commodity, trafficked and violated. It is there that I truly felt that the work of promoting human dignity and human rights is the most important. It is a deep knowing that my dignity cannot be realised without also realising and promoting the dignity and worth of others.

Welcomed by the villagers from Gangasagar, I felt deeply moved by the washing of the feet ritual, I was humbled by their expression of love and hospitality. Each time we entered a village, the children greet us by touching our feet, and when I asked what it meant, they said, “we do that as a gesture to say that the God in me greets the God in you.”

West Bengal has transformed every part of my being, it is where I got to see and touch the sacredness of humanity, coming to know myself, the God who called me here and the people who have taught me what it means to be human. After having been engrossed in this life-giving mission, I have entered deeply into the lives of the people, listening and learning so that together with our Mary Ward values can move into action, creating a better present and future for all.

Name of the student- Jessica Gomes
Student of St. Xavier’s University, Kolkata

My experience with Kolkata Mary Ward Social Centre helped me keep an open eye when interacting with people from different groups and communities. Working alongside KMWSC Loreto with the assistance of the staff members helped me gain practical knowledge on and off field, especially visiting the MAC (Multi Activity Centre) and Basirhat for field visit.
The purpose of MAC is to cater to the needs of children upto 18 years and also the school dropouts. The children of these centres are truly welcoming and they made us feel empathetic towards their situation, rather than sympathizing with them.
The organization provides basic necessities the community members of the particular areas they work in.
One of the most important lesson that i have learned in this past few days is that, the Agency and the team gives their all when working on the projects for the women and children. They iive up to their vision of empowering them and their projects are meant to make the chiidren and women self- reliant and self-sufficient.
As a trainee, I felt motivated everytime I got a chance to visit their field areas, and this encouraged me to work with the same enthusiastic spirit and make every effort to achieve my goal of having to work efficiently. The work done by the agency and their team is meritorious. They are working for a noble cause, with the aim of empowering the children and the women.

Name:- Madhurima Sen
University :- St. Xaviers’ University
I have been working at Kolkata Mary Ward Social Centre as an intern under the guidance of Sanjay Sir. It has been a beautiful and interesting journey so far. I have learnt a lot for the members of this organisation and how an NGO functions. The visits to the fields have been particularly insightful and gave me a real world view of the problems plaguing this society. The field visits have also given me an opportunity to interact directly with the beneficiaries. I am grateful that I have been placed here as an intern and I look forward to more and more such learnings from the organisation.

Name of the Student – Augustin Ronney Roy
Student of St Xavier’s University Kolkata

I would like to extend my heartiest gratitude to the entire team of KMWSC .
It gives me huge pleasure to be part of KMWSC family and work for such noble
cause. The centre offered a deep experiences into my life. The entire working
schedule was well planned and guided by the supervisor.
The whole members of KMWSC guided me for every work which was assigned to
me , I was extremely happy and grateful to have such supervisor and mentor.
Rinku ma’am KMWSC members was a source of great information and
experiences. It is a great initiative taken by KMWSC by providing the Children in
the red light area with education and also empowering the women of Sonagachi
to become independent by giving them vocational training. It was a great
experiences i had which helped me to learn how sometimes to earn a bread you
have to touch the extremities of earning. I was so amazed to see the children of
Mac centre as they were highly motivated and enthusiastic. I was moved with the
gratitude shown by children of Mac centre by welcoming us open heartedly.
The concept of food ATM was out of bon Idea for serving the needy by filling their
stomach . The idea of providing women with sanitary napkins is a life changing
efforts to make women aware of hygenial importance and preventing the spread
of many diseases.
The outreach of the centre was truly amazing and i have such a eye opening
experiences. I’m so grateful that i had a chance to have such positive surrounding
where I learnt many things from the members of KMWSC .
I will be very grateful if I get opportunity to work here and experience the act of
giving yourself solely to change the world . KMWSC Is doing exemplary work
aiming for the betterment of others.

Name of the Volunteer: Ruth Fitzgerald
Student from Loreto St. Stephen’s Green, Ireland.

I found the experience i have had over the past two weeks with the Kolkata Mary Ward Social Centre extremely insightful and eye- opening. Every day was different which exposed us to many different aspects of daily life in Kolkata. I gained lots of knowledge into Indian lives and culture and also realised how important the work that the KMWSC does is and also the huge impact it makes on so many lives. Everybody who we met has gone extremely out of their way to make us feel so welcomed- from the bus drivers to the children in MAC centres. One of my favourite aspects of the experience was being able to sit down and chat to the people living there. It made me realise that despite living so far apart we have so many similarities and found it so easy to spend time speaking to eachother. I really appreciate the amazing experience i have had here with the KMWSC and it is one i will not forget.

Name of the Volunteer: Grace Maher
Student from Loreto St. Stephen’s Green, Ireland.

My experience with the Kolkata Mary Ward Social Centre is one I will never forget. The centre offered deep insights into life in Kolkata. All of our tour leaders and drivers were very welcoming and really went outof their way to spread their knowledge of the city. Not only have I gained a love for the culture and people of Kolkata but also a great appreciation for all the work done by KMWSC. The outreach of the centre is truly amazing and i have had such an eye opening two weeks visiting the Loreto schools, Rainbow rooms and the Multi Activity centre. We are all so grateful that we had the chance to spend some quality time here with everyone who works at the KMWSC centre. Your helping hands have reached so many.

Name of the Volunteer: Mahika Singh
Student from Loreto Convent Tara hall, Shimla.

Heartiest Congratulations on the commendable work done by the entire team of KMWSC and by the Loreto Congregation for taking a step in making a big difference to change the world for a better tomorrow.
The entire working schedule for 8 days was well planned and the presentation as well as the documentary shown was very informative. Ma’am Rinku 9 KMWSC member) was a source of great informations and experiences. It is a great initiative taken by KMWSC by providing the children in the red light area with education and also empowering the women of Sonagachi to become independent by giving them vocational training. This was an eye opening experience and helped us to learn how sometimes to earn a bread you have to touch the extremities of earning. I was moved by the gratitude shown by the children in the MAC centres by welcoming us open heartedly. The distribution of the sweet buns in the brick field was an acknowledging gesture. The Rainbow shelter home Sealdah had a spacious infrastructure. The atmosphere was positive at the Rainbow school. The food served at KMWSC was very home- like. The concept of Food ATM is an out of the bon idea for serving the needy by filling their stomach. Our stay at Nitika Don Bosco was very comfortable. The idea of providing women with sanitary pads in the brick fields and outskirts of Kolkata is a life changing effort to make women aware of hygenial importance and preventing the spread of many diseases which spread due to not maintaining their menstrual hygiene. It’s easy to work for yourelf but it is worth living to work for others selflessly. I would like to visit here again and experience this act of giving yourself solely to change the world. Looking at the emotional turmoil and living condition they face, leaves me heart sinking. KMWSC is doing a lot in many ways for this noble cause of being a change to bring a change.

Name of the Volunteer: Radha Manga
Student from Loreto Convent Tara Hall, Shimla (H.P.)

First of all, I would like to extend my heartiest gratitude to the entire team of KMWSC. It gives me immense pleasure to be a part of the Loreto family and work for such a noble cause. I would like to thank the KMWSC and the Loreto congregation for taking on initiative to change the lives of the unnoticed and deprived sections of the society and also making us a part of this noble work.
The itinerary provided to us was very well planned providing us adequate time to rest. It helped us to gain some important information about these children and their families we were here to serve. The documentary shown was very informative, helping us to have a clear view about the ways of liking of people and how we could help them. Ma’am Rinku from KMWSC was a great source of knowledge and information and helped us a lot through our journey of changing lives of people. It is a great initiative taken by the KMWSC by providing education to the children in the Red light area and also empowering the women of Sonagachi so that they become independent by providing them with vocational training developing their skills.
The visit to the MACs centres made my heart move as i received the children’s love and gratitude and was touched by the welcoming nature of the little ones. The atmosphere at the Sealdah Rainbow Home was very welcoming and heart-warming. It was a great pleasure interacting with the children at the Rainbow home and listening to their stories of hardships and struggles.
The visit to the brickfield made me realise how tough life can be and how people survive in the toughest situations. The distribution of tooth brushes and tooth pastes in the brick field made the children aware of the daily hygiene they need to follow everyday for living healthy lives. The distribution of sweet buns was also an acknowledging gesture. All this instilled values of humanity and humility in me. The concept of Food ATM is an exceptionally good idea as it encourages the people to share and serve food to the needy and fill their stomachs.
Our stay at Nitika Don Bosco was very comfortable and home – like. The idea of providing sanitary pads to women in the outskirts prevents them of having any diseases. This also makes them aware of hygienic importance during their menstrual cycle.
You can know yourself truly only when you give yourself and lose yourself in the service of others. I would like to visit Kolkata again and experience the act of loosing yourself in the service of others for a better future. KMWSC is working for such a wonderful and noble cause of improving the lives of people and i would truly support them in every possible way.

10th to 21st January 2020 are the dates,month and year that we all girls who went to Kolkata for service learning programme can never ever forget in our lives. We were total 15 students from class 10th to 12th accompanied by Ma’am Monika and Ma’am Ranjana. We started from Shimla railway station by train to kalka at 2:15 pm. This was our first journey. We all were really very excited. We reached kalka at 8:00 pm and had our dinner and boarded our train which was at 12:00 am. During our train journey we girls were shy talking to each other but slowly slowly we started to interact and mix up with each other. We reached Howrah station on 12th January at 9:00 am where we were received by our Principal Sr. Nirmala which was a big suprise for us. Then we went to Don Bosco hostel were we kept our luggages and went for lunch .After lunch we came back to hostel got ready and went to Loreto school at sealdah were we introduced ourselves to hostel children and interacted with them and learnt that some of them were orphan.They were all very happy to see us. Then we came back to hostel had our dinner and went to sleep. Our first day started with a delicious lunch at kmwsc( Kolkata Mary ward social centre). The we had and interacting session with Sr. Monika and Sanjay sir who showed us PowerPoint presentation through which we learnt Loreto’s contribution towards society of poor and unrmpolyed. At kmwsc there are different rooms in were girls are taught tailoring, beautician courses, and about pad making. We then had our lunch and then we were divided into 3 groups of 5. There were 4 tution centre for poor children and different groups went to different centre where we were taught children, listened to their poems, and had an entertaining time with them in which we danced and played with them. It was really heart touching to see their zeal to study and learn new things. Children at max areas did not had provision to daily needs they did not had sufficient food to eat and clothes to wesr.During this one week we used to go to different tution centres. And then came the moment where we came to know about the harsh reality of the world- the red light area where we interacted with prostitutes and taught their children. Some prostitutes were sold by their husband and some by boyfriends. And it was a shock for us to know that some were doing it with their own will
Their conditions were worst.
Then we went to Brickfield area were we saw that how bricks were made and and also taught the children of workers at brick field area . There were open classroom and children were provided with eggs and biscuits. Children did not had.clothes to wear. Brickfield area was our last day of service learning programme. At evening we had a feedbacks ession with Sanjay sir The following day we went to Rabindranath Tagore museum which us helped to gain knowledge about the life of Rabindranath Tagore and then we went to market for shopping.The next day we met Sr Nirmala and had another feed back session with Sr. Monika which ended up with a cup of coffee and we went to Mother house of missionaries of charity were we saw Mother Teresa’s room and tomb and learned about her life. And then we bid adieu to Kolkata with sad hearts of leaving but also the happiness to come here. We took many memories with us. This programme taught us how to adjust with others communicate with people and also taught us that how lucky we.girls are and also this trip turned us into and independent and responsible individual
Thankyou
Prizul kashyap
Class -10
Loreto convent – Shimla

Prizul kashyap, Student from Loreto School, Shimla