Some 20 young women from Arunachal Pradesh completed a two-month training under Holy Cross nuns, which they say would help them launch income-generating projects and protect environment better.

The women aged between 20-25, mostly mothers completed the “community based development programme” at the Women’s Development Centre, in Guwahati, the largest business city of the northeastern India. The programme ended  on March 30.

Sister Betsy Devasia, the centre’s director, who organized the programme, said she was “amazed to see “how they managed these two months with children around them.” She  said mothers carried their toddlers to the sessions while older children played together.

Tad Tipi, a 25 year-old mother who came with her two children, said that all of them came from interior villages of Arunachal Pradesh. “We came here without knowing anything. We had no confidence even to come over here. Now we can face people, the programme helped to build up our confidence,” she said.

Aser Tapast, 20 and mother of two said at the programme they also learned “how to form self-help groups” that would help them start saving money and income generating projects.

The programme also stressed the need of protecting the forests and environment for better life. ” Now we know how to take care of the environment,” she told UCA News.

The programme included designing costumes, course on making bamboo and cane furniture, herbal medicine, leadership development and environment protection.

The training aimed to “enhance their leadership qualities so as to help them lead their families and communities. The programme included classes to develop communication skills, environmental awareness and gender sensitiveness.

“So far we thought plants and trees were our possession. Now we know we have to take care of them. When we cut one tree we have to plant another, ” Tapast added.

Tipi said she and friends “did not know how to face people. Now we have gained confidence to stand for our rights. We have the right for better life and we would work for it,” she said.

She also said they would practice what they have learned. They include education of children, “specially, to send them to the school regularly, to keep the surroundings clean, to be united in fighting for our rights,” she said.

The Sisters of Chavanod works in education, social, medical, pastoral and other works for the development of women.

The congregation founded in France has 72 nuns in its Guwahati Province, which covers northeast India. While 32 nuns are engaged in teaching, 25 nuns are do pastoral ministry and ministries related to women.

Source: UCAN