Bags of joy

The movie “City of joy” (1992) situated in the city of Kolkata finishes with the sentence of Hasari Pal: “All that is not given is lost”. This significant sentence has full actuality in this difficult moment of the covid-19. In our place, Burdwan, India, one hundred kilometers in the north-west of Kolkata, the poor people is suffering especially the consequences of this pandemic disease. The lockdown is punishing terribly the most vulnerable people around us, like the Santali and others kind of tribal people.

We closed, almost two months ago, the Hostel and the different classes and activities that we do in our house with the children and young people from the different Santali villages around us: Talit, Jinguti, Simdal, Fagupur, Mohanpur, Talpukur… The families stand in their villages without work and any income. Around our Marist Community of Talit, eight kilometers from Burdwan, many families are suffering of lack of food. The Government is helping and different parishes in our Diocese of Asansol; but is not enough.

The three Marist Brothers of the Talit Community, Marist District of Asia, watching the present situation, decided to do something for these poor families around us. With some money of the Australian Marist Solidarity NGO and with some of our personal money we prepared 200 bags of essential food (rice, flour, lentils, soy bean, sugar, salt and oil) and, with the help of some young people, we distributed them among the families around us. We know that this action is a small drop in the middle of the ocean, but it´s an opportunity to give free what we received freely (Mt 10, 8). We discovered the joy of the service (Rabindranath Tagore).

After this action the bags of food changed in bags of joy. It was the miracle of the gratuitousness.

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Marist Community of Talit, India