The Camillian Sisters Society is located in Ranchi, Jharkhand, India, the Camillian Sisters Society started its mission last 1994.
Last 2003, the Sisters started to visit the children, the aged, the sick, and the poor in the slums. Many difficulties arose in the villages where Hindu groups interpreted Christian mission work in education and health care as fraudulent or being carried out with the ultimate goal of conversion brought by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) -led government.
It is the seat of formation for women desiring to follow in the footsteps of Blessed Maria Domenica Brun Barbantini, their Foundress. Part of the formation of the Sisters is the direct contact with the reality of sickness and poverty affecting Indian society. The community’s apostolate consists then of ministry to families, the aged, women, and early childhood development by providing social and educational support to children between three years old and above.
In the record of 2012, Ranchi is a City with one of the country’s highest poverty rates. Due to this condition, there is slow progress in health and malnutrition, especially among children. Open defecation is also common, even among richer households in the state.
The church of India is currently having difficulties with the government approval of Anti- Conversion Law and the Land Acquisition Law. These laws affect the Missionary and Christian presence and activities in the Diocese. The government sees religious as a threat to their government, especially on tribal protection issues. For that reason, the Congregation of Religious of India Ranchi Unit with Auxiliary Bishop Telesphore gathered all the religious men and women religious in the existential struggle of the people of Ranchi to inform them about the new law. He warned the religious leader to be watchful in doing apostolate in the slums. Our involvement and its implication for all Catholics, especially those coming from the tribes compose of Christians, Hindus, Muslims, and a very low percentage of Catholics. The call to respond to the pressing issues for primary health care demands a compassionate presence in this mission.
Amidst government restrictions, the community, through the help of Congregational ONLUS established the Center for “Malnourished and Poor Children”. The center assists the malnourished, sick, and wounded children and families from slums around the village of Kumhar Toli and other nearby slums. The center has become a support program for working parents. Part of the program is sheltering these children from Monday to Saturday, from eight in the morning to one in the afternoon. The Sisters look after the physical, social, and emotional health of the children who need daycare services, including distributing a balanced diet, a check-up with the medical doctors, giving vitamins, weighing children, and vision screening. Children in our center, like most young people who live in poverty, are more likely to become ill and die at young ages due to poor environmental situations with limited healthcare resources.