Foundation: 13th June, 1982.
Patron: St. Francis of Assisi
Postal Address: St. Francis Friary,
Basen, Ghoghar P.O.,
Jashpur Dist. - 496 223.
MADHYA PRADESH.
Telephone: 00-91-7769-200619 (Friary), 200620 (Hostel),
200621 (School)
How to Reach:
From Chennai take a train
to Jharsuguda -- the train journey is about 30 hours;
take a Jharsuguda-Ambikapur Bus and get down at Kansabel;
take a Kansabel-Bagicha bus and get down at Basen (18
KM.)
From Mumbai take a Mumbai-Howrah (via Nagpur) train
and get down at Raigarh; take a Bus from Raigarh to
Kansabel (147 KM.); take a Bus from Kansabel to Basen.
Work in Brief: Parish, Schools, Boarding,
Mission and Socio-medical.
Friars of the Community:
Thadeus Baxla - Guardian, PP, Councillor
Nabor Bara - Warden, Asst.PP
Vilas Correia - Asst. PP
Primary School in Saraipani
Background information:
Saraipani is an outstation of Basen Mission, six KM
away from Basen. Friars took up the Mission in Basen
in 1982 and engaging ourselves in pastoral, educational
and social activities. Basen is a very remote and backward
area of newly constituted state of Chhattisgarh. This
is predominantly a tribal belt and almost all the people
under our care are farmers. Paddy (Rice) is the main
crop and people depend totally on rain for their one
crop cultivation.
General conditions of the population in the
project area:
There are around 12000 inhabitants under Basen Mission
area out of which 6095 are Catholics. It is a remote/rural
backward area. Nearest town is 20 KM away, which can
be reached by bus. We get the provisions for daily requirements
from here. Semi infra-structure like Government dispensary,
Bank, Post office, weekly market and a number of shops
are situated here. None of the villages under our care
has electricity and has no conveyance other than go
by foot or bicycles. Basen village alone has electricity
and telephone connection but seldom they function. Majority
of the population is tribals and are farmers depending
totally on the one crop paddy cultivation for their
survival. There are no industries in this area. People
have been depending heavily on forest for supplementary
food and cash. The forest itself is fast disappearing.
Our involvement with the people:
Eight Balvadis (Kindergarten)114 boys 94 girls
Two Primary Schools 227 boys 213 girls
One Middle School 157 boys 141 girls
One Higher Secondary School 356 boys 159 girls
Hostel for boys/220 boys
(We are planning to build a girls’ hostel in the
near future. With limited facilities we are keeping
10 girls in the hostel/staying with the sisters)
A Dispensary run by the sisters
Our social work and awareness programmes include
26 self help groups for women
four community fruit gardens
light my home project promoting solar energy
a credit bank
watershed programme
All our programmes are carried out with peoples’
collaboration. For instance there are peoples’
committees in each village to run the Balvadis. The
credit Bank is run by people on their own with their
own rules and regulations. Self-helps groups are run
by women groups with the supervisor going around. All
our programmes are carried out with peoples’ collaboration.
For instance there are peoples’ committees in
each village to run the Balvadis. The credit bank is
run by people on their own with their regularly. We
are working in close collaboration with the sisters.
Sisters are running the dispensary, three teachers are
involved in teaching in our schools and one sister is
involved totally in village activities, looking after
the Balvadis and self-help groups. Through our activities
we intend to make people more self reliant and independent.
In order to achieve this various training programmes
are conducted regularly for each group separately.
Children
come from nine neighbouring villages the farthest
being four Kilo Meters away from the School. All
the children come walking carrying a mat to sit
down and a piece of wood for the cooking of the
midday meal. We have extracurricular activities
like sports’ day, parents’ day, celebrations
of national and religious festivals, exposures
and picnic. The School is run by School committee.
No Fees is collected from the children.
Tie up with Government institutions:
Government provides midday meal (rice and dal).
The government has also provided us with a bore
well. Now there is no drinking water problem.
A health worker comes quite regularly and check
up the children and instruct the children on prevention
of Malaria and other diseases.
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Our
concerns:
• Out of eight staff members, only two are
paid by the government. The cook gets one Kilo
gram of rice for her half day labour. Paying salary
to the other staff members and something addition
to the cook is our biggest concern and challenge.
• Motivating parents to send the children
to the school is still a big challenge to us,
especially to motivate parents to send girl child.
Children are a helping hand at home. We need to
provide books, clothes and other school materials
for poor children/families.
• When children get sick, they are totally
neglected at home. Special medical care is a need.
• Nutrition for the Balvadi Children and
additional nutrition to the Primary School children
is yet another of our concerns.
• Our School lacks teaching aids/materials
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Saraipani Primary School
Shaping the future of a tiny tribal village
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| The
Staff: Instruments of Change |
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| Saraipani
Primary School: Children at play |
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| Playing
‘TRAIN’ overcoming small obstacles to
face the BIG WORLD… |
| Learning
to challenge a male dominated society |
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| ‘Free
time’ to play. Many girls can only dream that… |
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| Coming
from different backgrounds and professing different
faith, but promoting family spirit |
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| Making
Untouchability a thing of the past! |
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