BELGAUM, India (UCAN) – Mahadevi Bhadarwadi had no ambition in life until she met a group of tourists from Luxembourg at a Jesuit development center.
“Now, I want to go abroad and earn big money,” says the 23-year-old tribal woman who now works as a nurse in a top hospital in Belgaum, in Karnataka state, southern India.
Bhadarwadi, a Hindu, is among 43 young men and women the tourists had helped to complete professional courses. They did so through the Jana Jagaran (people’s vigilance), a center started by Jesuits in 1985 to help tribal villagers in Belgaum district.
The tourists met Bhadarwadi when they visited the center in 2004 during a holiday in neighboring Goa, India’s top tourist destination.
“The tourists changed our lives,” Bhadarwadi told UCA News. She said at that time she was working in a woolen factory for just 20 rupees (US$0.45) a day.
Father Joseph Chenakala, the founder director of the Jesuit center who invited the visitors, said they volunteered to support Bhadarwadi’s three-year course in general nursing and midwifery.
“Her performance encouraged others in Luxembourg to sponsor more students,” the Jesuit priest told UCA News. He said they named the program the “Mahadevi Project” after their first beneficiary. “Her determination, confidence and joy are exciting,” he said, pointing to Bhadarwadi.
The priest said that under the scheme, each student gets 200,000 rupees (US$4,165) to pursue a professional qualification. Bhadarwadi’s course cost about 265,000 rupees.
Bhadarwadi said she would have married early and led a simple village life if the visitors had not helped her. The Jesuit center had helped her complete 12th grade, but she did not have the means to pursue studies beyond that.
The center has turned the money from the tourists into an evolving fund and uses it to support others. Beneficiaries repay the money in installments after they finish their studies and secure jobs. Some have become nurses, others software engineers, medical representatives and hotel managers.
Father Chenakala said the money is given as an interest-free loan.
Currently, the overseas benefactors are sponsoring 35 students while the Jesuit center is helping another eight.
Sujata N. Doddamani, another sponsored student, said she wants to repay the entire loan so that another deserving person can get an education.
Father Chenakala says he started the project because he is convinced India will progress only if its villagers are empowered. “Most women here spend their entire lives in poverty and illiteracy,” he stated.
The priest says the Mahadevi Project has given new hope to young people. “They can not only dare to dream but also make their dreams come true.”