Jyothir Bhavan, Lohata
Address
North Province
No of Religious : Nil
Services
Lohata is situated in Dhannipur village in Varanasi District and is a Muslim dominated area. Sisters Asha, Susheela and Vineetha were the pioneers of this mission. In 1988, on July 3rd they landed in this remote area. The diocese offered them a huge, abandoned factory hall for their stay and to start a Hindi Medium school.
The villagers could not imagine how these sisters could survive inside the so called fearful campus. Slowly everything passed and the school became a great attraction and means of communication with the people. A simple celebration of Independence Day of 1988 and the school day gave a lot of surprise to the people.
The people of this area did not expect anything from them other than their love and attention. The sisters loved them and visited them whenever it was possible.
Later, the Bishop had a school built and three sisters are working in the school. To start with, the school was from kindergarten to the VIII Std. It was upgraded to X and later to XII Std. through the hard work of our sisters. When the school was well established the management was taken over by the diocesan priests but our sisters continue to teach in the school.
Taking care of the children of the leprosy patients in a hostel is one of the main apostolates of the community. These children are not able to attend other schools because of the stigma of their parents so the sisters bring them to the hostel and help them for their education.
This hostel started in Amardeep, for both boys and girls who were looked after with much love and motherly care, first by Sr. Prabha and later by Sr. Kiran for many years. It was then shifted to Lohata where the boys were cared for by the parish priest.
After their academic studies these children are given some professional training according to their talents, skills and ability so that they can earn a living. At present there are 59 girls in the hostel.