Social Work in the Missions

“I came for the sick and not for those who are well” said Jesus. Following His footsteps, our activities- the routine ones as well as other welfare activities are aimed ,planned and executed with the motto "That all may have life in abundance"(John 10:10). We have registered a charitable Trust in order to make our activities more official, legal and systematic. The Trust is named as Doctor Typhagne Memorial Charitable Trust in honour of a French doctor who worked with us for 40 years, especially in the field of leprosy. The Trust envisions following the path led by Jesus by working for the stigmatized, marginalized, abandoned and neglected. The programmes are planned to cover the target groups mentioned above for whom we have preferential option. Our area of operation is limited to Salem and Namakkal districts at present. This area is again divided sector wise namely, Salem Sector, Kakkaveri Sector and Kolli Hills Sector.

DTMC Trust is very active in the field of HIV/AIDS. The Government sector greatly appreciate our activities and therefore we get very good collaboration from them. Our programme in one sentence can be summarized as” integrated Health Promotion and Social Rehabilitation of HIV/AIDS patients”. This includes medical and nutritional support to the patients, educational assistance of their children and rehabilitation measures for the family.

We have selected 1127 most deserving families affected by this infection. Most of our beneficiaries are widows. Education and settling of their children are crucial issues faced by them. Hence we support the education of their children vocational training. We also help the patients to start some self employment programmes to eke out living. Very needy are also assisted for housing especially when they are chased away from their families because of the infection. We usually select the most deserving families affected by this infection.

Our congregation started treatment of leprosy way back in 1960 in Salem in an organized way. The prevalence rate of leprosy at that time was 16 for 10000 population and we have achieved it .

Till 1986 no cure was found for leprosy. Only with the administration of multi drug therapy complete cure for leprosy was established the patients who were treated before the starting of multi drug therapy had many damages of their hands and feet, eyes, ears and nose etc. Those people are destined to live with those deformities lifelong.

Because of their anesthetic hands and feet they get frequent ulcers small and big. Hospitalization and immobilization only can heal these ulcers. This we do in our referral hospital at Salem. We have 20 beds to take care of those people, 10 for men and 10 for women. Physiotherapy and occupational therapy make the treatment complete for the in-patients.

Through the complete survey the patients are identified and treated. Small wounds are dressed at home by our trained volunteers and those with septic ulcers come to our hospital for admission.

Every month we conduct Prevention of Deformity (POD) camps which is attended by people who need ulcer care. Foot wear supply came also is conducted every month to give special and appropriate footwear prepared in our centre to the patients free of cost.

Outpatient department works daily Monday to Saturday from 10 am to 1 pm. TB & Leprosy suspects and detected cases are examined and treated here. Every year we treat 9000 people as outpatients and 200 as inpatients.

The first activity we started in Kakkaveri was to open a home for women in distress. This Home known as Marie Gertrude Women Centre started in 2005. Abandoned and neglected women, trafficked women, unwed mothers etc, are admitted along with their children. The children who may accompany their mother are admitted to nearby schools, if they are of school going age. Women who are eligible for higher studies are sent for higher studies. Three women admitted to this centre are general nurses and midwives and are employed now. Others are sent for Tailoring and Fashion technology etc.

The idea behind it is to rehabilitate them to stand on their own feet.

This is affiliated to Tamil Nadu Open University from 2017. We are conducting two diploma courses, nursing assistant& Fashion technology .The course is one year duration.

Another major activity we have in Kakkaveri is SFS Health centre, a 60 bedded hospital with adequate diagnostic and treatment facilities. The main purpose of starting this hospital is to cater to HIV infected people who required hospitalization. In order to avoid stigma as “HIV/AIDS” hospital we have made it a general hospital.

The fourth activity undertaken here is the animation of Self Help Groups. About 200 self help groups for women are monitored and guided by us. The women enter into a number of income generating activities with the help of bank loan which we facilitate. Tea shops, street vending, tailoring shops, Grocery shops, Stationary shops etc are run by women with the loan they avail from the banks.

Our ministry in Kolli Hills was started in the year 1999 in a small rented house at solaikadu. At present we have our own house at vasalurpatti. We began our ministry by forming Self Help Groups.

We cover 12 punchayats of the total 14 punchayats in Kolli Hills .The monthly meetings that we conduct for the group provides them information, self awareness and self confidence. The women testify that their status in their families is increased.

The main reason for their acceptance in families due to their improved information, economic independence and ability to increase their income through activities like dairy keeping, goat rearing running small hotels, vegetable shops, grocery shops etc. The women are also taught to use smart phones.It is noteworthy that one group was awarded ‘Manimegalai Award” of Tamil Nadu state which included one lakh rupees and a shield.

From 2004 we have a training centre which organizes different types of training sessions for women and others. About 300 women have undergone training in tailoring and fashion technology. Different Self Help Groups are invited to the centre to update their knowledge on topics like health and nutrition ,income generation activities, insurance schemes, the role of women in the society etc..

The training centre also used for conducting sujok training meetings for tribal development groups meeting for Alcoholic anonymous etc We also have several model programmes to give training to women in our centre like vegetable cultivation, cut flowers cultivation, mushroom cultivation, cultivation of exotic fruits, poultry keeping, rabbit rearing etc. In all these activities our ideology is to empower Tribal Women. When women are empowered on various spheres, families will have a better quality of life..

We have the dedicated services of 70 staff members who carry out all these activities in the 3 sectors. We are really grateful to them for their commitment.

We all can draw the needed zeal, patience, courage and perseverance only from a very deep life of prayer. Any carelessness in our life of prayer will decrease the efficacy of grace in our holy mission.