Bethsaida

A History of Bethsaida…..
Back in 1989, a priest called Pater Bernadine realised a vision he had by setting in motion all that ‘Bethsaida’ now stands for. The Hermitage was set up as part of ‘Bethsaida’ as a fund raising initiative so that we could provide accommodation and food for people, and all the profit they brought to Bethsaida Hermitage would go to the charity projects. Back in 1989, the first ‘Bethsaida’ project started out by housing and educating just 15 children from various backgrounds. ‘Bethsaida’ is now the umbrella name under which several large and complex charity projects are run. Currently, Pater Bernadine’s vision has grown into an amalgamation of several projects under the ‘Bethsaida’ umbrella which are detailed below:

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Rosa Mystica Orphanage Higher Secondary School for Boys
& St. Therès Orphanage for girls

These two orphanages, which are also schools, were set up to house and educate boys and girls from all different underprivileged backgrounds and situations. In general the children at the orphanages come from backgrounds where they are living below the poverty line, they come from unsustainable social situations or from low income single parent families. The children are welcomed from all locations and belong to all castes and religions.
The orphanages and schools are run in much the same way as each other with all pupils going through their schooling and spending most of their young lives there. The boys and girls have holidays 3 times per year when they get to go back to their homes and maintain their relationships with their family members, friends and the place they come from.

By the time the pupils graduate from the schools, they specialise in the humanities, social sciences, chemistry, physics, biology, computer science and home economics. Young people who graduate from this school take with them the highly regarded qualification of being a graduate of Rosa Mystica / St Therèse and the intention is that they move on with a solid education and every chance of gaining well paid, fulfilling employment.

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Marion Public School
More than 300 children from 3 – 10 years of age study at this mixed school. The children get picked up from their villages by school bus every day and are dropped back after the school day ends. A small percentage of these children’s guardians contribute US$2 per month to their education and the rest of the costs are covered by the ‘Bethsaida’ charity funds. These children come from underprivileged rural communities and would otherwise remain uneducated. The challenge at this school is that the parents are themselves uneducated and therefore are unable to support the school in their endeavours to teach the children. The curriculum here is the same as other normal city schools in India.

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Industrial Training Institute
More than a hundred and fifty women learn in and work for this Institute. The women here have been unable to finish their studies or have been unable to continue with their studies for various social reasons due to disadvantaged backgrounds or unfortunate circumstances. They learn tailoring, embroidering, book binding, typewriting and weaving. This Institute not only gives these women the opportunity to learn valuable skills for life but also helps them contribute towards raising funds for their dowries.

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J.B. Hospital
J.B. Hospital is a small, basically equipped healthcare unit that was created for children who fall sick and who attend both orphanages. It also gives medical assistance and general heath care to the poor and those who are unable to afford any kind of medical care. The hospital has an x-ray machine, provides dental care and has an ECG machine as well as laboratory facilities for performing blood tests.

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Animator`s Programme
This outreach programme has created the space for 52 village people, each responsible for their own village, to discuss and resolve village life problems. The village people, who we call ‘Animators’ are assisted by 4 ‘Leaders’ who are employed by ‘Bethsaida’. We have monthly meetings where the Animators and Leaders meet up to discuss issues that are going on in the village and how to resolve and handle them in the best way possible. This project gives villagers the opportunity to feel empowered in their lives and helps village life run smoothly with the guidance and support of balanced and educated Leaders.

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Millennium Project “ Sisu Sangamam Programme”
This project was born in the year 2000 to celebrate the new Millennium. The programme encourages and supports the parents or guardians of these children, from the age of 5 years, to pay a certain amount of rupees per month into a savings account so that when the now 5 year old child reaches the age of 18, there will be an amount of 75,000 rupees (approx 1,400 Euro). This amount of money will be there to pay for whatever higher education they might want to pursue, can contribute to their dowry payment or can help them in starting out in a career. Bethsaida’s staff make sure that they track each child and ensure they attend school each day throughout the period and that the parents or guardians pay that money into the savings account each month for them.

The reason that this project requires lots of funding from us is that very often the parents or guardians are unable to pay the suggested sum into the savings accounts of the children and Bethsaida funds always top up the amount, when the child reaches 18, to the €1,400 that was originally aimed for. This can mean that we often multiply the saved amount by up to 5 or 6 times in order to give each child on the scheme the same amount and the same start in their young adult lives. As you can imagine, this is a very costly scheme but one that means so much to the young adults who receive that headstart when they head out in to the world.

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Old Age Pension
Many elderly people in this area are neglected and nearly 200 people per day come to Bethsaida’s Day Programme where they spend time praying with Pater Bernadine, receive food, medical care and a small monthly pension amount for them to live on. The intention is for this programme to grow and for us to be able to house those elderly people in need.

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“Nanmarana Sahai”
In the local dialect of the region, ‘Nanmarana Sahai’ means ‘help for the dead’, this project gives financial assistance to people whose family members have died but who are unable to buy a coffin and clothes for the burial ceremony.

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Thank you for your support in reading about our projects and we look forward to welcoming you here.

We always have regular updates in our Reception on our notice board which tells guests where their support is being directed and gives news of any developments in any of the charity projects as they happen. We do our best to have up to date and varied photos up there so do make sure you have a look during your stay with us.