Volume 36 No. 2 | Winter 2026 4 Society Matters SVD in India giving orphans, street children, a head start in life through shelter, care and education The Divine Word Missionaries in Telangana, India, are helping orphan children, often from the streets, to grow and flourish by providing nutrition, education, and homely care. The Arnold Bala Vikasa Ashram was blessed and inaugurated on February 26, 2014, with a vision statement of proclaiming God’s love through education of the less privileged. In seeking funding support to maintain the home for orphan children, Fr Alwin Mascarenhas SVD said the ministry aims to witness to God’s love for all by promoting justice and equity for less privileged children by eliminating the evils of child labour, illiteracy and school dropping-out by providing the necessary facilities to enable the children to complete their primary education. “One of the most alarming local concerns is the rate of rapid increase in the number of orphaned children and their awful plight with regard to their future destiny,” Fr Alwin said. “At this tender age, they are forced to face innumerable hardships such as poverty, illiteracy, gender inequality, injustice, social instability, and above all, the personal and psychological pain and strain with a constant struggle for their very existence. “Does it not create a moral and social obligation, implicating us to come to their rescue in their welfare? “It is a matter of providing homely shelter, moral support, educational support, health care and nutritional supplements. In short, giving a lease of new life, making them grow as independent and educated citizens of the nation to face the future with courage and determination with the right orientation.” Nizampet is a village of Sangareddy District, about 75km from Sangareddy, the district headquarters and 143km from Hyderabad, the State capital, in a largely non-Christian area. Fr Alwin, a member of the SVD Hyderabad Province, said Nizampet is one of the most economically backward Mandals (an administrative unit consisting of many villages) in the Sangareddy District.
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