Chaitanya, October 06, 2021: Responding to the initial unprecedented lockdown and the helplessness of the people the Shimoga Multipurpose Social Service Society supplied essential food items to most needy families in the three civil districts of Shimoga, Chitradurga and Davanagere. However providing essential food items does not solve the problem.
The following piece of proverbial wisdom is remarkably astute: “Give a man a fish, and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish, and you feed him for a lifetime.” The Shimoga Multipurpose Social Service Society with the generous financial support from the Caritas of the Archdiocese of Prague addressed the issue of struggle for financial resources due to job loss and helplessness of the people during these unforeseen difficult days through an unique project under which 250 families of Child Sponsorship Programme receive financial support to initiate an income generating activity, thus start earning their livelihood.
As part of this project one each member from all the 250 families participated in the four days’ Entrepreneurship Development Programmes organized in batches of 30 and 35 members each. Among these 250 families 70 families have taken up tailoring as their income generating activity, whereas another 10 families have decided to rear cows, 20 families have decided to rear sheep and 10 families have decided to rear local bread chicken. 40 families have decided to initiate mobile canteen business, 40 families have decided to start vegetable/fruits selling while the remaining 60 have taken up cloth business as their income generating activity. On 05 and 06 October 130 families received their support during the programme organized at Chaitanya.
The Director, Rev. Fr Clifford Roshan Pinto explained the purpose of this initiative and highlighted the importance of continuing with determination the income generating activity for which they are receiving the financial support. He also informed the partner families about how the project took its present shape and what are the expectations from the donor agency, the Caritas of the Archdiocese of Prague.
The Bishop of the Diocese of Shimoga and the President of the Shimoga Multipurpose Social Service Society distributed the financial support and emphasized the importance of learning how to give. One should learn to give not out of one’s abundance but out of what one has, even if it is very little. “If I feel my own pain, then it is an indication that I am alive, but if I feel the pain of the other then it is an indication that I am a human. We need to become more and more human” were the key words through which the Bishop made everyone realize how we can create a society that feels for the other. The Bishop noted that the organization has not only taught people how to fish but is also providing the necessary fishing net to start fishing.
The participants expressed their gratefulness to the Caritas of Archdiocese of Prague and to the Shimoga Multipurpose Social Service Society for this unique initiative during the most difficult days. The joy on the faces of these partner families is an indication of what this initiative means to them and their families. Thousands of poor children are receiving financial support for their education from the Caritas of the Archdiocese of Prague.
