Nuns step into to help migrant fishermen families

Though lockdown was relaxed by the government, starvation and other unending miseries continued to torment hundreds of migrant fishermen families residing at Hoige Bazar in Bolar.

The families, most of them Tamil-speaking, eke out a living by mending fishing nets or by maintaining the fishing boats in their colony, extending from the banks of River Gurupura to Old Mangalore Port. "The fishermen could not venture into fishing due to the district administration's ban on deep-sea fishing and couldn't look for alternative jobs due to restrictions on movement of individuals," said Historian Ivan Saldanha Shet.

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Many non-government organisations which had closed their mass feeding and ration kit distribution programmmes on May 3, could only watch helplessly the plight of hungry men, women and children in their makeshift tents. When informed about the hardships faced by the migrant fishermen families, Ursuline Franciscan Sisters (UFS) in collaboration with Resource and Development Centre on Child Rights- a social action centre of the Ursuline Sisters in Bolar, rushed to the rescue of more than 140 poor families in Hoige Bazar.

Food Provision kits/packages, each worth not less than Rs 780, was disbursed to 140 fishermen families at Hoige Bazar, Bolar. Each ration kit included a generous quantity of Rice, Green gram, dried peas, sugar, beaten rice, Sooji/rava, cooking oil, masala ingredients, tea powder, onion, garlic and salt. Youth from the area helped Ursuline Franciscan Sisters collect data of the families who were were in dire need of the food provisions.

The Ursuline Franciscan Sisters, oldest established (1887) indigenous order of nuns in Mangalore, had initiated relief work not only in Mangaluru but across India through their hundreds of institutions.

UFS Headquarters Generalate in Derlakatte, 'Somarpann,' Derlekatte, led by Superior General of Congregation Sr Susheela Sequeira and Assistant Superior General Sr Milly Fernandes had been guiding multi-level efforts to help stranded, migrants and homeless during the corona crisis.

Since Lockdown, the UFS had distributed food provision packages to 120 families of daily wage earners in and around Panir Parish, Derlakatte under Kotekar Panchayat, lunch packets to 300 migrant workers in collaboration with Snehalaya Home, monetary support and counselling to many poor families.