Nuns guide village leaders in their duties

(June 02,2010) Catholic nuns in central India’s Madhya Pradesh State are training elected village representatives to overcome ignorance regarding their duties and work for village development. Ramrani Bai, one of 50 people who attended a May 28 program organized by the Sisters of Jesus congregation, in Sagar diocese said “Now I know my role as a village leader.” 47-year-old Bai a member of a village council said he never knew what kind of decisions elected people had to make for their villages before the nuns’ training. Sister Mereena Antony said the nuns working in the villages decided to train the leaders after finding out that many leaders were unable to do anything because they didn’t know what their powers, new roles and duties were. Most villages in the diocese in Madhya Pradesh state are places of poverty and backwardness. Villagers have no proper roads, and are faced with constant water shortages and a lack of toilet facilities.