A roof above the head is an unthinkable proposition for many poor people in India’s southern state of Kerala. Yet a Franciscan Missionaries of Mary (FMM) nun armed with just compassion and determination has managed to provide 150 houses to those in need.
Sister Lizzy Chakkalakal, 52, said the idea of helping the impoverished receive proper housing in Kochi, the commercial hub of Kerala, was initially a daunting task.
“But somehow my faith in Jesus supplied me with the strength and courage to walk through each day’s demands with hope in my heart,” said Sister Chakkalakal who is the head of Our Lady’s Convent Girls Higher Secondary School.
“One day I went to the home of one of my students who had just lost her father,” Sister Chakkalakal said.
“I was appalled at the conditions they were living in. Her ramshackle hut would have collapsed any moment,” she said.
“The scene kept haunting me, I wanted to help the girl’s family. So, I spoke to some teachers and students. All pooled in and we were able to provide them a more durable structure,” the nun said.
“Then I thought to myself if all it took was a little motivation on my part, why not help other poor students who desperately needed a proper shelter.”
Sister Chakkalakal then established the House Challenge project in 2012.
The nun said she was also spurred on by the thought that so many of the girls lacked privacy in their own homes in what was often stressful living conditions.
“Some lived in a one-room tenement in a coastal slum with an alcoholic father who would come home abuse the mother and children,” she said.
Sister Chakkalakal said that children living in such conditions develop an inferiority complex and lack self-esteem.
“For me the main purpose of education is the integral and holistic development of every student,” the nun said.
“I realized these students cannot attain this objective without some basic facilities in life. One cannot grow with self-confidence and dignity living in such pathetic conditions.”
Our Lady’s Convent Girls Higher Secondary School is known as a ‘socio-friendly school’. Sister Chakkalakal said it organizes a variety of outreach programs to inculcate in students love, sharing, compassion, team spirit, fraternal sensitivity, and other values that lead to personal commitment and social responsibility.
‘No compromise’
Sister Chakkalakal said there is no compromise on quality when making the homes which include a living-dining room, a kitchen, two bedrooms, a bathroom and a sit-out (a small space at the entrance common to houses in Kerala). They are built on 500-700 square feet of land depending on the size of the family. Each unit costs Rs 500,000 ($6,594 USD).
Hibi Eden, an Indian National Congress member of the Kerala state parliament who inaugurated the first house in 2014, said Sister Chakkalakal has done what even the government has struggled to do.
“I have been hooked on to sister’s housing project since its inception. So, during the 2018 floods in Kerala, I decided to start a similar project called ‘Thanal’ (shelter) for the flood affected.”
Civil engineer Rajesh Narayan described what Sister Chakkalakal has done as no easy feat. The challenges “one encounters in construction” include “the land mafia, truant contractors, difficulty in procuring labor and material,” Narayan said.
Sister Chakkalakal said that any time the project ran out of cash, a donor would “knock at our door.”
“It was ask and you shall receive,” said the nun who will soon be handing over the 150th house to a needy family.
Many people and organizations now assist with the House Challenge program, Sister Chakkalakal said.
Prominent realtors like Confident Group, Divine Developers, Paul Allukkas regularly make large donations, while retired engineer Renjen Varghese gave the project some prime land, she said. The Carmelites of Mary Immaculate priests have also donated a house to the program.
“My provincial gives me great support to take any creative and innovative initiatives. Sisters from my community cooperate and participate in this ministry,” Sister Chakkalakal further added.
Many of the housing programs benefactors also cut across religious lines.
She likewise pointed out that it’s not only the rich and powerful who help but the poor as well.
“There are many poor who contribute just a brick or a day’s labor. Most of our beneficiaries are masons and their contributions save us lot of money,” she said.
“Most of our students donate at least one rupee each day from their pocket money. They sometime forego birthday or other celebrations and donate the amount.
“Some teachers gift a month’s salary. Even students who have graduated continue to contribute,” she said.
Some 220 families from a nearby slum have also been “adopted” by the House Challenge project, she said.
While Sister Chakkalakal has been given numerous awards and recognition for her efforts, she said that the best award is seeing content smiles of the disadvantaged getting a roof of their own over their heads. The FMM nun, who joined the convent in 1986, said she learnt the art of giving from her farmer father. She is the sixth among eight children.
