Fr. Varghese was invited by Bishop Cletus Perera, the bishop of Ratnapura Diocese. Bishop Cletus has been so generous to us and gave us a small house to stay and build the community near the bishop house at Avissawella. Fr. Deleep Parackal was sent to Sri Lanka in the same here to assist Fr. Varghese and that was the beginning of our presence and Fr. Lixon replaced Fr. Deleep in 2017. Our priests were so friendly with the bishop and the priests in the Ratnapura diocese and had a dedication and commitment in spreading the charism of Rogate and that paved the way for a new mission opening.
After the consultation with the Superior General and the Major Superior on December 13th, 2017 St.Anthony’s Boys home at Hewadiwella was entrusted to us with a contract of 25 years. And that was a new journey of our presence here and that gave a clear identity for Rogationist presence in Sri Lanka. Fr. Lixon Puthananday and Fr. Dino Jacob were the first to be appointed as the responsible and treasurer of the Boys home. And now we have 11 boys in our orphanage and they are given to us by the Probation Office through the court order. Majority of them do not have a family and some are abandoned. We have boys from the age of 6 to 18. They go to the schools nearby our orphanage and according to the government regulations, at the age of eighteen they are taken back from our orphanage by the Probation.
In 2018 by the grace of God we bought 1 acre of land with a house in the same village near the Boys home and the renovation works were going on. Meanwhile Bro. Rinu Vadakkepurathan completed his theological studies here and went back to India in 2019 for his ordination and another two brothers were sent here for regency and they began their studies at the National seminary.
At present we have two brothers (Bro. Amal Kettupurackal and Br. Jobins Thazhathuveetil) doing their theological studies at the National Seminary, Kandy by residing at the Blessed Sacrament community. And due to the pandemic situation, no fathers from India could reach Sri Lanka till September 2021 to take charge of the community therefore one of the brothers (Bro. Amal) had voluntarily taken a break from his studies and he was temporarily in charge of the Boys’ home. And now we have Fr. Dino Jacob as the responsible for the mission and in charge of the boys and we have Fr. Rinu Vincent as the treasurer of the community.
According to the rules required, we have two carers for our boy’s home; one during the day and one for the night. And we have one lady working in the kitchen, one at the office and one in the field. We have mostly coconut trees on the land and we are allowed to get the income from it. We have made use of the land for vegetables and have begun a chicken farm last year. We have a hatchery system where we hatch the eggs from our own farm and produce chicks and sell them outside.
This small business is in high demand here and so we would like to develop it and that will meet at least a little of our expenses. This helped us to have a good rapport with the people in the village as well as outside the village. We have a small shrine in our compound dedicated to St Antony. Many people used to come there to pray especially on Tuesdays.
And on Tuesdays, we have Mass at this grotto in the Sinhala language. We were able to paint the grotto and it was highly appreciated by the people. Our orphanage is almost 100 years old and was abandoned for some years. So, this building requires a huge repair and maintenance.
Bishop Cletus Perera is happy about our presence at the boy’s home and the government is also highly satisfied with our service here and ready to provide enough support. Our activities here are also highly appreciated by the Politicians and the police. But our financial situation is not very stable since the living cost is becoming high day by day in Sri Lanka. All our children have benefactors from Italy and the community is running only with the money given from the benefactor’s office. And once in three months Paduva community helps us by sending some amount. And at times people in the village come with food, clothing etc. as part of their alms giving. We have adoption at distance program in Sri Lanka with 10 children and are active.
One of our visions in Sri Lanka was to have a land of our own and a formation house in it. In 2019 we bought land and house attached to it in the same village. This house is meant for the formation of the local candidates. The land and the house were not in the form of a formation house and so we had to do the renovations and transform it. In 2021 we completed almost all the work.
Thank you for all your support and encouragement. Let us continue to pray for the success of our mission in Sri Lanka and entrust everything to the Lord of the Harvest.