Lucy D’Souza was desperate. She lost her husband to cancer in 2020, and the pandemic took away her job as a housemaid. However, she managed to rebuild her life with what she says is “timely support” from some Catholic nuns.
“Today, I make my living by selling pickles in the local market,” said the Catholic mother of two as she packed mango and pickled vegetables into small bottles.
D’Souza is among the more than 200 Christian, Hindu and Muslim women who through local self-help groups have ta-ken up trades and self-employment projects to overcome pandemic trauma in Mangaluru, a port city in the southern Indian state of Karnataka. Another 200 women have done the same in Bengaluru, the state capital, some 220 miles east of Mangaluru.
They all are assisted by four congregations of women religious.
“People suffered a lot with no jobs, business or any means of livelihood during the COVID lockdowns,” said Sr. Joel Lasrado, a member of the Missionary Sisters of the Queen of the Apostles who helped D’Souza start her business.
Other congregations that have helped people like D’Souza are the Sisters of the Little Flower of Bethany, Sisters of Charity of Sts. Bartolomea Capitanio and Vincenza Gerosa, and Sisters of St. Joseph of Tarbes.