India Summer: Sister Cyril and the Loreto School Sealrah, Kolkata

Today’s visit to the Loreto School Sealrah was the sort of experience that made me question all my choices and rethink all my assumptions. Sister Cyril is changing the world. All 16 of us came for a tour of the school to learn about her work. The first thing she did when we piled into her office was read a children’s story about Peter the elephant—an elephant who takes care of all the poor children. In her Irish accent, she quickly ran through the rhymes of the story without bothering to show us the pictures. We were on a tight schedule, after all—there was no time wasted sitting down and welcoming us with hot tea and cookies. This was a refreshing change from some of our other school visits. Sister Cyril is a large woman who wears a white dress and a nun’s habit. Her back is slightly bent causing her head to face downward, which is fitting since she is usually surrounded by children. She is like a mother elephant.

The Loreto School in Sealrah, Kolkata, is an all-girls school that is famous for accepting all students (by lottery) from the most affluent to the poorest of Calcutta’s children, the street children. Sister Cyril spoke about the vicious cycle of affluence and the vicious cycle of poverty. Her mission is to break both by creating a community where children fight for each other and teach each other.

School assembly with hand-painted rangoli
done by students.

Her mission is forward thinking, holistic, and beautifully simple. It is also incredibly thorough. As she outlined her projects for us, it seemed like there was nothing she hasn’t thought of: teacher training, curriculum development, peer tutoring, dormitories for street children, differently-abled children, children of prostitution, parents and families of street children. She has something called compulsory compassion. Students regularly go to train stations in the city and give food to beggars. Kids that used to live on the streets are now giving food to people on the street. The list goes on and on. For more information visit http://www.loretosealdah.com/.

Telephone to Jesus, telephone to Jesus every day!
Jesus says I love you, Jesus says I love you every day!
Telephone to Krishna, telephone to Krishna every day!
Krishna says I love you, Krishna says I love you every day!