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Compiled by: Manisha Gutman

THE CROAK is a weekly environmental newsletter put out by the eCoexist team. It is the voice of the environment on its last legs, the final croak that can either be a plea for attention or a call of triumph as the frogs jump out of the well of ignorance and denial.

Turning to Love in crisis

During the recent COVID 19 lockdown, eCoexist began a series of web talks called REVIVE - as a way to reconnect with self, with community and with Nature. These talks started as chats between friends to see how we were going to work towards a new normal and to find a way to envision a different future. Slowly, our audience grew to include more people and the discussions to cover various aspects of Sustainability and Self.

Lets speak about Love. Where does it figure in environment conservation ? What is its value in community building? What will be the need for it in a post covid world?

When the pandemic first hit societies, most people turned immediately to two groups of people for support - health care givers and leaders of their faith. We turned to these two people, to get reassurance that things would be ok, that we would survive the crisis and to feel the sense of connectedness in community. We wanted to go 'home' .

Sr Lucy is one of those people who means 'home' to so many.

Sister Lucy Kurien

Born in South India's Kerala province, Sister Lucy moved to Mumbai to access better education when she was twelve. The city's slums were her first introduction to the conditions of the poor. At the age of nineteen, she decided she wanted to become a nun and joined the Holy Cross order, which focused on teaching and nursing. However, she was inspired by Mother Teresa's work and felt called to be closer to the people she wanted to help, directly touching the lives of the poor. In 1989 she joined the HOPE organization, founded by Sr Noilline Pinto of the Holy Cross Convent to help abused women.

In 1991, while still working at the Hope, she had an encounter that would inspire her life's work. A pregnant woman came to her asking for shelter from her alcoholic husband who she thought would beat her. Sister Lucy did not know where to send her since the convent did not take laypeople. She had to send her away but promised to help the following day. That evening, the woman's husband doused her in alcohol and set her on fire. Both the woman and baby died.

Sister Lucy was absolutely devastated. For six years she struggled to come to terms with this heinous incident and how she couldn’t help. She realized that she had to do something for such women, and the result was the founding of Maher in 1997 in Pune, Maharashtra. She had to single-handedly start Maher as she did not receive backing from anyone. A friend, Fr. Francis D'Sa, helped her with advice and also helped her to find some donors to start a non-Christian organization. Maher is 100% secular. Since its inception, Maher has provided safe refuge and rehabilitation to women who were suffering from abuse, starvation, or neglect.

During the Covid lock down Sr Lucy has been reaching out to the homeless, offerring food grain and medicine to those who have no homes to speak of.

Maher Ashram

"Maher" (in the Marathi language) means "Mother's Home": a haven of hope, belonging and understanding. Maher's mission is to help destitute women, children and men from all over India exercise their right to a higher quality of life, irrespective of gender, caste, creed or religion.

Watch the scope of the facilities that Sr Lucys organisations provide in the video below...

Visit the Maher website here

The Interfaith Association for service to Humanity and Nature

In February 2017, Sister Lucy Kurien founded the Interfaith Association for Service to Humanity and Nature in Pune, India.

"We respect and love all religions. We never put down anyone’s religion, or uphold one religion to the exclusion of others. What we want is to believe and respect interfaith religion, inclusive of all faith traditions. In our community spiritual practices, we invoke our prayers to the Divine, rather than invoking any particular name or form of God to the exclusion of others."

-Sister Lucy

As of October 2017, this new community has 220 members from 8 countries.

Join the REVIVE series every Sunday

Every Sunday between 4 to 6 pm, we welcome you to connect with us through the REVIVE talks, that is bringing together a fantastic community of sensitive and brilliant people, with whom we can co create a new future.

The talks are free for registration and have ample time and space for a deep and authentic conversation with the speaker. Some of our guests are otherwise difficult to reach as they live and work in remote locations and so these are precious opportunities to hear from them in person.

Visit the REVIVE webpage

You are invited to a Zoom webinar.

When: Aug 2, 2020 04:00 PM India

Topic: Love is my religion

https://kisan.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_bBffCUaNRfmtL6Xf9GOivA

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar.

The REVIVE Support network : Contributing to a new paradigm

On 19 July, we launched a new initiative, the REVIVE support network to collect funds for authentic work done by various NGOS on issues of sustainability. We invite our esteemed speakers to recommend a deserving group that needs financial support. Participants of the talk are invited to send small ( or large!) amounts to the eCoexist foundation over the next few days. This contribution is gathered and then sent as a collective sum to the organisation identified by the speaker.

On 19 July we raised RS 20,000 which was sent to the Grama Vikas group in Mulbagal, Karnataka on the guidance of our speaker S Vishwanath who knows their work closely.

We will continue this effort for all the upcoming speakers. Participants can pay as little as Rs 100 to contribute.

The registration for the REVIVE talks is FREE and the organisers and speakers both offer their time and energy in creating these talks voluntarily.

The REVIVE support network allows for all of us to enable authentic work on the ground to help our country and its people through this crisis and to protect our natural resources. We welcome you to join our efforts.

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The Croak is a weekly environmental newsletter put out by the eCoexist team. It is the voice of the environment on its last legs, the final croak that can either be a plea for attention or a call of triumph as the frogs jump out of the well of ignorance and denial. Satirical, urgent and wise the newsletter brings to your attention, topics of global environmental relevance as well as emerging encouraging alternatives. Put together by a team of passionate Nature lovers, The Croak hopes to look at the environmental crisis in its face. It is a tool to reconnect readers to Nature, through questioning and self reflection. To understand the outer environment as a reflection of our own inner state, individually and as a species. And to take responsibility for enabling change.
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