KOLKATA: Away from the city’s din, a 63 year-old Greek nun is touching the lives of a few hundred children, mostly orphans. Working silently for more than two decades, Sister Nectaria Paradisi has given them hope of a brighter future.
It started in 1991 when Paradisi came to Kolkata to assist a Greek priest in renovating the Savior Church in Kalighat. “During my visit, I got in touch with underprivileged children and got attached to them. I decided to come back here to be with them,” Paradisi told TOI.
Working for the Philanthropic Society of Orthodox Church (PSOC), Paradisi built an orphanage at Bakeswar in North 24-Parganas. The organization now runs six primary schools in South 24-Parganas and one in Kalighat. Apart from these it also runs mobile dispensary units in the nearby localities.
PSOC started the St Ignatius English Medium School in 2010 with funds from Greece. Located next to the orphanage at Bakeswar, the school has 400 students at present. However, funds soon stopped coming due to the economic downturn and PSOC was forced to shut some of its dispensaries.
“The financial constraint was a concern as the orphanage and the school involved the lives of children who have nowhere to go. But I believed we will pull through somehow,” Paradisi said.
Eventually, Magma Fincorp, a private finance company, came to the organization’s rescue in 2012 and began raising funds.