Sister Lucy Kurien |
Kurien
is a Catholic nun who founded Maher after an experience she couldn’t let go. While
working in the convent, a pregnant woman came to her for shelter after her
husband had threatened to kill her.
The
rules and regulations of the convent prevented her from immediately giving the
woman the help she requested, and that same night her husband set the woman on
fire. Sister Lucy was an eyewitness to the event and took the woman to a nearby
hospital, but it was too late. Both the woman and the child she carried died
that night.
“After
that I thought it’s time for me to do something, but I was not sure what I was
going to do,” said Kurien. “Finally, with the Divine grace I was able to set up
a home for women.”
From
that first home, Maher has grown to include 44 homes in three states in India. While
the focus was originally on women, Kurien said, with women came children; and
there are presently between 850 and 900 children staying in Maher homes.
The
focus of Maher, she said, has always been on how to unite people. She is
committed to bringing people together, regardless of their caste or religion. “All
the religions are teaching us to go to the Divine,” she said. “That is what we
are teaching the children.”
Maher
focuses on value based education, rather than the teachings of any specific religion.
“All religions do what common sense tells you,” said Kurien. “Let us use that
and be good human beings!”
The
board of Maher has representatives from all faiths and the staff also comes
from a broad range of religious backgrounds. “What we are trying to see is how
we can get around this caste-ism, and the differences between the religions,”
Kurien said. To mark Maher’s 20th anniversary, Kurien launched
Maher’s Interfaith Association for Service to Humanity and Nature on February
2, 2017.
In
her talk, she will focus on: How people
can come together and work as a community, interfaith and value based
teachings, and what they are doing at Maher. Because they have lived these
philosophies at Maher for the past twenty years, there are many beautiful stories
to share, Kurien said.
“It’s very important that you build communities
of love, peace, joy and communities of acceptance and tolerance of each other
no matter where we are,” said Kurien. When people ask her religion, she said,
“I will say my religion is love.”
Darcy
Cunningham, owner of the Turning Light Center in North Yarmouth, is very
familiar with Kurien and her work. She was asked by a colleague to write a book
about replicating the Maher model. She first met Kurien in India, along the banks
of the Ganga. Inspired, she returned to India to visit Maher. “All of these people had experienced
such hardships, fear, abuse and despair – beyond my imagining – and yet this
place was full of love, joy, generosity, playfulness,” she said.
Cunningham felt
compelled to understand how and why such healing transformations could happen.
Cunningham
said she is struck by how much Maher does, with so little. There is no maximum
stay – women can stay as long as they want or need to. When they are able,
Cunningham said, they are given small tasks to do, such as helping to prepare a
meal or watch a group of children. “It was amazing to watch a woman arrive looking like
the proverbial “deer in the headlights” and see her emerge, begin to connect
with people, begin to feel safe. Then on my next trip she would be laughing and
happy in this loving community,” said Cunningham. “It’s an incredible model,
one I believe we could learn from. We seem to think one must first be fully
healed and then one can give to others – yet it’s at least in part through the
giving to others like yourself that self-worth is built and healing is
supported.”
Cunningham
said she is inspired by Kurien’s story and background. Without college or any
kind of formal training, Kurien has built communities where people, who have lived
unspeakable trauma, can heal and find happiness and meaning in their lives,
said Cunningham. She believes that by listening to and learning from Kurien,
people can be inspired to make a difference in the world, be a part of the
solution, and recognize that small steps count.
Sr. Lucy
Kurien will speak at the 10 a.m. service at Unity of Greater Portland, 54 River
Road in Windham, on Sunday, August 27, and hold a workshop at 12 p.m. the same
day. Cost of the workshop is $20. For more information on Maher, visit www.maherashram.org.
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