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S. M. Cyril’s Travels Once again I’ve been out of India – this time to Peru to take part in our Loreto General Congregation ‘06 where we met Loreto Sisters from all over the world to elect our new Mother General and her Council, as well as to deliberate on many other aspects of our religious life as Loreto Sisters in the world today. Peru is an interesting country with a fantastic history which we had the opportunity of studying on a visit to an Inca Museum where incidentally we learned that the Inca had a history of only 2 centuries but during that time they set up a fantastic distribution system, including road building along the ridges of the mountains reaching to the furthest part of the kingdom. I did not get the chance to visit Macha Pichu , a must for all tourists but got quite a bit of insight into the people through the Loreto Sisters who are doing wonderful work under very difficult circumstances. Can you imagine mountains with no greenery, not even a blade of grass ! While Lima itself seemed to have lots of water, outside the city and especially up on the hills which surround the urban area there was no water at all, only what people could afford (and they are very poor !) to buy. On my return to India, I spent a week in Pune, giving a course to Principals on School Transformation for the Kingdom of God. Just now, I’m on my way back from the Commonwealth Education Ministers’ Conference held this year in Cape Town. I was sent by the Government of India, Human Resource Development Ministry to represent India at the Teachers’ Forum. It was a very good opportunity to meet people and to listen to the concern of so many countries which have not yet achieved the goal of universal primary education for all. This is gradually coming centre stage as the latest date set is 2015. Here in India, we have been setting dates for years and each one has come and gone before we could achieve anything worthwhile, but maybe this final date now will bring the whole thing into line – we hope – but with half the world’s children (something like 60 million) not in school, we need to pull out all stops to really reach all of them and then many more to be added in the next nine years ! In this connection, I have just had to make a presentation on the Shikshalaya Prakalpa at a three day regional workshop organized by UNICEF. Listening to the vast numbers being handled just by the Governments of West Bengal, Assam and Orissa, I felt very humbled by the tiny little drop in the ocean that our 26,000 children in Kolkata appeared to be. They are working with 40,000 teachers and 15,000 centres catering to 3 million children in the alternative schooling system ! A special word of thanks to all the Loreto Sisters I met on the way – those in Peru, who surpassed themselves in hospitality, those in Ireland who could not have been more welcoming, and finally those in the new house in Cape Town with whom I spent a most enjoyable evening. And now, once again let me thank all those who have come to visit and encourage us, all who sent letters and donations, all of which have been acknowledged (so if anyone has not received an acknowledgement, please let me know) and all of you for your love and support. May the Christ Child fill all of you with His peace and joy this Christmas and all His special blessings in the New Year. S. M. Cyril Principal
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