South 24 Parganas is a district of West Bengal stretching from metropolitan Kolkata to the remote riverine villages up towards the mouth of Bay of Bengal. South 24 Parganas has a population of 69, 09,015 as per 2001 census. An estimated 84% of people live in rural areas and there are huge economic disparities between these people and their urban counterparts. The population is diverse, including many migrants from Bangladesh. The majority of the people practise Hinduism, although there are small groups of Muslims and Christians. Farming is the primary source of income in rural areas, where the lack of irrigation severely limits the growing season. Literacy in the district is very low, especially among women. Some of the places of interest in South 24 Parganas are Gangasagr, Bakkhali and the Sundarbans, the world’s largest estuarine forest and home to various wild animals and the famous Royal Bengal Tiger.

Kalyanpur is a beautiful village located in this fascinating district with coconut palms, paddy fields and fish ponds. It has three thousand Christian families spread throughout the area, mostly made up of migrants from Bangladesh. In 1966, Rt. Rev. Albert V. D’Souza, the Archbishop of Kolkata, invited the Sisters to open a new foundation in Kalyanpur, 25 km away from Our Lady Queen of the Missions Convent Park Circus. Initially two sisters were sent from Kolkata to visit families, teach catechism, prepare Christians for sacraments and distribute medicines for the sick.. Archbishop D’Souza offered a temporary home in Kalyanpour to the RNDM sisters on 15th March 1967. The house was once the residence of the Parish priest.

Srs. Marie Celine Kandankerry RIP, and Mary Albert Edanad were sent on mission to this new community and the people were truly happy with the sisters. They played an active role in the pastoral mission of the church. In the mean time, the sisters purchased 5 acres of land worth Rs.50,000.

A building was constructed for a dispensary and staff quarters with the help from ‘Miserere’. This now became the convent of the sisters and hostel for the children Addition to the ministries of education and health, the sisters developed a vegetable garden, poultry and fishery. The Bangladesh war had left many children orphans and Mother Aime adopted eleven orphans between the ages of 4 to 10, opening a home for these desperate young children. The orphanage grew, with 12 little ones added to the group at a later stage. The community set up pre-primary classes in the orphanage itself, and later the parish established a primary school for the children of the parish which was offered to the sisters to administer. This school remains still part of our mission in Kalyanpur. The orphans attended the same school and those who were capable to continue their education, were then sent to a Boarding School of the Cluny Nuns.

Many of the orphans taken in by the RNDMs, complete their secondary school education and are now married and settled. Our convent is their ‘home’ when they come for holidays with their families. The sisters also accepted some primary school girls as boarders to the orphanage to avail the education in the parish school, additional to the orphans. Over the years at Kalyanpur, the sisters expanded the dispensary in order to take care of the health needs of the local community. A fully functioning maternity clinic and ward, with immunization facilities was set up. New services in Acupressure, Acupuncture and homoeopathic departments were established.

Mother and Child health program was set up to cater for the urgent need of the people. Other services and ministries undertaken by the sisters included adult literacy, self help groups, tailoring and embroidery training. The support of Caritas and other funding agencies brought vital support to theses services and ministries, in aiding the women of Kalianpur. A mobile clinic is now also arranged, once a week, for the benefit of Tuberculosis patients. The above mentioned ministries are carried out with utmost devotion over forty years along with pastoral works of family visits, distribution of communion to the sick and organizing prayer services with basic Christian Communities.