One Cup Of Milk

Father Mariano, the founder of the leper colony in Puri, started a project many years ago to give at least one cup of milk to all the children of the Beatrix School and to all the babies living in the leper colony.

Now there are nearly 600 children attending the school, many of whom were born in the leper colony. Unfortunately they are treated like outcasts, not like the challenged human beings that they are. Usually all the lepers are placed in hospitals where they are forgotten by all. In the Mercy Village, however, they have a normal life where they can work inside the community and have a family and children. Everyone is provided continual care by a doctor and has access to all the medicines they need from the village dispensary. The children are treated periodically so that they can grow to be perfectly healthy. They all go to school and study with much joy, to their own great benefit.

Under these circumstances, it is very important to guarantee at least one cup of milk to all the babies and children who need a daily source of protein for healthy growth. The expenses to cover this project total about $360 per month for 500 children. In that single cup of milk can be found the future of all new generations of the village. One cup of milk costs only a few cents, but it gives these children the chance to become strong, healthy human beings. "It is the challenge of our future," as Father Marian always said.