About us

The intention of Catholic religious Order of Norbertines of Mananthavady was to extend the education ministry to the unattended areas of the Kasaragod district in Kerala, in response to the invitation received from Mar George Njaralakkat, the Arch Bishop of Thalassery. They were in search of a place in the district where they can start a college of higher education. They travelled all over Kasaragod in search of land and facilities. While travelling across the district, they realized that most of the villages are affected by Endosulfan. More than 9000 people living near,
downstream and downwind of the estates were affected by debilitating rare diseases like mental retardation, cerebral palsy, cancer and so on. On one of their journeys, they happened to visit a home and saddened by the scene where a little girl was locked up in a room unattended. She was immersed in her own human waste. Her head was bigger than the usual shape of a child of her age. She was unable to speak and walk. To their shock, they found many more children in similar situations in that village limit itself. They were all living in an un-human situation. They waited for the return of the elders and from them he realized that those children are Endosulfan victims. The parents added that they have to lock their children inside their house and to go out for finding their daily bread. They added that they have no other go. They went back to their base and requested permission for a new mission instead of the one intended by them earlier. With due permission for this mission from Rev. Fr. Vincent Mattammel O. Praem, the Prelate of the Canonry of Mananthavady Norbertines and his council, they came back to Kasaragod and made a pilot study among the Endosulfan-affected children especially in the Eanmakaje Panchayath, which hosts the largest number of Endosulfan affected children. They made frequent house visits and contacts with activists working for the cause against Endosulfan. They reached at a conclusion that though there are many movements and anti-Endosulfan activists in this area protesting to compensate the victims and a ban on the pesticide by organizing protest demonstrations, strikes, and other means to lodge their demands, there are very less or no means for the children to have a shelter with care. There are government-run day care centers in the locality but they could not give the children a homely atmosphere. Besides, they were not concerned with the children who were living in the outskirts of the city limits. Thus began Navajeevana at Perla, a border town in the Eanmakaje Panchayath, Kasaragod District of Kerala.