The problems people facing in this area are diverse, these people belonged to lower caste “since Indian society is classified and identified in to cast system. Most of the women wear only one ‘sari’ {a traditional dress for the women}. The men wear a dress called ‘lungies’ on their waist and to carry their sandals in their hands when they walked through the street of upper caste. Moreover these people were, so vulnerable of being their women been raped, and abused, by the culprits of the upper class, exploiting their labor and wealth is a constant issue. Almost every family lived on a single meal a day. In addition to that Illiteracy, child abuse, and child marriage were all part of their life. They have the mindset of accepting all these factors as ‘fate’. Which made me to realize the plan and purpose of God, of not only to preach the gospel, but also to bring a social reformation, and to shed light in areas of, education, health, and other social welfare? This ultimately Paved way to start “The Society of Daughters of Mary Immaculate and collaborators (DMI)” into existence!!!

The Lord blessed as by adding our members one by one nearly twenty one girls committed their lives to the Lord to serve under the capacity of a religious sister. Beginning three years we were filled with struggles, pain and misery. Some people who encouraged and supported me in the beginning, became envy and tried to destroyed the ministry, by false accusation to the Higher level personalities in order to wipe us completely!, but as the Apostle Paul declare in his epistle “I Timothy 1:12 “I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has given me strength, that he considered me trustworthy, appointing me to his service”. I took everything in prayer to My Lords Feet, who gave me the favor in the eyes of the Archbishop, who found that neither I am nor my Ministry is of no guilty. The Religious sisters had to work hard to generate revenue by working hard in the sugarcane fields and spent day and night in tending cattle and sheep’s, for few liters of milk. I will never forget the moments when I had to pawn my mother and my sister’s Golden ornaments Jewry in a Bank to provide food to my members. There are also days we were without food, which we considered as fasting days. The situations made us to think about the quotation of St. Paul the Apostle: “Vs.26 - I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my fellow Jews, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false believers. Vs.27 - I have labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked. Vs. 28 - Besides everything else, I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches” - II Corinthians: 26 – 28. The Lord has made us to endure hardship in order to grow strong, mentally and spiritually. This was a time of trial and refining, suspicion and secret surveillance were on the move monitoring us every day in all sides. God allowed this to test my commitment and calling! Even the supporting parish priest and the parents of our religious sisters were in a dilemma to withdraw the girls who already joined our congregation. DMI has no proper shelter or any facility in those days; we were literally living and operating our ministry under the Big Mango tree. One of our partner MS. BRIGITTE MEUER, Aachen, Germany; helped us in building a house. The foundation for this house was laid on 11th March 1984 at Keechalam and named as Brigitta, which was given after his name. After acknowledging the missionary spirit and the growth of the Society, on 25th December 1985 the late Archbishop of Madras Mylapore Most REV. DR. ARULAPPA gave his first approval to the Society of DMI, before his bypass surgery in his bed from one of the prominent HealthCare Centre in Chennai.

While working along with the people, the sisters motivated the people to come out of their bondage which they called “fate”. The contribution of the first group of sisters in building up of the spirit of the community is to be thankfully acknowledged. They become the backbone and the models of DMIs. Even though the second group sisters were small in numbers their potential in giving leadership training to the Society cannot be forgotten. The third batch of sisters followed the first two groups. I began to call them the FOUNDING GROUP, later called as the FOUNDERS GROUP. I cannot forget the hard labor of each and every one of them put into the society. The bricks they made, the buildings they built, the land they cultivated, the blocks and granite stones they carried can never be forgotten in the history of DMI. When they were building the compound wall of Pune house, which has a length of nearly 600 feet, by solid cement blocks, each weighing nearly 24 kilos. One of the Jesuit priests said to me “for the first time the religious communities in Pune have seen sisters doing hard manual labour”. The stamina and the spirit of service they showed in serving God and the poor are the foundation of the Society of DMI and MMI.

By this time the globalization entered strongly into the Indian Sub-Continent. The need of the hour was to have technically qualified personnel. Unqualified and unskilled laborers are becoming jobless. Taking the opportunity many unethical and corrupted anti social elements were opening Technical Institutes and Colleges for higher level Educations. The Church did not have an immediate answer to this unexpected educational development. I felt that this is the time that God called DMI to answer. We felt the need of the hour is to give technical education to the Christians and the poor. With support from various banks, we converted our non-formal technical institutions into formal Engineering colleges. Our colleges are always for the poorest of the poor through a scheme of “Study Now Pay Later”. Even our own poor children who were brought up through sponsorship are given preference in our colleges.

Our ministry involvement in North India was never meant to be big but effective. The mission in North India was a training ground for our missionaries to integrate with other cultures. Many of our beneficiaries have become entrepreneurs and co-workers. The stories from rag to riches are many. This has helped us to put the Word of God into action. Our service to the poor, low castes’, tribal’s and others were openly recognized by the Chief Minister of Our State Tamil Nadu, Mr, M. Karunanidhi and various Central and State ministers, who gathered on 8th March 2007 in the Nehru Stadium at Chennai along with 15,000 strong women leaders from all over India. Child development programs of DMI are one of the Key factors. The work among children started by me in 1980 at Kancheepuram, continued to be the venue by the DMIs as a fully fledged program of child development, through various supports from Germany and Japanese organization ESNAC. Nearly 3000 children are directly benefited for their primary education and helped them to pursue master degree and placement. DMIs believe that “Children are our Future” and the best place for the child is to live in his or her own home.