In mid-January, General Praeses Monsignor Christoph Huber visited India, home to the second-largest Kolping association worldwide. He gained impressive insights into the work of the association. Encounters with Kolping Families and indigenous communities showed how effectively helping people to help themselves and promoting women can combat poverty and create opportunities.
In Kancheepuram in the state of Tamil Nadu, he was warmly welcomed and was immediately invited to inaugurate a newly opened tree nursery. A joint Mass with the Bishop of the Diocese of Vellore, Ambrose Pitchaimuthu, was also on the agenda. Further stops included visits to Kolping Families and members of indigenous tribes, whom KOLPING India supports with income-generating measures.
Bitter poverty
“At first glance, India appears to be a country that is wealthy and prosperous in technical areas and thus in the appearance of its cities. However, visits to rural areas, especially to the tribes in the mountains, reveal bitter poverty,“ says General Praeses Christoph Huber, describing his impressions. ”There I met women who are able to keep goats thanks to the Kolping project. Fertilizer production and goat breeding are their livelihood. Their gratitude was overwhelming for me.”
Support for self-help
Helping people to help themselves is also part of Kolping’s profile in India. During his visit, General Praeses Huber was able to see for himself how effective the Kolping approach is. The majority of members in India are female, and the association empowers women and encourages them to take the initiative. Every Kolping Family in India is part of a savings group. “I visited small businesses run by seamstresses who were able to start their own businesses thanks to training and small loans. They pass on their experience to the Kolping group,” reports Christoph Huber.
KOLPING India was founded in March 1981. The national association now has over 42,000 members in 3,200 Kolping Families.
