Ashir Sadan Ashram is a dependent house of St. Joseph's Priory, Makkiyad, India. It is located in the northeastern part of the country where there are only 2.3% Catholics from a population exceeding 57 million.

“When we arrived here in 1999, the local people had great apprehension regarding us since they were totally ignorant about Christianity and Christian monasticism. There was a rumor among the people that we had come to this non-Christian area in order to convert people to Christianity”. writes Fr Devasia Varavunkal, OSB

The monks decided to open a school for the local children and the following year they offered boarding for both tribal and adivasy children. An adivasy is a village of tribal people that does not have a caste system. With the opening of the school, there was a sudden change in people's attitude.

The importance the monks gave to prayer and manual labor created a very good impression among the people. Slowly, they started to visit and then enrol their children in the school.

The parents are very happy with the teaching methods and the discipline being cultivated in their children. “We try to give a moral education and school begins and ends with our Christian prayers and hymns”, explains Fr Devasia. “There are no complaints at all for teaching their children our Christian prayers”.

Classes are conducted in a shed made out of bamboo and tin sheets. It is very hot in the summer and the existing space is not large enough for all the students. We would like to have a different building for next year but presently we do not have the means to do this.

The immediate neighbours are very orthodox Brahmins, tribal families. They now invite the monks to visit their homes. There are also adivasy villages nearby and some of the boys and girls from these villages come to work in the gardens with the monks.

We hope to develop a dairy farm here as there is a great demand for milk. A very small farm has been started with a few ordinary local cows donated by one of our diocesan priests. There is a need for a cow shed and a few high breed cows to get the project on its way.

This dairy farm would be a great help for the boarding children and would provide a valuable income. The only other source of income available is from the paddy that is cultivated.

Many priests, religious and laity are also waiting for the completion of the ashram, which is being financed by AIM International. Many of them have already expressed their ardent desire to experience Benedictine life and spirituality.

Following the motto of St. Benedict, ‘Ora et Labora’, is a real witness for the people here and our greatest gift to them.