Hatighisa: Our Sister Parish

Hatigisha is a small rural village in northern India where our Sister parish, St. Vincent de Paul, is located. The people who live there are mostly poor tea labourers who work hard to support themselves and their families. There are two Jesuit Fathers and five Sisters who live and work in Hatigisha by running various programs to help alleviate the poverty of the parishioners. The parish runs a school for the children of the village. Tuition is kept as low as possible in order that they might not turn any child away but many families can only afford to send one or sometimes two children to be educated.

Working in Hatighisa

Young people (and people young at heart!) are often searching for a place where they can make a real difference in people's lives. Immaculate Conception's Sister parish in Hatigisha provides you with just such a place where you can spend some time working and living with the people there and come home just as changed from the experience as the people you were working with, if not more.

Some of the Sisters teach in the school and there are opportunities for teaching English to the students as well as for individual or group after school tutoring. The Sisters also run a dispensary that provides basic primary health care and first aid as well as a mother and child health group and a leprosy clinic. There might be opportunities to help with the running of the dispensary. Just as in Immaculate Conception parish, the church in Hatigisha runs several parish activites and groups such as religious prep classes, Bible study groups, and other pastoral care work. There are limited opportunities for helping in this area as most of the people in the village speak little or no English. This is a very brief outline of some of the many possibilities available to work in Hatigisha that will allow you to live for an extended period of time in a different culture. Once you arrive in Hatigisha, it is likely that you will discover that there are innumerable ways to contribute your energy, skills, and heart. Working overseas is an incredible way to find some answers to the questions you may be asking yourself. The rewards of spending time in a different way of life are immeasurable and will remain with you for as long as you live.

Travelling to Hatighisa

Because Hatigisha is such a small village, arrangements need to be made well in advance of your planned visit. There are no hotels or guesthouses in the village and accommodation will be either in the Sisters convent or in the rectory. The village is too small to accommodate large groups of people but small personal trips are often the best way to become immersed in the culture and society of the village. Transportation to Hatigisha is not difficult but it requires some advance planning. You may catch an international flight to Calcutta and then a domestic flight to Bagdogra, which is the closest airport to Hatigisha. From there you may catch either a short bus or taxi directly to the village. For the adventurous, you may also take a train from Calcutta to Siliguri (the closest city) and then a bus from there!