Contact Details:
Infant Jesus Mission
Snehajyothi Centre
Sati Road, Athani
Belgaum- 591 304
Karnataka, INDIA
Tel.: (+91) (0)8289-285 64

Inception and Development
Responding to the invitation of Most Rev. Bernard Mores, the Bishop of Belgaum, the Claretians took up Athani and Raibag mission in 1998 to spread the message of Christ’s love. It was the bishop’s dream to have Christian presence in every taluk of his diocese by the Jubilee year 2000. These two taluks of Belgaum district in the border of Maharashtra are much-neglected taluks in the state of Karnataka. Both the taluks are draught-stricken and the people struggle for survival. Fr. Irudayaswamy was the first priest-in-charge of the mission.

Pastoral Ministry
There are around 80 Catholics in both the taluks of Athani and Raibag together. The missionaries take care of the pastoral needs of the small Christian community here. They undertake village visits, engage themselves in catechism classes for children, tuition classes for the poor school going children, tailoring classes for school drop-out girls and women and various other classes and services to believers. The Missionary Sisters of the Immaculate (Nirmala Sisters) later joined to collaborate with the missionaries. Meanwhile, the missionaries have built a beautiful prayer hall – Infant Jesus Prayer Hall and it was blessed and inaugurated on 18 December 2003 by Rt. Rev. Bernard Mores.

Rehabilitation of the Physically Challenged (Snehajyothi)
The name Snehajyothi means “Light of Love”. This project is a training Centre for the physically challenged, providing vocational training for the disabled adults and formal education for the disabled children. The missionaries strive to remind the society that the loss of one perception ends not in despair but in hope.

Fr. Chacko Kelemparampil, who was appointed the priest-in-charge of Athani-Raibag mission identified the pressing need of lending a helping hand to the large number of the disabled in the two taluks. This resulted in the formal starting of Snehajyothi on 3 December 2001, aiming primarily the welfare of the blind in the society.

Rural and Tribal Welfare Programs
The region is haunted by numerous social evils: mass illiteracy, abject poverty, naxalite extremism, almost total corruption in the government machinery, casteism and exploitation of the lower castes and mass exodus of the unemployed etc. Missionaries in the region strive to bring a little relief through their social actions. They are involved in training programme for village leaders, women and youth in view of empowering theses groups to fight the evils and also in a national movement called Bharat Jan Andolan, standing for safeguarding the rights of the weaker ethnic groups like the tribals

The Missionaries also launched community development and healthcare projects in the mission. For this purpose, the Missionaries constructed a community hall.

The Objectives of Snehajyothi
The primary objective is to bring out the hidden talents of the disabled, and to give them recognition, respect, dignity, self-reliance and equal opportunities. Among all the disabled, the blind are the most vulnerable and helpless lot, if left unaided. But, once trained properly they could be as normal as any other individual. Hence, ever since its inception in 2001, Snehajyothi focused its attention towards the blind and has given training for over 100 boys and girls.

The Activities of Snehajyothi
The Centre provides free boarding - shelter for the rejected, the neglected and the despised; free meals and clothing and hostel facility for grown-up and abandoned blind girls, which is only the second of its kind in Karnataka. It provides training in mobility and orientation - mobility with white cane, enabling the blind to move around on their own with confidence; training in Braille reading and writing with the assistance of trained resource personnel and in alternative treatment models such as Yoga, Naturopathy and body massage. The Centre has conducted district level camps for the disabled, providing ample exposure to the world around and State level competitions in Braille reading to make the blind competitive. Training in both classical and modern music and musical instruments is given to the inmates. Claretians also take care of providing education in recognized schools and colleges for the blind and the crippled for their integral development.

The Centre has distributed wheel-chairs to the crippled free of cost, enabling them to have greater mobility. Vocational Training is another area the missionaries attend to - making the disabled self-reliant. The Centre provides training in: chalk piece making, candle making, detergent soap and powder preparations, leather bag stitching, chair knitting and phenyl preparation. The Centre provides marketing facilities for all the products prepared by the disabled. It also provides training in marketing skills for the disabled and assistance in setting up shops for self-employment.

Snehajyothi takes care of rehabilitating its inmates after the completion of training. Through the help of generous benefactors, the Centre is involved in constructing houses for the houseless. Snehajyothi also helps them obtain the Constitutional privileges entitled to them from the government.

Snehajyothi strides foreword spreading the “Light of Love” into the darkened lives of hundreds of less-fortunate in the society, irrespective of their caste and creed. It strives to protect those that are unable to protect themselves.