KOCHI: “We are a collective of survivors of gender-based violence.”
That is how the three nuns, including the survivor in the sexual abuse case against Bishop Franco Mulakkal, who reside at the St Francis Mission Home in Kuravilangad, describe their entrepreneurial initiative Stand By Me.
Theirs is a tale wrought with pain and struggle. A struggle for survival against the barrage of injustices meted out to them. For Sr Ranit, Sr Alphy and Sr Ancitta, Stand By Me is a venture that will ensure financial freedom one stitch at a time.
“It took shape in 2023,” Sr Ranit told TNIE.
Financial independence had become a major casualty of their travails. “We have taken up needle and thread to reclaim our financial freedom,” she said.
While the church to which they had pledged their lives isolated them, cutting off their means to support them one by one, support came in the form of well-wishers, she said.
“While the case was being fought in the court, though we were isolated, the church had been providing us food, medicines and other necessities. We thought that would continue. The feeling was, ‘They have isolated us, but they won’t cut us of completely. We have lived and worked for the church for 25 years. Will they do that?’ We thought they wouldn’t, but they did!” Sr Ranit said.
That got the nuns thinking about finding means to earn a livelihood. “For how long could we depend on others? We couldn’t. That’s when some well-wishers, especially women, suggested embroidering handkerchiefs. So we started making handkerchiefs. Those who received them were impressed. Next, they approached us with an order to sew bags. They wanted 10 to 20 bags. They designed it for us, and we made it. Then came an offer to screen print the bags,” she said.
According to Sr Ranit, the Sisters in Solidarity (SIS), comprising students of theology and nuns, visited them at the convent and formed a WhatsApp group to help them in their struggle to earn financial freedom.
“Through the group, they began supporting us. We were told to do a master’s in social work (MSW). I didn’t as I wasn’t in the right frame of mind. Others did. However, we faced rejection again with no one giving us internships. Yet again, people came out supporting us,” she pointed out. Some sections ridiculed them for launching a business. “But that doesn’t bother us,” she said.
As to how Stand By Me came into being, Sr Ranit said, “It was an idea mooted by the various women’s groups. Stand By Me started in 2023. From handkerchiefs to bags and then to custom-made nighties, furnishings and saree covers, our journey as entrepreneurs took off. Our financial needs and my responsibility towards my two sisters led me to don the garb.”
From six, the nuns who stood against Bishop Franco have come down to three. All other 23 nuns who had been at the convent have been transferred to different places. But the three nuns continue to stand by their pledge to fight for justice through court cases while supporting themselves financially.
Stand By Me products will be displayed for sale at WEN Carnival slated to be held at Kozhikode on September 5.