By John B Monteiro
Mangaluru, Jan 26: Dr Olinda Pereira is being conferred the Karavali Honarary Award 2015-16 today (Republic Day) for her immense contribution in the field of education and social service. Her work in the field of social service, specially helping senior citizens, in recent years, has eclipsed, in public memory, her pioneering work in the arena of social work education, her original mission, which is being recalled here.
Olinda celebrated her 90th birthday on last Independence Day and on that occasion was honoured by Catholic Association of South Kanara at St Agnes College, her alma mater. On that landmark of her long mission in education and social service, in her response to the felicitations, she was preoccupied with ideas and projects to help senior citizens, without a care for herself as a super senior. But, she first carved a niche for herself as a social work educationist. However, we must start at the beginning.
Born on August 15, 1925, Olinda, third of three children of Martin and Lily, had her education up to BA at St Agnes College, followed by B Ed from St Ann’s. She taught in St. Mary’s High School at Marjil for 12 years while pursuing concurrently an external course leading to MA in psychology from Banares Hindu University.
Joining Daughter of the Heart of Mary, a French religious congregation, she went to Paris in 1961 for her religious formation. On her return, she was part of the founding team of School of Social Work, Roshni Nilaya. This pioneering educational institution, first of its kind then in the State, started off with a diploma course in social work with five students on the roll. Later the University sanctioned an intake of 15 students for the post-graduate MSW. The graduate course of BSW was sanctioned in 1972 with the intake limit of 50 students. Olinda was the Principal of the college from the start (1961) to 1982. Meanwhile she did her Doctorate of Mysore University with her thesis on the adjustment problems of pre-adolescents.
On retirement, Olinda went to Delhi to start the Institute for Working Women’s Hostel and Women’s Development Centre, staying there from 1984 to 1991. This was followed by a transfer to Nairobi where she set up a new Provincial House and assisted the Provincial, by holding the fort at the base for the Provincial, who was mostly on the move visiting her vast constituency. In 1994 Olinda was back in Delhi for two years.
Returning to Mangalore she got herself into launching Vishwas, an organisation promoting house-based care of the elderly. Besides providing a day-care centre for the elderly, Vishwas trains persons to treat and provide geriatric care. These trained nurses are placed in houses to take care of the elderly. Vishwas also runs a 24-hour helpline for the elderly in collaboration with Pandeshwar Police Station. This toll-free number 1090 responded with four social workers taking turns to man the call desk.
Vishwas works on the basis of a survey conducted in Mangalore that revealed that there are about 3000 households which have old people needing help. These people live in a sense of insecurity. So, it is the mission of Vishwas to help these people through day-care centre and provide assisted living for senior citizens.
It is interesting to note that Olinda is addressed as Miss, though as a nun she should be addressed as Sister. She also wears saris of colours or prints of her choice. This has given rise to a perception that she has come out of the traditional congregational order and is working as lay person. The answer has an historical origin of Daughters of Heart of Mary during the French Revolution. No one in France was allowed to preach religion publicly. Even Jesuit priests functioned without wearing cassocks. That is how Olinda’s Order came to adopt lay dress and mingled with the general populace. This Order came to India in 1952 and started Nirmala Niketan in Mumbai which is a pioneer in the field of social work education in India. The Mangalore complex of Roshni Nilaya has carved out a special niche of its own in education in this field.
At the age of 90 what is Olinda looking forward to? Projects to help the elderly are at the centre of her radar. She has set up a modern old age complex at Permai, some 15 km from Mangaluru. What has she derived from so many decades of service as educator and social worker? “Through these decades I have met and known so many interesting people who are a joy to cherish and all the institutions I pioneered are flourishing and hold a pride of place in their respective sectors. What more can I ask for?”