Damien Social
Development Institute (DSDI), begun by missionary Fr. William
Petrie, ss.cc. in 1979, is a non-profit social service organization
and a subsidiary of Pavitra Hrudaya Sangha Charitable Trust . DSDI,
now managed by Fr. Subal Nayak, ss.cc., is located in Bhubaneswar,
India. DSDI promotes the values of commitment, compassion and
service which Saint Damien lived as he served and died with the
leprosy patients exiled to Molokai, Hawaii. We believe human life is
a gift of God. All share equally in the right to live in freedom,
yet throughout the world we see many deprived of their right to live
and die with dignity. We aspire to remove these barriers by
promoting socio-economic development.
Our Mission
• Provide for the needs of leprosy patients entrusted
to our care.
• Offer medical, education, and rehabilitative programs
to enable the disabled to thrive in society.
• Promote socio-economic, health, and cultural programs
for children, youth, and adults (especially women) through teaching,
social awareness, and community building.
• Participate in the worldwide campaign to eliminate
leprosy.
Our Vision
To eliminate human sufferings in order to
revive and enhance the spirit of equality and dignity.
 Medical
Damien Social Development Institute provides vital services to the
poor and abandoned in India. Our medical team consist of a doctor,
pharmacist, five paramedical workers, and a physiotherapist. They
operate: Damien Clinic To assists those afflicted with leprosy
and will soon begin treating those suffering from HIV/AIDS. We are
in the
early stages of constructing a small rural hospital on the outskirts
of the city to provide medical care to those pushed to the edge of
society, both literally and figuratively. We are designing the
facility to also provide labor rooms for the local women who have no
alternative for a safe delivery.
Mobile Clinic
To care for the sick and dying in the 120+ slum areas where the
health conditions are deplorable.
Rehabilitation Program
To assist physically disabled individuals workers travel village to
village in search of those in need of wheelchairs, tricycles,
crutches, hearing aids, and walking sticks for the blind. Once a
census has been taken and the needed assistive devices are acquired
the Damien workers return to the villages to distribute them and
train the recipients. Health Awareness Camps Organized nine times
per year to educate the populace about current health issues.
Housing Projects
are carried out in the
slums and surrounding
villages where the housing conditions are appalling. We have built
over 3500 houses in Cuttack, Choudwar, and Angul. School
Nutrition Program Provided only in Joganath Colony due to a lack of
resources. Here, many of the parents provide for their families
by begging, so we make available one balanced, nutritious meal a day
to the children attending any of the schools in the colony.
Education enlightens the children dispelling the darkness in the
young and empowers
them to build a better future for themselves and their families. Our
educational programs consists of:
Vocational Training: In order to provide a path to
self-sufficiency DSDI sends young
men and women for training as tailors, auto mechanics, paramedicals,
drivers, cobblers, weavers, and electronic repairmen.
College Hostel: Coudrin Chhatrabas, our hostel takes in
students, Catholic, Muslim, and Hindu, who attend the local college.
These young men sleep in dormitory style rooms, share meals,
cooperate on chores, and in the process learn that while we may
worship differently we are still of the same family.
Non-Formal Education: To support the local schools we
organize special group work/tutoring sessions for the children of
the slums. We assist them in coping with class work and provide
lesson help they could not receive at home.
Asato ma sad gamaya
Tamaso ma jyotir gamaya
Mrityor ma amritam gamaya
Om Shanti, Shanti,
Shanti.
From the unreal lead me to the real.
From darkness lead me to the light
From death lead me to immortality
Peace
爀牤楮屬
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