Maher (

Marathi Marathi may refer to: *Marathi people, an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group of Maharashtra, India **Marathi people (Uttar Pradesh), the Marathi people in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh *Marathi language, the Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Mar ...

: ') is an UN-registered,

interfaith Interfaith (also called "interreligion") may refer to various ways of relating between beliefs, creeds, ideologies, faiths, or religions: * Interfaith conflict (disambiguation) * Interfaith dialogue, also known as interfaith cooperation * Interfai ...

and

caste A caste is a Essentialism, fixed social group into which an individual is born within a particular system of social stratification: a caste system. Within such a system, individuals are expected to marry exclusively within the same caste (en ...

-free Indian

non-governmental organization A non-governmental organization (NGO) is an independent, typically nonprofit organization that operates outside government control, though it may get a significant percentage of its funding from government or corporate sources. NGOs often focus ...

based near

Pune Pune ( ; , ISO 15919, ISO: ), previously spelled in English as Poona (List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name until 1978), is a city in the state of Maharashtra in the Deccan Plateau, Deccan plateau in Western ...

. The objective of the organization is to provide shelter and support to destitute, exploited, battered women, men and children. It was founded by Sister Lucy Kurien in 1997 in the village

Vadhu Budruk Vadhu Budruk is a village in Shirur tehsil of Pune district. The importance of this place is, successor of Maratha Empire chatrapati Sambhaji Maharaj I, son of chatrapti Shivaji Maharaj I, brutally executed and killed by Aurangzeb (Mughal kin ...

Philosophy

Most of Maher's inhabitants are

Hindu Hindus (; ; also known as Sanātanīs) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism, also known by its endonym Sanātana Dharma. Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pp. 35–37 Historically, the term has also be ...

s, but as an inter-religious institution Maher celebrates all religions and faiths. Maher's emphasis on

is essential in everyday life, but shows especially during festivities and celebrations to promote peace, harmony and brotherhood. In November 2012, Maher celebrated the

festival of light -

Diwali Diwali (), also called Deepavali (IAST: ''Dīpāvalī'') or Deepawali (IAST: ''Dīpāwalī''), is the Hindu festival of lights, with variations celebrated in other Indian religions such as Jainism and Sikhism. It symbolises the spiritual v ...

- in a special way: people from different religions recited verses and prayed together. Love is the religion that Maher believes in and lives by. Their mission therefore is to create secure and loving homes for everyone and enabling their inhabitants to discover the power within them and develop self-reliance. Raising kind and strong individuals by providing women, men and children with stability and unconditional love. Assisting members of impoverished villages in uplifting their communities, while encouraging the use of sustainable agricultural practices. Further steps to follow the idea of

sustainability Sustainability is a social goal for people to co-exist on Earth over a long period of time. Definitions of this term are disputed and have varied with literature, context, and time. Sustainability usually has three dimensions (or pillars): env ...

that Maher is trying to take, include celebrating

Holi Holi () is a major Hindu festival celebrated as the Festival of Colours, Love and Spring.The New Oxford Dictionary of English (1998) p. 874 "Holi /'həʊli:/ noun a Hindu spring festival ...".Yudit Greenberg, Encyclopedia of Love in World ...

with natural colors instead of using the common synthetic colors.

History

The Beginning (1991)

1991, while Sister Lucy was working for the H.O.P.E organization, a pregnant woman came to her, asking for help. She believed her husband was going to kill her to bring another woman into his house. Sister Lucy couldn't help her, but promised to help her the following day. After this incident Sister Lucy decided to found Maher, to help women in such situations. It took almost seven years to get the needed support, but on 2 February 1997 in the small village of

on the outskirts of Pune, the first Maher house opened its doors.

Further Development (1997 - 2023)

Maher began with Sr. Lucy, 1 house, 3 residents, and daunting odds. Today, Maher is served by a loving community of doctors, social workers, teachers, trustees, business people and volunteers, providing homes for over 10 000 full-time residents (4237 children, 4637 women and 1015 mentally ill/aged destitute men) in addition to the thousands more reached by community programs such as kindergartens, self-help groups, village libraries, and so on. All are welcome at Maher regardless of religion, gender, caste, color, creed, or social status. Over a period of only 26 years, more than 38,000 people have been impacted with Maher's aid programs, 65 additional houses have been built (total: 19 for women, 38 for children and 9 for men) and Maher expanded to other states of India:

Jharkhand Jharkhand (; ) is a States and union territories of India, state in East India, eastern India. The state shares its border with the states of West Bengal to the east, Chhattisgarh to the west, Uttar Pradesh to the northwest, Bihar to the north ...

Kerala Kerala ( , ) is a States and union territories of India, state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile ...

Karnataka Karnataka ( ) is a States and union territories of India, state in the southwestern region of India. It was Unification of Karnataka, formed as Mysore State on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, 1956, States Re ...

Andhra Pradesh Andhra Pradesh (ISO 15919, ISO: , , AP) is a States and union territories of India, state on the East Coast of India, east coast of southern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, seventh-largest state and th ...

West Bengal West Bengal (; Bengali language, Bengali: , , abbr. WB) is a States and union territories of India, state in the East India, eastern portion of India. It is situated along the Bay of Bengal, along with a population of over 91 million inhabi ...

and

Bihar Bihar ( ) is a states and union territories of India, state in Eastern India. It is the list of states and union territories of India by population, second largest state by population, the List of states and union territories of India by are ...

.The aid for Maher also increased considerably. More and more people, mainly from Austria, Germany, the United States and the UK, came to support the project. For her work at Maher, Sister Lucy was honoured with the

Nari Shakti Puraskar The Nari Shakti Puraskar () is an annual award given by the Ministry of Women and Child Development of the Government of India to individual women or to institutions that work towards the cause of women empowerment. It is presented by the presi ...

at the hands of the then President of India,

Pranab Mukherjee Pranab Kumar Mukherjee ( ; born, 11 December 1935 – 31 August 2020) was an Indian statesman who served as the president of India from 2012 until 2017. He was the first person from West Bengal to hold the post of President of India. In a pol ...

, DCCIA Award for Excellence in Social Service 2010 Global Women's Leadership Award 2011, Paul Harris Fellow,

Vanitha ''Vanitha'' () is an Indian magazine published fortnightly by the ''Malayala Manorama'' group. It is the largest magazine in India by circulation according to the Audit Bureau of Circulations, with an average of 687,915 copies sold (as of Decem ...

Woman of the Year Award among other prominent awards. Maher and Sister Lucy Kurien have featured several times on

Indian television The television industry in India is very diverse and produces thousands of programmes in many Indian languages. Nearly 87% of Indian households own a television. As of 2016, the country had over 900 channels of which 184 were Pay television, ...

, including the popular show Satyamev Jayate hosted by actor

Aamir Khan Mohammed Aamir Hussain Khan (; born 14 March 1965) is an Indian actor, filmmaker, and television personality who works in Bollywood, Hindi films. Referred to as "Mr. Perfectionist" in the media, he is known for his work in a variety of film g ...

, and also on

Vatican Radio Vatican Radio (; ) is the official broadcasting service of Vatican City. Established in 1931 by Guglielmo Marconi, today its programs are offered in 47 languages, and are sent out on short wave, DRM, medium wave, FM, satellite and the Internet. ...

. In 2015, Sister Lucy was invited to attend the

Clinton Global Initiative The Clinton Foundation (founded in 2001 as the William J. Clinton Presidential Foundation, and renamed in 2013 as the Bill, Hillary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation) is a nonprofit organization under section 501(c)(3) of the U.S. tax code. It was e ...

. In May 2017, Maher was granted a "

special consultative status The consultative status is a phrase that has been in use since the establishment of the United Nations and is used within the UN community to refer to "Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in Consultative Status with the United Nations Economic an ...

" with the United Nations Economic and Social Council (UN-ECOSOC). Sr Lucy with Pope 512 Hi Res

Additionally Maher founder, Sister Lucy, has had the opportunity to meet with

Pope Francis Pope Francis (born Jorge Mario Bergoglio; 17 December 1936 – 21 April 2025) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 13 March 2013 until Death and funeral of Pope Francis, his death in 2025. He was the fi ...

, Indian Prime Minister

Narendra Modi Narendra Damodardas Modi (born 17 September 1950) is an Indian politician who has served as the Prime Minister of India, prime minister of India since 2014. Modi was the chief minister of Gujarat from 2001 to 2014 and is the Member of Par ...

and former US President

Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton (né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician and lawyer who was the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, ...

on different occasions. In 2017, Maher had its 20th anniversary celebration attended by 15,000 people from 10 countries. Former

President of India The president of India (ISO 15919, ISO: ) is the head of state of the Republic of India. The president is the nominal head of the executive, the first citizen of the country, and the commander-in-chief, supreme commander of the Indian Armed ...

Pratibha Patil Pratibha Devisingh Patil (born 19 December 1934), also known as Pratibha Patil Shekhawat, is an Indian politician and lawyer who served as the president of India from 2007 to 2012. She was the first woman to become the president of India. A m ...

, chairperson, Lila Poonawalla Foundation, Lila Poonawalla and eminent Buddhist nun Jetsunma Tenzin Palmo attended the event on 5 February 2017 at Maher Vatsalyadham, Avhalwadi, Pune.

Recently

Events and festivities are captured in Maher’s catalogue from which a version is released every six months. More regular updates can be seen on Maher’s social medias (

Facebook Facebook is a social media and social networking service owned by the American technology conglomerate Meta Platforms, Meta. Created in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with four other Harvard College students and roommates, Eduardo Saverin, Andre ...

Instagram Instagram is an American photo sharing, photo and Short-form content, short-form video sharing social networking service owned by Meta Platforms. It allows users to upload media that can be edited with Social media camera filter, filters, be ...

) as well as on the Maherashram-Website which includes descriptions of the projects, the history, development and the mission of Maher. The website also contains a listing of handmade Maher products such as bags, pencil cases, jewellery, floor mats, candles, embroidered cards and hand-painted gift bags. Many of these products are made of recycled items e.g. Denim-Jeans and donated Sarees. All of these articles are made in the production units by the inhabitants of Maher for which they receive a salary. Therefore, not only do they train their creativity and discipline but they’re also taught and encouraged to lead a self-sufficient life. The products get sold in fairs or during festivals and can be preordered on the Maherashram-Website. The children are supported in their skills and strengths as well by receiving singing-, dancing- and instrumental- such as

Tabla A ''tabla'' is a pair of hand drums from the Indian subcontinent. Since the 18th century, it has been the principal percussion instrument in Hindustani classical music, where it may be played solo, as an accompaniment with other instruments a ...

-classes after which they can showcase their abilities when performing during festivities. Additionally, Maher hosts dancing-competitions between the houses which poses the opportunity to exchange learned skills. Another emphasis is put on the topic of

environmentalism Environmentalism is a broad philosophy, ideology, and social movement about supporting life, habitats, and surroundings. While environmentalism focuses more on the environmental and nature-related aspects of green ideology and politics, ecolog ...

and

climate change Present-day climate change includes both global warming—the ongoing increase in Global surface temperature, global average temperature—and its wider effects on Earth's climate system. Climate variability and change, Climate change in ...

and its consequences. In order to educate both children and adults on the topic as well as make them aware of Maher’s steps to prevent

pollution Pollution is the introduction of contaminants into the natural environment that cause harm. Pollution can take the form of any substance (solid, liquid, or gas) or energy (such as radioactivity, heat, sound, or light). Pollutants, the component ...

and

waste Waste are unwanted or unusable materials. Waste is any substance discarded after primary use, or is worthless, defective and of no use. A by-product, by contrast is a joint product of relatively minor Value (economics), economic value. A wast ...

regular presentations and interactive projects are prepared. Mahers projects to help victims of natural and anthropological calamities are also promoted through these presentations. One other program targeted at the youth is the introduction of computer classes in order to further the children’s knowledge and teach at least basic skills about computers. "Gyandeep" started as a project for the children living in the slums of Pernephata to better their technical skills. Since then many have taken the MSCIT-exams and scored very well. One of the graduates became a teacher and is now teaching the children in the slums herself. Projects for the general population also include

minorities The term "minority group" has different meanings, depending on the context. According to common usage, it can be defined simply as a group in society with the least number of individuals, or less than half of a population. Usually a minority g ...

such as the

transgender A transgender (often shortened to trans) person has a gender identity different from that typically associated with the sex they were sex assignment, assigned at birth. The opposite of ''transgender'' is ''cisgender'', which describes perso ...

community in India. On 7 January 2023 some members of the transgender community gave a presentation on the difficulties of living as a transgender person. Maher therefore plans to build a house for homeless and indigent transgender-people where other members of the

LGBTQ+ LGBTQ people are individuals who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, or questioning. Many variants of the initialism are used; LGBTQIA+ people incorporates intersex, asexual, aromantic, agender, and other individuals. The group i ...

community can also find a welcoming home. Other plans for the future include: The expansion and extension of old and planned houses for women, men and children Built of a Maher-Hall in Vadhu for events, Ambulances to transport patients as quickly and safely to the hospital as possible, Built of a guest-house in Vatsalyadham, Holiday home for grown-up Maher-children who want to stay with Maher for a while, Home for elderly Maher-staff And a "Youth-Hostel" in Pune City for Maher-Children who attend school/university in Pune City in order for them to have a shorter travel-journey.

Structure

Maher's activities are grouped into different projects - the three main projects are Matruchaya (

: ''loving shadow of mother''), Kishoredham (

: ''a children's place'') and Pitruchaya (

: ''loving shadow of father''). The organization is led by women leaders - the Founder Sister Lucy Kurien, the president Hirabegum Mulla and the Secretary Dr. Nicola Pawar as well as an assortment of trustees, Dr. Pradeep K. Sharma, Aniruddha Gadankush, Mercy Mendoca and Yogesh Bhor.

Philosophy

History

The Beginning (1991)

Further Development (1997 - 2023)

Recently

Structure

Summary of all Maher Projects

Summary of all Maher Houses

References

Further reading