OMAHA, Neb. (KMTV) — The Women's Center for Advancement in Omaha recently celebrated a year in its new space. Among the guests marking the occasion was Sister Lucy Kurien.
Sister Lucy is from India and founded Maher, a home for battered, exploited, destitute women and children. She told us Maher means "mother's hope."
The interfaith community welcomes all people regardless of religion or caste. That is highly unusual.
Sister Lucy was motivated by a compelling, traumatic experience. She met a pregnant woman decades ago who was fearful of her abusive husband. Sister Lucy did not have a place for her to take shelter. The woman went home.
"What happened that very night, her husband and she must've had a very bad fight, and he pulled kerosene and set her on fire," Sister Lucy said. The woman and her unborn child did not survive.
Years later, Sister Lucy was able to open Maher. There are now 46 Maher houses throughout India. She has influenced thousands of people.
In Omaha, she's visiting girls who are sponsored to study English in Omaha.
She says there are so many success stories coming out of Maher. "And so I have several of that kind of story. A child who was a beggar, now he's a teacher."
In India it is quite rare to have a place that allows all religions. She says instead they base all they do in love.
