BETHANY SOCIETY, Shillong
Key people: Shirleen A. B. Sawkmie, President; Carmo Noronha, Secretary; Bertha G. Dkhar, Executive Director
Year of inception: 1981
Pynhoi Tang, 42, still remembers standing on the roadside every morning, crying, as other children walked past with schoolbags. Visually impaired and repeatedly pushed out of school, she was labelled ‘difficult’. In the mid-1990s, a neighbour took her to Bethany Society in Shillong. Later, when Pynhoi’s mother returned to their village, she stayed back. Today, Pynhoi works at the NEIGRIHMS hospital in Shillong, supports her family financially, and remains closely connected to Bethany.
Stories like hers have defined the Bethany Society’s work since 1981. Founded by Sister Rosario Lopez, a Spanish nun working in the remote Garo Hills, the society began when she repeatedly encountered children who were blind,…
