About The Founder

L’Arche

Mira, a young Indian Christian lady, daughter of a Muslim father and a Hindu mother from Madras, was one of the assistants in L’Arche, Trosly-Breuil as early as March 1965. A few years later, Mira’s father became unwell and she wanted to be by the side of her ailing father. About the same time Jean Vanier was talking to Gabrielle Einsle, a German Lady in her early thirties, about an Indian L’Arche community and in October, 1968 Gabrielle and Mira left for India to explore the possibilities of founding such a community. Jean Vanier joined them a few days later, in the land of Gandhi. Asha Niketan (Abode of Hope), the Indian idiom of L’Arche, was founded in 1970 in Bangalore. Show More

Summary

Asha Niketan is a community of hope where men and women who are living with intellectual disabilities and who are often rejected by family and society, can become a source of life for others.

Asha Niketan is a place of healing and celebration of life. We welcome and respect difference. We are home to men and women of different ages, different cultural traditions and different religious background, of different physical and mental abilities… with different stories, needs, fears and hopes.

In Asha Niketan we seek to make a difference in the lives of these differently-abled people by creating an environment which empowers each person to develop and share his or her gifts.

Asha Niketan – FMR India is an affiliated member of L’Arche, an Internaional Federation of communities throughout the world where people with intellectual disabilities (core members) and those who share their lives (assistants), live committed and mutual relationships in family style homes, workshops and day care centers. Show More

Awards & Recognition

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