Kochi: St Albert’s faculty gifts new home to student

KOCHI: When the devastating floods destroyed the house of Anju Vijayan, an MSc chemistry student of St Albert’s College, in mid-August last year, her life was already paralysed because her father had passed away due to cardiac arrest just two weeks before that. When she moved to one of the relatives’ house along with her mother Vasanthi, younger brother Amal and heavily sick grandmother Thankamma, she had no idea about how she would repair her house, which had actually gone beyond repair.
But after one year, Anju and her family are ready to move in to their new house that was constructed with the funds provided by the staff cooperative society of her college.The key handover ceremony of the house, constructed at their land at Eloor Pallippuramchaal after demolishing their old house, will be held on Wednesday by Varapuzha Archbishop Joseph Kalathilparambil.
“When we lost our ancestral house within days after I lost my father, I never dreamt of a house again because it was not affordable for us. But now our dream has come true with the help of my teachers and all other faculty of my college. My father always dreamt of a new house. He would have been the happiest to see our new house,” said Anju.
The 530 sqft house was constructed at a cost of Rs 5 lakh, which is fully borne by the staff cooperative society of the college. “The house, which has 2 bedrooms, one hall, kitchen and a toilet, was constructed in four months. Anju was selected from a list of 11 students in our college who were badly affected by the floods,” said Justin Pavia, president of the society.