Missionaries: we help tsunami victims to start life anew
Chennay (AsiaNews) Boats and fishing nets for getting back to work, cash for immediate needs, but also pots and pans for boiling rice, blankets and other basic necessities: P.I.M.E. missionaries in India are putting into good use the funds raised on behalf of tsunami victims, by getting out to affected areas and identifying needs, but also by offering psychological support, to "give courage and hope, otherwise these people risk falling into a form of depression that's like being dead", as it was put by Fr Durgam Melkior Raja and Fr Anthony Thota, P.I.M.E. missionaries: the former, regional superior for India, the later a parish priest in Chennai. Fr Anthony says that there are still some 50,000 tsunami refugees living on the streets in his city, but there are about one million on the coasts of Tamil Nadu in devastated villages. "People without an address, with an identity".
Some weeks ago, the P.I.M.E. sisters of the hospital in Karinkal, not far from the Tamil Nadu coast, still had between 10- and 12,000 displaced people in and around their house, school and hospital. "The first to respond to the disaster," Fr. Anthony tells us, "was not the government, but nearby NGOs, especially the Christian ones, but not only, who had received immediate help from abroad and were able to take action. The people of India have also been very generous. In my parish, church groups got many people involved, including doctors and nurses from city hospitals and the sisters of Cluny, who are very well represented in Chennai and Tamil Nadu. Then government assistance arrived: food, water, blankets, material for building shelters."
Melkior -- I went 150 kilometres from Chennai, where people have been totally left to themselves. Foreign aid has been priceless, but generally foreigners come, contribute to the relief effort, write, take pictures and go.
Anthony All this is, in a way, inevitable, but the fact remains that after 3 months, people are still living in the streets, under tents, sheets strung up as makeshift shelters. In addition to emergency relief, the government had promised to give 4,000 rupees to each family (about 80-100 Euros or 0-130) as well as 150 kg of rice per family. The rice was more or less handed out, the rupees haphazardly, but usually not. Apparently, the central government released the funds, but they never got here.
Melkior The government gave emergency help, buried and cremated corpses, cleaned the streets, but those who lost everything are still empty-handed.
Anthony They have been left to themselves, but if you go to see them, they have absolutely nothing: they lost everything. They don't even have pots for boiling rice.
Melkior Immediately after the disaster, India's prime minister, Manmohan Singh, when foreign governments and NGOs were offering to bring relief, stated that India needed nothing and would take care of its own poor. But his were just words, words and nothing else. Then the authorities changed their attitude, but at the beginning, when they were still not fully aware, they were already saying that India could go it alone! An expression of extreme nationalistic sentiment, at the expense of the people.
What did you manage to do?
Anthony Through the bank, almost immediately, we received 15,000 euros (,000) from the campaign launched by P.I.M.E. in Italy, the P.I.M.E. missionary centre in Milan and AsiaNews; the Missionaries of the Immaculate, worst hit than we, received 30,000 euros. Later more money arrived. We have already helped various remote villages, far from Chennai that few others reached, and we bought two fishing boats, because these people have always lived on fishing and want to go back to fishing. A boat costs about 20,000 rupees, about 400 euros (1 euro = 50 rupees), but means survival for those families. To give good help, one must go out to those who are most helpless, the isolated groups who have nothing.
Melkior The P.I.M.E. sisters too are doing a lot of good work in the Karinkal hospital, which is not far from the Tamil Nadu coast. A few weeks ago, they still had 10- or 12,000 refugees in and around their house, school and hospital. Various Missionaries of the Immaculate lost everything in the tsunami, their families have nothing left and some lost relatives.
How are you getting help out?
Anthony We are mainly trying to provide the means to work: boats and fishing nets; then emergency help, and cash too when people don't even have a pot for cooking. We have been distributing pots purchased here in India, as otherwise family have no way to boil rice.
The government promised economic assistance, but so far nothing has shown up. Authorities say they need to find land where people can be settled, but they have yet to find such places. People are keeping busy, but they don't have the means to fish and there are no other jobs, so they wait.
How many tsunami refugees are living in the streets in Chennai
Anthony More than 50,000 are on the streets in the city, about one million on the Tamil Nadu coast, in devastated villages. People with no address, no identity, no registration. The government is worried about collecting all the names of families, as they would then be obliged to give out the money that was promised, so many are left out of the picture.
But isn't the money being given out?
Anthony The government dealt with the clean-up, the burial of bodies, emergency survival relief, but now it is the local Tamil Nadu government which is not helping. Just days ago, Tamil Nadu's chief minister said that the central government in Delhi had deposited relief funds in banks and that individual, registered families could get funds from the banks themselves in the form of low-interest loans. To give an example, if you withdraw 1000 rupees, you undertake to pay the amount back with a bit of interest, or rather, you should be given 1000, but instead you are given 600, but you are obliged to pay back the entire loan. People tell me they are not taking the funds made available by the government because once you're tied to the bank, you risk being tied to if for life. Here in India, loan sharking is very common, so people do without loans!
I have been visiting survivors and they tell me that the children and the weak are not sleeping well; tsunami nightmares keep them awake. So, I have been making my rounds with sisters, doctors and psychologists to examine these groups and also help them psychologically, otherwise they risk being marked for life.
What is your parish doing?
Anthony It's not mine, it's the diocese's: I'm one of the assistants. It is a very large parish, with a congregation of 15,000. It's called the Risen Christ Parish. Our members are very generous: when I ask people to accompany me, even professionals, nurses, they are always very forthcoming and are also generous about donating money.
I think there are two things to be done: help those who have nothing and, secondly, give courage and hope, otherwise these people risk falling into a form of depression that's like being dead. They suffered terrible trauma, and we are getting a sense of it bit by bit, by talking with them and gaining their trust.
Are all Catholic parishes engaged in this kind of work?
Anthony Basically, but it is not just a matter of giving money, but also of going to see and share their sorrow. There are thousands of people who have received nothing. We have already adopted two villages: emergency relief had initially arrived there, but then they were left to themselves, they saw no one else. I saw a girl of 10 who lost her parents and 3 brothers and sisters.
We are helping the villages we adopted with boats, clothes, blankets, pots and pans, and other basic needs and we continue visiting them with sisters and laypeople who give their time. We can see this picks them up. There are many other villages who have asked for the same kind of assistance: we're starting with others as well.
Are you helping everyone or mainly Catholics?
Anthony No Catholics: Catholics are getting by better than others. The two adopted villages are Hindu. We make no distinction.
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