Sunday, February 28, 2010

Tsunami Memorial (Pictures)


Tsunami Memorial at Vailankanni


This evening we visited the Tsunami Memorial near Vailankanni. Underneath the grounds of the memorial lie the remains of 6,500 people, many of them complete families.

These people (most of them not locals) had attended mass at the nearby huge Marian Shrine on the morning of 26 December 2004.

After the mass, they would all have gone to the beach, and that is when the tsunami struck.

I'm told that no one came near this area for four days after the tsunami, fearing a second one. The result meant there were bodies and parts of bodies everywhere in this area. So much so that the bodies were not identifiable and were buried at the site of what is now the Memorial.

Later we visited the Marian Shrine, a huge campus. Although this is not yet the pilgrimage season, there was a large number of people there.

After the tsunami







I'm writing this blog on Sunday morning, 28 February. Yesterday evening Joseph and myself arrived at the La Salle Kadalisai (Music from the Sea) Community in Nagapattinam, near the sea. We are now in the area which was devastated by the tsunami in 2005.

The De La Salle brothers came to this area as relief volunteers in the immediate aftermath of the tsunami. About 5,000 people from this general area perished. The brothers then established self-help groups in the area, working mainly with women. They also started tuition classes for young children.
These projects are now in the continuing care of other brothers, while the brothers here concentrate on a Nursery and Junior School which they built, and on the formation of about twenty Candidates for the brotherhood who live here and go to school nearby. They have many plans to develop the site here further for the benefit of young people.


The average age of the Candidates living here is 17. After completing their normal High School education they will continue their preparation to be Brothers in other places.
Nearby are two housing developments, (small houses), 900 houses in each development, which were built after the tsunami by the Indian Government (with help from world charities and donors).


We all celebrated mass together this morning in a simple chapel (a room in the building). The gospel for the 2nd Sunday of Lent was the transfiguration of Jesus: a time when Jesus had an intimate and strong sense of God's love and presence. A time of being transformed and strengthened for his continuing journey.


This place from which I write to-day is surely a place of transfiguration. Transformation has occurred. Hope has been restored. There is again a future in which to believe.
Like all the places I have visited in Tamil Nadu, the welcome is warm, the hospitality is generous, and all I can say is that it is a privilege and a gift to experience. The people here live with little resources and yet happiness and cheerfulness abound. There is great fellowship and companionship. Places like this are a joy to visit.

Sunday, February 21, 2010

Simplicity, Frugal Lifestyle and Committment

Our friend, Micheal, died peacefully on Sunday, 22nd February. Requiescat in pace. Over the past few years, he gave a lot of himself to this part of India, and, by his own admission, received much more than he gave. Perhaps there is a particular meaning in his life's journey ending in a place where he served generously and received much in return. I don't think anyone who spends some time among the ordinary people of this place remains untouched or unchanged. Perspectives alter, and one feels a very nourishing kind of spirituality.

I have been very impressed by all the sisters,brothers and priests whom we have met here over the past few weeks. Several things strike me:

They live a very frugal life. Their living conditions are very basic. Often they live in very remote areas.

The sisters in particular put everything they have into running the services they provide; schools, children's homes, dispensaries, etc.

In one parish we visited the priest told us the weekly collection is about 60 rupees; less than €1. He gets 6,000 rupees from the Diocese every month to pay for his own upkeep, running of the church, paying the catechist and the cook. That is about €100.

Most of the religious and priests seldom take time off from their work; financially they have little to spend, and to live is to work. But they express a lot of happiness and contentment even living in the midst of difficulties and challenges.

The warmth of welcome and the generosity of hospitality from all the sisters, brothers and priests whom we met on our daily travels has been quite exceptional.

It's very interesting from our perspective to meet so many young sisters, brothers and priests. Many sisters are in their 20s, and many priests and brothers in their early 30s. So there are still many people coming forward. In the Diocese of Vellore (where we spent most of our time), 10 priests have been ordained each year for the last three years!

Those we have met have very often advocated very strongly, and without apology, for the needs of their people. One can only admire that, even if our resources in Child Aid Ireland are now more limited, especially for capital projects. Often the need is for something relatively small: a bore well, providing drinking water, beds for a dispensary, etc. These needs will be easier to meet.

What more can you say about them? They live simply and happily. They are very committed to what they are and do. And often they are very vibrant and lively people, and very good company.

Saturday, February 20, 2010

St. Joseph's Care & Support Centre for Leprosy and HIV



I'm writing this blog on Saturday evening. Since Wednesday evening, we have experienced a very traumatic time when one of our team, Micheal Mac Athlaoich from Portmarock became suddenly very ill. He is now in the CMC Hospital in Vellore. Colm, his son, arrived here from London last night. We all hold Micheal and his family deeply in our prayer. He has given so much to this part of India The evidence of this has been the large number of people who have come to the hospital (priests, students and friends). People like Fr. Stan, which whom Michael worked in India, has been a great stalwart, as have the students and teachers of the Community College (started last year with the sole funds that Micheal raised to tun this college for one year. Micheal knew many people here very well.




Myself, Fr. Joseph and Johnson are the only members of the CAI team now here; the others left at 5 a.m., to-day. Many things had to be looked after yesterday and to-day at the hospital led by Fr. Joseph and Fr. Stan.




It seems a long time since I arrived in India on February 1st. On the day we arrived, one of the visits we made was to the St. Joseph Care and Support Centre for Leprosy and HIV in Panchalam. This centre was built by Child Aid Ireland, and it's run by the Sisters of Cluny. While leprosy is now eradicated here, there are still people with the condition. There's a leprosy nearby, the people can come to the centre for food, medical support and care, and for them to be able to raise some income for themselves from goats' milk.




HIV and AIDS have grown rapidly in this area, largely because it's near a major road route, and the problems start at the places where long distance trucks stopp off. I will leave the rest to your imagination.




People here who are HIV positive are likely to be thrown out of their homes as having been "immoral". At the centre they can get HIV drugs which are provived by the sisters.




St. Joseph's is a quiet simple place in the countryside. There is a good spread of ages in the people we met there: elderly, younger people and children.




The Centre also has an outreach service going out to surrounding villages to identify people whom the Centre can help.




An extension has been built to provide as dining hall , kitchen and storeroom. The structure is up now and it only needs about €9000 to complete. A relatively massive sum of money here.




The centre impressed me by its atmosphere of quiet, warmth and care. If the Lord were walking through this land to-day, I would imagine St. Joseph's Centre for the support and care of Leprosy and HIV would be a place where he would be very much at home.


CAI gave them some goats.

Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Old Peoples' Home (Photos)




Old Peoples' Home in Avoor










As mentioned in previous blogs, the main work of Child Aid Ireland (CAI) in India is supporting financially the education of children. Over and above that, some relatively large individual building projects have been undertaken over the years. These would often include schools, childrens' homes, and sometimes churches. A few days ago we spent the afternoon in Avoor to celebrate the opening of an Old Peoples' Home.
The Home will accommodate 25 people who are really old and destitute. On the day of the opening, the 25 steel beds were being assembled outside the Home!
I saw what I can only describe as a filthy shack in which perhaps 12 old people had been living in. The situation was sub-human.

The new Home is a fine building, with fans (a very importanty thing in this climate obviously), toilets, wash basins and some showers, and a kitchen. It is simply but well built. People of every age rise to an occasion like this. There were lights covering all of the front wall of the building.
After the Opening Ceremony, we all trooped into the Home for some speeches and a display of Tamil culture by some young people from the area.
The most touching part of the event was the calling forward of each of the women and men who will be living here. They were presented with their own tray (a large tin plate for their food), and a tin cup - having these as "your own" would have been seen as very important by the individuals receiving them. They were also given their blanket, etc.
Local custom at these events is that all the people naturally sit on the floor. Embarassingly, our team are given shares. Fr. Michael very rightly pointed out at the Ceremony that we should have been sitting on the floor alongside them, and some of them should have been using our chairs.
This Old Peoples' Home will make a great difference to the living conditions of 25 people ..... but what about all the others who would have made their way home ..... to what?

Monday, February 15, 2010

Invited to bless a small New Church!







I got a surprise on Sunday morning. Fr. Joseph invited me to lead the prayers seeking blessing for a small new church in a village called Alliandal. The cost of building the church ( a replacement for a much older church that had fallen into serious disrepair) was sponsored by Child Aid Ireland. The building work started on December 1st, and was completed enough to have an Opening and Blessing Ceremony.





So I thought no more about the invitation as we made our usual journey through the countryside, visiting one or two places of interest to Child Aid Ireland along the way.





We eventually arrived at the new church. Crowds of people were gathered. All around the new church was lavishly decorated. I was attired in a white cassock (the type used by priests here when ministering at the liturgy. After we were greeted, we were honoured by the placing of a garland of flowers over our shoulders, and we made our way towards the church with petals of flowers strewn before us. One might feel a bit uncomfortable with something like this happening, but the ritual was purely one of rich welcome and honour to visitors.





The village where the church was built is an "out-station" in the parish of Mosavadi. Our administrator here in India, Joseph, served here as parish priest for six years, and though he had moved from the parish some time ago still designed and supervised the new church building.





Just after our arrival the electricity failed; a common occurance here. All was not lost, however, because a generator arrived after about an hour, and so began the Blessing and Opening Ceremony, followed by a display of Tamil dancing by young people dressed in wonderful colours.



.The previous one or two days, we had visited some of the neighbouring parishes, meeting children, parents and the parish priest. So for the occasion of the blessing, they came along as guests (dressed in white, like me, in the photo!). I have great respect for these men. They work in very isolated places which are afflicted by poverty. Financial resources in these parishes are non-existent. I imagine that the meagre salary that they receive is funded from outside the country. And yet, in the midst of poverty and little, there is much happiness and brightness in the people and priests we meet. Everywhere we go, we are received as honoured and welcomed guests; we meet smiling faces; we have interesting (translated) conversations; and we are always fed.





Sunday evening turned out to be a real highlight of my time in India so far. I had the feeling of a great sense of community and fraternity amongst the christians of Alliandal, and it was very privileged and humbling experience to be part of their joyful and faith-filled celebration.

Friday, February 12, 2010

Child Aid Ireland Team in India 2010


Every year a team comes from Child Aid Ireland (CAI) to Tamil Nadu, a southern province in India, the size of Ireland. People on the team pay their own air fare and their accommodation while we are here (basic 3* hotel). We hire a bus for the time the team is here and we all pay the cost of that. The purpose of the visit is to make a tour of villages, schools and parishes where children are sponsored as a help towards their education. At present, about 1600 children are sponsored, receiving €20 every two months. This means that they do not have to go out and earn wages for the family, that they have clothes for school and books. From the beginning, twenty years ago, CAI has had support for the education as its main priority.


The visit of the CAI team each year obviously also means direct personal contact to the children and families supported, and with the many people who work alongside them: teachers, sisters, lay people and priests.


This year an additional purpose of the visit was to carry out a complete audit of the work of CAT (Child Aid Trust) - the Indian arm of CAI. This was mostly carried out by Anne Patterson, Mary Leyden and myself, and we came out here five days before the rest of the team to do this work. Gladly our audit was completed very successfully, and we found that all aspects of the work of Child Aid Trust here in Tamil Nadu were working correctly and properly. A number of new structures were set up for the future.


Most of this audit was carried out in a full-time office which CAI operates in a small town called Polur. It is staffed by Fr. A. Joseph, a diocesan priest, assisted by Mr. Johnson, a field worker.


To-day (Friday), Anne Patterson and Mary Layden left the group to go on to Goa for a short holiday, so they will be missed by the rest of us having made a great contribution of work here for the past two weeks.


Photograph: left to right Derbhilla Moore (transition year student from Drogheda); Tony Barron (he founded CAI over twenty years ago); Mary Layden (retired bank official and treasurer of CAI); Anne Patterson (retired national school principal and secretary of CAI); "Me";

in front: Breda Byrne (hospital administration worker and committee member of CAI); Fr.Michael Murtagh (my former colleague in Balbriggan and chair of CAI). Micheal Gately, a retired schoolteacher from Portmarnock is also part of the CAI team here but was absent from the photo.

Thursday, February 11, 2010

Faces from Tamil Nadu, Southern India










































































































I haven't had any access to internet until yesterday evening. Our schedule as the Child Aid Ireland team visiting Tamil Nadu has been quite tiring, setting out about 10 am each day and visiting three parishes or villages, getting back to the hotel around 8 pm. It's sometimes felt that pictures tell a story better than words so here goes ..... people we have met along our way ..... people who live in great poverty; lay people, religious and priests who live and work beside them. The work of Child Aid Ireland here in Tamil Nadu makes a small difference for the better in their lives.