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.
