Our neighboring village is one of the villages in Kerala that was quite affected by the tsunami. More than 2,156 families are still suffering. Five people died. The leaders of the 3 nearby villages (Kanamaly, Cheriakadavu and Kandakadavu) recently came together to discuss what could be done for them. They decided to distribute food, and invited the SCJ community at Dehon Bhavan to participate in this action.
It became a cooperation of the Hindu, Muslim and Catholic population. Members of the Congress party took the leadership. They decided to distribute the food on the 57th memorial day of the assassination of Gandhi . It was very meaningful decision.
So on January 30th, the leaders showed up at the village and expressed their concern for the affected people of the tsunami. They invited the people to work together to rebuild their village in cooperation with the local government, adding that if there are any irregularities they should immediately inform the coordinators. They emphasized the example Mahatma Gandhi, the Father of the Nation, and spoke of the help coming from the central party leader, Mrs. Sonia Gandhi.
The distribution of the food than took place. Our SCJ community accepted the responsibility for 562 out of the 2,156 families. We divided up 2,250 kgs of rice in buckets of 4 kgs to distribute to the families. We also plan to further assist the families in this area by building one or more water tanks. Plans are now taking place in dialogue with the local authorities.
Next Thursday, we will visit an area in Tamil Nadu which was greatly affected by the tsunami, in the Kanyakumari district, where more than 1,200 people died. There was even a mass burial of more than 200 people. The psychological and emotional pain is still very much with the survivors.
After our visit I will give you further information.
With love and concern
On behalf of our Indian community
Fr..Martin scj
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