Our Journey to Kammam (Badhrachalam)

It was with the invitation of the Bishop of Karnool, Bishop Mathew, that led us to think of a journey to Kammam where there live tribal people of Andhra Pradesh. We, the Eluru community, left for Kammam on Friday morning 7.30 am. We were joined by Br. Xavier from Nambur. It was a joyful journey to Kammam, it took almost 4 and half hours to reach Badrachalam, where Bishop Mathew presently lives.

The journey was through the forest area and we could see the beauty of Andhra Pradesh. After reaching there, we had some rest and we went to visit the Tribal Development Society, which is run by the Sacred Heart Brothers. Actually, a service of the Diocese, it is run by the Sacred Heart Brothers, with the help of some nuns. It is mainly meant to help the tribals who are the backward in society. The Tribal development Society goes to the villagers and makes them aware of their rights, empowering them to come into the main stream of the society. Their main aim give them their own dignity and respect.

Loyola Integral tribal Development Society (L I T D S)

In the afternoon we went to a Jesuit mission that works for the welfare of Tribals in another area. This program is known as LITDS: the Loyola Integral Tribal Development Society.

The Tribal Development Society is situated in Katukapalli, Bhadrachalam. It was a long cherished dream of the Jesuit Province of Andhra Pradesh to have this Tribal Mission, and they are running it successfully. with the collaboration of the Sisters of St. Ann of Luzern and Sisters of St. Ann of Phirangipuram. They also work in collaboration with SAGIT (Sabari Action Group for Integral Transformation), and the local government.

The tribes of this area are Koyas, Kondareddies, Gothikoyas and Naiks. They do hunting and little bit of cultivation known as shift cultivation. Every year they abandon the cultivated areas and choose another place. They also go to work as casual laborers for road laying and cutting of bamboo for paper. Their houses are made up of bamboo frames plastered with mud as walls and with thatched roofing. Their staple food is Jowar and Rice.


PROGRAMS

Education Program
The LITD is building a home for Tribal children; at present they are in a temporary shed. There are 215 Tribal children attending a Government upper primary school near by. So far, 2 boys have completed their education and are employed as Government School teachers. 3 girls are doing nursing; we visited one of these girl’s house. Many are in junior college and some are doing degree work.

They have got also summer school program, during summer children are motivated to teach the elders and youngsters of their village. Through this program many become literates every year.

They have a child labour camp, which has got more than 200 of children between 14- and 16, they are motivated to study and appear in public examination and through this a lot of young girls and boys are getting their education which was dropped early.

Health Program
A medical mobile unit is serving a number of villages in the forest. The sisters of St. Ann of Luzeren started this program, but handed it over to the Sisters of St. Ann of Phirangipuram. They visit almost all the villages regularly, and many lives of the Tribes have been saved during the past 10 years that this program has in operation. They have got also a dispensary that is open through out the day. Whenever some one is serious they rush to the place and given the necessary treatment. If it is too serious they take either to Govt. or Private Hospital at Bhadhrachalam. So far they have saved 857 tribes from serious cases. They have organized the program for the health of children; the health department of Andhra Pradesh Government is also collaborating with them. They have appointed health workers, whom have given training to serve in the villages.


Empowerment Program
This program organizes 1,351 Tribal women, from 58 villages, into self-help groups. This helps the Tribal people become free from the clutches of money lenders who collect exorbitant interests, and exploit the people. They also have created income-generating programs for 42 youth groups that were formed in the Tribal villages, and are motivating the child laborers to attend training camps. They also encourage them to join saving schemes and to start income-generating programs.

The Jesuits are still envisioning that this project will develop the lives of Tribals, to free them from their bondage. They are always ready to welcome the collaborators to achieve their vision. The Jesuits have already extend their hands to these oppressed.

But what about we Indian SCJs? We must be inspired to reach out our hands to these people who are living with much expectation in their lives. The Jesuits are experiencing the love of these oppressed people, a love that Jesus experienced from those whom he loved and embraced. Now, we the SCJs being in India for 10 years, how much love do we receive from these innocent and ignorant people?

It was a beautiful occasion and time for us, to think and to make some steps to become closer to the Tribal people, but, we are unknown to them. We the Indian SCJs must start to do something with new vision and a new approach to people like these, who are living in darkness. For sure we will be welcomed and loved by them if we can extend our hand in the name of Jesus.

We left the place around 6:00pm and reached at back home by 7:30pm.


Visit to the Mission of the Sacred Heart Brothers
On Sunday morning, we went to see a mission area called Venkatapuram, where the Sacred Heart Brothers run a school, attached with hostel. It was around 120 klms away from Badrachalam and is situated in the forest area. We reached there by12:00pm and we were welcomed by two of the Sacred Heart Brothers. They do their teaching and some social awareness talks that are making the people aware of the importance of education. Most of the people are Hindus, of Tribal Religions, Protestant Christians, but no Catholics. They follow traditional cultivation and are involved in forest works like hunting, gathering firewood etc…

The people are not very aware of the importance of education and other development activities. Government officials are not much bothered about these people and the people do not disturb the Government for their needs; they are satisfied with the little that they have in their hand.

The people belong to Tribal Caste, and in that they are Koyas and also some other casts, which are less in number. The majority are Koyas and the language of the people is known as Koyas; it is mixture of Telugu and Tamil.

The Brothers explained their works in that area, that they concentrate mainly on education.

They said that in the beginning they found it very difficult to do these works because the people were not supporting them, and the students were not coming to the schools and hostels at all. But slowly, they gained the confidence of the people and are continuing there work among all the most difficult. The students are given all kind of facilities because the Brothers are concerned about their future.


There is no other Catholic presence in that area. There are no other missionary priests or nuns. The Brothers are not able to participate in any of the Sacraments. They also find it very difficult to get the necessary things for their own survival. The area is isolated from the towns and shopping centers.

According to the Brothers, the officials and authority neglect these people and they are no in the least bothered about their development on any level. These areas are very isolated from the main stream of the State, and development works are very rarely done. The people are in need of the empowerment, which means making them aware of their rights and duties and bringing them to be citizens in the mainstream of the society. What the Brothers are doing is very great, but others need to be inspired by the Brothers and come forward to become involved renewal programs and developmental works for these forgotten people, who are living on the outskirts of the mainstream of the society. By 2:00pm we left from there and reached Badrachalam, and it was the time to leave for Eluru; so we prepared ourselves and expressed our thanks to Bishop Mathew.

Bishop Mathew was very happy to have us there for this experience, and as an expression of our gratitude we wanted to give him some money, but he rejected it with love and expressed that he is expecting us future missionaries to work in that area for the development of the people. It was really amazing to see the missionary zeal of the bishop; it was the time for the bishop to be in retirement, but instead of doing that he decided to live among the Tribals and work for the betterment of these people without any expectation of reward and recognition. He was really an inspiration for us; the time that we spend with him was really useful. Through his prayerful and missionary examples he challenged each one of us to have a missionary spirit in our hearts.

The Tribal people are really in need of the help of others because they are kept aside by the society. In many ways they are cheated and they always experience the bad part of life. This journey was an opportunity to experience the miserable life of the Tribals. They live a life of hopelessness; they are innocent people and ignorant of the present changes that are taking place in modern society, while the authorities and government officials take advantage of their innocence and ignorance. As the followers of Fr. Dehon, it gives a thought to us: What we can do for these underprivileged and unwanted in our society? As the missionaries of the future we have to give space for these people in our mission plans.

Bros. Martin and Rinu, SCJ