of Father Walleye
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of Father Walleye |
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Because a letter broke my heart Here is an except from an e-mail letter sent to Fr. Mariusz from Fr. Francis Guntipilly, in Bangalore, India, as they were corresponding over funds that were sent to the area for the Tsunami Fishermen Relief Fund. As Fr. Mariusz put it, "When I read this, it broke my heart. I thought we had to do something." Dear Father Mariusz, I will surely give you a report of what happened with my discussions with the Tamil Nadu Jesuits about the relief efforts they are putting up. Thank you for reposing your trust in me! I am also working with the dalits of Bangalore. Most of them are either living in the slums or on the segregated parts of the villages. My work basically is with the slum dwellers. I have started a Hospitality Course to train the school and college drop-outs so that they can find a job in the Hospitality Industry which is at present booming because of IT and given the training, many of these kids could find jobs. This was a pilot project and I intend to start four more courses next year. Today, most of the youth coming from this community roam the streets without work because all the unskilled labour is taken over by the machines and these youth are not equipped to handle any of them. For this course, one of the most important tool they need to have is the capability in spoken English. None of these kids coming from slums can afford English education. Therefore I have started this course to prepare them for life as well as livelihood. Within three months, the students have picked up some English, communication skills and life coping skills. A nearby college has offered their computers early morning for teaching them basics in computers This will also help. Some of my evenings I visit the youth coming from the slums and interact with them. There is a big need to support them for their livelihood through training. I will let you know as I start some support classes for them within the slum itself. You are right that most of these dalits are very vulnerable people who need constant support to come up in life. I am hoping vocational education would go a long way in helping them. I am putting in my bit right now and exploring for more. This Saturday, I visited the homes of two students. One had dropped out because I heard he could not afford to pay the fees. When I looked at the condition of this student my heart was broken. His father was invalid and could not work. His mother worked for a contractor on scavenging. (Most of the dalits are also used only for menial jobs - like sweeping roads and cleaning dirty public toilets and drains.) Her monthly salary was just Rs. 1300/- $30 US. With this she managed the house. Later in the day she picked paper. But with such struggle, she was still cheerful. That surprised me. She was kind to the husband and understanding towards her kids. Her kids too worked cleaning utensils in houses to get some food and a small remuneration and later went to school because some school came forward to give free education. I was really non plussed. People could still exist with such dire poverty (the family of that size at least needs $120 US to barely manage and she was doing it with just 25% of it. I don't have to describe the size and the nature of the house they live in. The life of the other boy I visited is also similar but he has a little more support. An organisation paid his fees for the course but he survives with one meal a day and maybe two if he manages. (I am now raising some donations locally to cover at least a mid-day meal for some who cannot afford it, knowing their situation). This boy forced me to take supper in his house. When I took it he was overjoyed that I ate in his house that day. I felt bad to take food in his house because the boy himself did not have food that whole day but forced it upon me. What made me eat that food was that he told me that no one had eaten in his house because he comes from dalit family. (The caste of this boy is that of a scvenger - the lowest of the hierarchy.) After I finished eating he says, "I am the happiest person today." This is just to tell you what it means to be a dalit socially and economically. One has to only experience it to understand the implications of it. When I work for the dalits, I, too, will experience discrimination and disregard. Only because those of us have chosen to do it, we survive and go through this with joy. Sorry for talking about this to you - since you asked if I was working with dalits I just gave you a bit of my work. I will be in touch with you. With love, Fr. Francis AVE MARIA Children Relief Foundation Carrot River & District Credit Union Box 639 Carrot River, SK S0E 0L0 CANADA To learn more about the relief fund or to contact Father Mariusz, you can send an e-mail to: canmartyrs@sasktel.net |