Report From India on the Damage of the Tsunamis and the Response of the Brothers
(Posted January 30, 2005)

The following report from the fact finding team of Brothers in India describes the effects of the tsunamis, their response to assist people in need, and the specific projects for which they are requesting funding. Two key links for more information:

• Donation information can be found at http://www.delasalle.org/050107_tsunami_relief.html.
  
  
• Detailed spread sheets of costs for Immediate Relief Projects, Long Term Relief, and Relief Projects for Specific Lasallians are available upon request of Jackie Berlogar at jberlogar@dlsi.org.

Report for India of the Lasalle Tsunami Services Fact Finding Team:
Bro.Thomas Michael, Bro.Ferdinand, Bro.Felix, Bro.Robert, Bro.Vinnoly

"To live, to suffer, to survive is to find meaning in the suffering. If there is purpose in life, there must be purpose in suffering too."

- Dr. Victor F. Frankle.

The beginnings:

The day after Christmas - 26th December 2004 - "The Black Sunday". With much hope and love the whole world expected the New Year. It was the day, the Brothers began their annual retreat. The unimaginable thing happened. The towering and giant waves took away many human lives from Indonesia up to our South Indian coastal areas. The word Tsunami was often uttered by many. It started devastating South Asia, killing over 150,000 human lives.

Brothers at the retreat were disturbed and with this disturbance raised their hearts for the "Human souls" and the suffering. News and condolence messages started coming from all over the Lasallian world. We wondered, worried about our School in Tuticorin and the children. Thank God nothing had happened to us. Brothers continued their retreat and started working on the strategies.

We wanted to respond to the needy ones at once. With prayerful note, Brothers had serious discussion over our response to the needy ones. It is the most devastating experience for the people who live in coastal areas. "Life becomes meaningless to many." It is in this situation, La Salle Brothers in India responded to the people during retreat.

Every FSC (Brother) experienced the pressing need for the people who suffer. The Superior General, Vicar General, General councilors, and the Brothers expressed their love, solidarity and support.

A special session was conducted for the Tsunami affected people. Each Community and Institution gave their responses. An emergency Brother Council meeting was called for during retreat. Then Brothers volunteered to extend their work in Tsunami areas. It was decided to send Brothers to four different places. Andrapradesh, Nagapatinam, Kanyakumari and Tuticorin.

Piloting Teams and report
The Camp formulated four Piloting teams to four affected places. They went on the 3rd January to the 5th January 2005 to study the situation in respective places. On the 5th January Piloting Teams from Nagapatinam, Kanyakumari and Tuticorin held a special meeting with Brothers Delegate and President.

Andhra - Bro.Doss and 2 Lay Staff.
Nagapattinam - Bro.Sebastian and Bro.PaulRaj and SJDT (St. Joseph Development Trust) staff
Kanyakumari - Bro.Freddy and Bro.Felix and 2 lay staff
Tuticorin - Bro.Thomas and Bro.Christopher & 2 lay staff
Each team gave their report. Brothers Thomas, Robert and two lay staff were commissioned to work out the plan and strategies to extend our help in these areas.

Lasallian Volunteer Team
Three Junior Novices, 33 Aspirants and 8 Postulants along with the 29 Students representatives came from St. La Salle Higher Secondary School, Tuticorin. St.James Higher Secondary School, Suranam, were magnanimous to extend the help and sent 22 boys and two Staff. Brothers Freddy, Felix, Vinnoly, and Mr.Jeya Kumar, Mr.Benny Morais, Mr.Mathinan, Mr.Peter, Mr.Marian, Mr.Singarayer and Mr.Dharmar from St. La Salle, as well as Mr.William and Mr.Louis from St. James, were the force behind them. We all gathered at Lasalle on the 7th January 2005.

A troop of 103 Lasallians (Brothers, Teachers, Students, & FSC formees) under the chairman ship of Brother Thomas Michael were ready to set off for the mission.

Formation of teams :
Brothers Thomas, Robert, Freddy and Felix along with the lay staff of LaSalle divided the team for our mission places. Boys were well motivated by Brother Thomas Michael, the Chairperson about the real situation of the people.

Here are the five teams

1. Pillaithoppu - Brother Felix and Mr. Marian (and 8 Postulants and 13 Aspirants)
2. Colachel - Brother Freddy (and Aspirants and St. James' boys)
3. Melamanakudy - Brother Vinnoly, Mr.Jeya Kumar, Mr. Mathinan (and Aspirants and La Salle boys)
4. Chinnavilai - Mr. William and Mr. Louis (and St.James' boys)
5. Periavilai - Mr. Benny Morais, Mr.Peter, Mr. Dharmar, Mr. Ilango, Mr. Singarayer (and La Salle boys)

Orientation at Carmel
The troop began their onward journey to Nagercoil Carmel Higher Secondary School. There we were received by Mr. Britton, football (soccer) coach for Kanyakumari district, a true and helpful friend of our Brothers. He introduced us to Rev. Fr. Amaladoss S.J, the co-ordinator for the Carmel camp, and to Dr. Arun Kumar.

We were accommodated at Carmel and the team of Fr. Amaladoss held meeting with Brothers and staff. There we all had free tetanus injection and another orientation session was organized by Fr. Amaladoss S.J, Mr. Britton, Dr. Arun Kumar, and Brother Thomas Michael, the Chairperson for the La Salle team. All this happened on the 7th January 2005. On the 8th we were all dispatched to the respective places for our mission with our leaders.

from Pillaithoppu & Azhikal Camp
Bro. Felix, Mr. Marian, 8 Postulants and 13 Aspirants went by bus and reported to Fr. Lawrence, the area coordinator from Trivandrum Diocease. The accommodation was difficult. We kept our luggage in a class room and Fr. Lawrence took us immediately to work.

Type of Work done at Pillaithoppu and Azhikal

1. Removing stones & Broken houses.
2. Giving Program at Muttam camps.
3. Conducted one hour Adoration.
4. Mingling with people.
5. Distribution of goods.
6. Clearing the places.
7. Helping people to remove boats and catamarans.
8. Listening the cries of people.
9. Visiting graveyard & praying.

We were accommodated at Kattuvilai in three houses and we all came by van to Pillaithoppu. A group of sisters cooked for us. A combination of religious sent up made the candidates to be more convinced of their vocation. Regular Mass and evening faith sharing was a practical help also.

Mission in Formation and Formation in Mission was very meaningful. The uncertain work, unexpected work, overtime work, unstructured time table manual work, sharing and praying our experiences in the evening, lack of water-- every second of our stay made us aware of people's sufferings.

We worked in three different places namely Pillaithoppu, Azhikkal, and Muttom. Fr. Parish priest and Fr. Lawrence the coordinator for the area commended our work. We were the first ones who stayed and worked a longer period of time without losing our involvement.

At Pillaithoppu, 67 bodies were buried at the same place. We prayed together with "Our Blue Coloured Uniform." Brother Felix and Mr. Marian worked with us and inspired us in every sphere of our stay. We did help people to take out their belongings from the devastated houses, cleared and removed stones and vessels, cleared road and cleaned the church.

In the evenings, we went to the Muttam Tsunami Camp, and gave a programme for the people along with a prayer. One day we conducted one hour Adoration for the camp people. The children, young and old were very receptive of our program. One fine day we helped in the distribution of things. The fishermen asked our help to remove the catamarans & boats. We listened to the cries of the people. We were strengthened to experience the faith of the people.

Report from Colachal

Bro. Freddy met Sister Gracia, a Presentation Convent Sister. They gave the accommodation for our Aspirants and students. Our boys involved mostly in the camp." The men in blue" had a high respect because of their work.

The boys worked in the camps unloading things from a lorry, distributed the goods, interviewed people and they responded to the affected people, keeping a good rapport with the affected people and thus winning their hearts.

Sisters of the Presentation Convent gave us good food and accommodation. Bro. Freddy ccoordinated all the other camps and visited them along with Bro. Thomas and Bro. Robert. Our group made a great impact on the people as well as the officials.

Report from Melamanakudy Camp
Brother Vinnoly, Mr. Mathinan and Mr. Jeyakumar stayed and guided the boys. We met the people and consoled them and extended all the manual work. We were not received properly and we had to wait for the Brothers to give us food. After seeing the hard work of boys and Teachers, one of the villagers came forward to offer her own partially damaged house for the stay of our Team. And Brother Freddy arranged other immediate needs with the local People .

Gradually we got settled in this camp. Our Lasallian identity was simply superb. Brother and teachers worked with us and impressed us very much. One of the victims started cooking for us. It was a different experience all together.

Other religious people also started working with us. It was a life-giving experience. We had to go to another place for our shower. With all the inconveniences and difficulties we enjoyed our life and cherished our mission. 1200 houses were completely washed away. 180 dead bodies were buried in this village.

Chinnavilai Camp:

Mr.William and Mr. Louis were with us. It was their sincere effort in helping the needy that motivated us to work even better. We started removing the devastated stones and helped the people to clean the houses. We laid a new road. We met them and had good rapport with them.

Brother Freddy made arrangements for our meals. Meeting people, listening to their cries, helping them in re-arranging the house, we shared our love and solidarity with them.

The Blue colour T-shirts really impressed the people and we worked hard and proved our Lasallian identity. We taught the children in the camps and played with them, worked with them. Periavilai camp:

Mr. Peter, Mr. Benny Morais, Mr. Ilango, Mr. Dharmar, Mr. Singarayer stayed with us. We were very much impressed to experience the total involvement of the aspirants and the boys. La Salle school boys were with us. The Aspirants took initiatives for cooking. Though we struggled in the beginning for food, we were able to manage in a positive manner.

We went and bought the things and vegetables from Nagercoil and we cooked. It was an enriching experience. The children and the people appreciated us very much for our selfless work.

The people who suffered found happiness in the way we involved ourselves for their welfare. Many expressed to us more personally. We did house cleaning, interviewing the people, listening to their cries.

We were very much edified to experience the faith of the people even in their difficulties. About 200 school going children were mentally prepared for their re-entry into the School, we had cultural programmes for the villagers in the Evenings.

Extension of our mission and departure:

We originally planned to wind up our camp on the 13th January. The chairman and the members, seeing the need extended our stay for another day. Even on the day of Pongal, the Hindu boys were motivated to work in the Tsunami hit villages. We finished our mission on the 14th evening. We all assembled at Carmel. Fr. Amaladoss arranged a dinner for us.

We had an evaluation meeting. Fr. Amaladoss, Mr. Britton, Dr. Arun Kumar, Brothers Thomas Michael, Freddy, Felix, Robert, and Vinnoly as well as all the lay staff who were involved with the relief work, involved the students and the formees for their sharing. The sharing was very inspiring. Brothers staff, students and formees - everybody shared their experience.

Fr. Amaladoss was very complementary about our involvement and immediate response to the need. In fact we were the first ones who stayed for a longer period of time for the relief work and set an example for the rest of the group. We congratulate Brother Thomas Michael, the chairperson for the systematic arrangements and pastoral approach and support he extended to all camps when were in the mission.

Brothers arranged a trip to Tirupparappu for bath. We left on the 15th January, 2005 and we had shower in the waterfalls. We spent one and half hour there and proceeded to La Salle, Tuticorin. Brother Thomas Michael, the chairperson arranged a sumptuous lunch for all the Tsunami relief team at Muthu Chippi hostel. Brothers thanked and appreciated everybody and the boys went home from there.

Tsunami Relief Team's visit to Nagapattinam

On the 16th January, Brothers and lay staff who involved in the relief work went to Nagapattinam the same night and visited areas in Nagapattinam. We went to Veilankanny and visited the areas.

Brothers Thomas, Robert and Felix met the Bishop of Thanjavur and explained to him our proposal from the delegation. The Bishop welcomed us and suggested us to meet the Director of TMMSS, for any type of program as the government wanted the church to work with the government.

Then we went to visit Tharangampady, Seruthur, Nagapattinam, Eichankuppam, Akkaraipattu, and some other places too. We went to meet Brothers Sebastian, Inigo and Lawrence. We met our Boys' Town boys who were working in the Nagapattinam area. People in all those areas identified our blue colour T-shirt boys as the most committed ones. It was very encouraging to see their involvement. We returned to La Salle with the real Spirit of love and hope.

Bishops Meet with the Chair persons

Brothers Thomas Michael and Robert met the Bishop of Kottar and he asked the Brothers to meet him for any services after Pongal.

Brothers Thomas, Robert and Felix met the Bishop of Thanjavur and explained to him our proposal from the delegation. The Bishop welcomed us and suggested us to meet the Director of TMMSS, for any type of program as the government wanted the church to work with the government.

Final note:

We appreciate and congratulate the Brothers, staff, Formees (Aspirants, Postulants, and Novices), and students for their active involvement in the relief operation. We thank the Almighty God for having given us good health throughout our mission. We are grateful to Rev. Fr. Amaladoss, Mr. Britton and Dr. Arun Kumar for having guided us well. We salute Brother Thomas Michael, the Chairperson for the relief work for his meticulous planning and execution.

With great fulfillment of relief work, we begin to be with the needy.

Proposal

1. Melamanakudi School, Furniture, 2 Class Rooms.
2. Relief Fund for a Poor Girl, Life saving tablets.
3. Kutapuli's School Toilet.
4. Keelamanakudi School Building.
5. Fishing Nets, Catamarans.
6. St.Thomas, St.Antony's, Nagapatinam.