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Report on Father Fleming Fund and Trip to Orissa, February and March, 2009
Please see photos in the Gallery!
Feb 23, 2009 (Tue)
My wife, Mitzi & I left Bombay heading east to Bhubaneshwar, Orissa flying on one of the new, private air carriers of India: Kingfisher Red Airlines (yes, the same owner as good old Kingfisher beer). We are on our way to the area I served in as a PCV in 1971-73 to meet old friends and check up on the work of the Father Fleming Fund (FFF). One thing about India, they have not forgotten the concept of service. On this 2¼ hour flight, the service is superb, and the flight attendants refreshingly courteous. It's Oscar award night back home, and passengers are crowded around the TV monitors in the Bombay airport watching 'Slumdog Millionaire' sweep the awards amid their cheers. A dozen years ago Gerry and I walked through this slum with my father-in-law-but that is a story for another time.
We reached Bhubaneshwar about noon, and then took a pre-arranged private taxi (yes, it was an old Ambassador) for the 1½-hour drive to Puri on the Bay of Bengal. Puri, an Indian holy city, is the home of the famous Jagannath temple and annual Ratha Yatra Hindu festival. We would spend a few days here in relaxation before heading to Sambalpur, my old stomping ground, in the west.
Mitzi has never been to Puri before, but this is my sixth visit. Our PCV group held a mini-reunion here in 2006. And, way back in 1972, I attended the Ratha Yatra here. To this date, I have never been in the midst of so many people. I'm not sure how many pilgrims were there in 1972, but it was estimated at 10 million in 2008! I do remember that I was glad I was much taller (6'-2") than most of the Indian pilgrims, so my head stuck out above the crowds and helped me avoid claustrophobia.
We arrived at our hotel, the Hans Coco Palms, on the beach at the south end of town near the lighthouse. This is a really nice place with a large swimming pool and a very good Indian restaurant. Strangely, there is a large contingent from Norway staying here. When I was a PCV, there was only one real nice hotel here, the South East Railway Guest Hotel, a grand old place. Today, there are dozens of nice hotels scattered along the beautiful white sand beach. We spent 3 days relaxing here, and I swam and body surfed in the ocean several times. The surf here always is tremendous, and the water and beach very clean.
Feb 25, 2009 (Wed)
We boarded the Puri-Sambalpur Intercity Express train at 3:45 pm, traveling in an A/C chair car. When I was a PCV, there was no east-west rail service across Orissa, but, today, the track has been laid and there are a number of trains plying that route. In those days, it was a 14-hour bus ride for us! We reached Sambalpur at 10:00 pm, 20 minutes late but a trip of just 6¼ hours! During the trip, I bumped into a young man at the back of the train and we began talking. He was with his mother, father, and sister. His father was listening to us talk, and then said to me:"I remember you". To make a long story short, Gerry (my associate as a PCV) and I used to wrestle with him in Sambalpur! (We both won Orissa state wrestling titles in our respective weight classes in 1972). What a small world.
At Sambalpur, Fr. John Maleikal, Sr. Lillian, Sr. Marilyn, and a driver, all from Vikas Deepti (the organization that FFF teams with here), met us with flowers and whisked us off to Bargarh in their jeep, a 1¼ hour drive. We are staying at the handicapped children's center here, Vikas Bhavan ('development abode'). This is the seat of Vikas Deepti,. Our room has two single beds with mosquito nets, some shelves, and an attached bathroom. We met Fr. Pais, the other priest who works with Vikas Deepti, had a beer, and hit the hay.
Feb 26, 2009 (Thurs)
We woke at 8:00 am and had breakfast with the two nuns. They are so quick to serve me that before I can reach anything on the table, such as salt, and if I just look at it, they have it in their hand and are giving it to me. We then set out for one of the leper colonies, Jamurda Colony, on the outskirts of town. The primary school children greeted us with flowers, even though they only had 15 minutes notice of our coming. We handed out uniforms to all children who had a good attendance record at school. Then we handed out candies to them and the other lepers. This was Mitzi's first time doing this, and her eyes were lacrimose. Placing a candy in a hand that bears no fingers is an experience that will soften even the hardest heart. I really consider it a privilege to have been afforded this opportunity in my life. It is so good for your humility.
We also looked at a fishpond they had just completed. In it they will raise fish for food. Fr. John said that they are not building any more houses at the moment, as donations are down. However, the leper women have asked for enclosed toilets. Fr. John sees this as a heartening sign that their dignity is coming up-they no longer feel comfortable being seen using the fields as their toilet. He is working on this project.
Sr. Lillian brought two prosthetic legs along. Two leper women had previously been measured for these, and the workshop at Vikas Bhavan manufactured them. Mitzi and I gave one each to the two women. This was another touching moment, to hand someone a leg so they could walk again. Sr. Lillian then fitted the artificial legs to the women, and they took their first steps, with tears of gratefulness in their eyes.
We met a leper boy who just graduated from high school and is the first ever to paln to go to college. He wants to become a doctor! Can you believe that, a leper boy a doctor!
All three of the leper colonies we assist now have a leper person as an administrator. This is working out very well, as it takes a lot of petty decisions and problems away from Fr. John. He then meets weekly with the administrators to discuss major problems and issues. This has enabled him to concentrate more on the general administration of Vikas Deepti.
In addition to the three leper colonies and handicapped children's center, they are operating an outreach program for children in need that reaches over 800 children. I questioned Fr. John about why there are so many kids with problems. It is due to (1) birth defects, often because of poor nutrition during maternity, (2) disease, due to lack of sanitation and inoculation, and (3) abuse. Children that cannot benefit from staying right at Vikas Bhavan are treated in this outreach program. Children housed at Vikas Bhavan are treated and given physical therapy there. They are bussed daily to three different schools in the area for education by a Vikas Deepti-owned bus. Fr. Pais works closely with the outreach program and with governmental agencies advocating for lepers and handicapped to obtain grants and funds.
We returned to our quarters for lunch and a nap, but it was too hot to sleep. Temps are running about 104°F in the afternoons, and our place is on the top with no shelter from the sun. So we rested as best we could. Then we had chai and set out for Modhpur to the west, almost into the state of Chattisgarh, one of the new Indian states, formerly part of MP. Fr. Pais drove. Although a national highway, the road was horrible, full of huge potholes. Too many overweight trucks, and contractors worrying that if they fix the roads properly they will not have future work are the reasons.
Modhpur is one of the sites that recently experienced violence from the anti-Christian movement here. It consists of a school, church, and convent. The church and convent were ransacked badly. All furniture was broken & burned, fans pulled out of the ceiling, all windows broken, toilets smashed, etc. Everyone, including the children, escaped to the jungle ahead of the angry mob of 200. The irony in all of this is that 95% of these school children are Hindus, including some from the leper colonies. They are attempting to rebuild, but have received no funds.
This evening, I handed over the charity money collected to Fr. Pais for deposit in the Vikas Deepti account. He was very grateful.
Feb 27, 2009 (Fri)
Made a trip to Balangir, south of here today by jeep. Trip took three hours. There was one very bad stretch of road for about 10 Km where we could only average about 5 mph. In Balangir, we met my former Peace Corps language instructor, Gayatri Saraf. She is a recently retired school headmistress, and a renowned poet in Orissa. On her living room wall hung a photo of herself with the president of India taken a couple of years ago when she was selected teacher of the year in Orissa. We had a wonderful visit, and a nice meal, and I showed her photos of my family and home. Then we returned to Bargarh. Lots of beautiful flame-of-the-forest trees along the way, as well as cell phone towers all over. Everyone in India, except the very poorest people, now has a cell phone. We reached Bargarh at 5:45 pm after a long, hot, dusty, but wonderful day.
Feb 28, 2009 (Sat)
This morning we visited Rahunia leper colony, not far from Vikas Bhavan. We visited a primary school and observed the children of second standard receiving a lesson on numbers and counting. School is in session on Saturday mornings.
Then we stopped in at a convent hospital nearby where a new well had just been bored, 200 ft deep. They were just conducting a blessing ceremony for the well and I was honored with the first drink of water from it. Then we were offered freshly made payasum (a south Indian sweet).
After this, I walked around the Vikas Bhavan premises with Fr. Pais. They do a lot to grow their own food for the kids and staff. There are cattle for milk, pigs for meat, 200 chickens for eggs, two fishponds for fish, rice paddy, and vegetable patches.
In the evening the children put on a program of singing and dancing for us. I'm always amazed at how well these kids, with their missing limbs, prosthetic legs, or misshapen feet can dance! We gave out candies to them all afterwards, and I said a few words of thanks to them in Oriya.
March 1, 2009 (Sun)
Attended Mass right in the compound this morning, concelebrated by Fr. Pais and Fr. John. The Mass was offered for Mitzi & me, and for Mitzi's recently deceased dad. The few Christian children of the compound attend, too.
Then we had breakfast on the terrace and said our goodbyes and headed back to Sambalpur. It was sad to say goodbye to these wonderful people. In Sambalpur, I visited some old friends of Peace Corps days. Prakash is the son of an old friend who had a farm and worked closely with a number of PCVs. He now operates the farm and is getting married next week. Snigdha was one of our top students, and is now a retired headmistress. We had lunch with her. We also found the house I used to live in and looked through it. Several of the neighbors recognized me and we talked. Sambalpur was a town of about 75,000 in 1972. Today it is over 400,000 and I found it very difficult to find my way around.
We had dinner with the family of the fellow I met on the train who I'd wrestled with years ago, and they brought us to the train station. We caught the train back to Bhubaneshwar at 11:20 pm, reached there in the morning, went to the airport, and were back in Bombay by early afternoon.
I was impressed, as always, by the work being done at the handicapped children's center and in the leper colonies. Leprosy is definitely decreasing, and the colonies are becoming much more self-sufficient and autonomous. More and more handicapped children are being served, but there remains much to be done. Vikas Deepti is well-run and efficient, and I'm very satisfied with the spending of our money there.
Everyone there expressed their sincere gratitude to all of you who have donated to this charity. Gerry and I add our heartfelt thanks to all of you, and to FOI for helping out with this worthy cause. I only wish you all could witness the work.
Tom Brayak
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