Members of the Rotary Club of Chennai Kilpauk left at 7:30 in the morning to Mudaliarkuppam, Nijamkuppam and another village close these two to distribute ricce and aother essentials and play equipment and TVs to these villages.
The rice was purchased and packed close to the location so as to save money in transporting, the TVs and the play things were purchased in Chennai and
taken in a small van to these villages.
In the first village, Mudlaiarkuppam, we found great devsatation caused by the Tsunami, that part of the village close to the sea was washed away there was almost nothing left. I found a fibregass boat which was picked up form the shore and then impaled onto a coconut tree. There was yet another boat which was carried inland about 300 metres ad left on top of a house. In this area of the village almost everything in the houses where washed away and
the village was deserted. I am getting used to ghost villages and towns. The people who were living here are too scared to come back.
The Government had set up a relief camp specially for the children totaling about 150.
I saw a group of young adults who had managed to salvage a bat and who had started playing cricket, I batted a few balls and found they were quite good at the game. I walked back to the van and came back carryng a cricket kit which had enough equipment for a team. The kit was given away by our Pres. Karthik to a group of young adults who were overjoyed with what they were getting. They could not believe their eyes and was not sur whether we really
meant it, giving away the kit to them. We reassured them, left the kit with them and walked away from sounds of celebration.
A part of the rice was given away at this village. Arrangements had already been made for the TV to be installed and once the TV was set up we gave away the remote, warranty card and the TV to the vilage headman. Children had already gathered around the TV not believing their fortune and what was happening to them, we not only give rice to the parents but here were a bunch of people actually giving their village a TV, here was a chance to get back to watching TV. And who would think that a TV was important ot them. Rotary did and here we were bringing smiles and happiness back into their lives.
We then walked into the children's relief camp and started distributing the criket bats and tennis balls, skipping ropes, tennikoit rings, carrom boards and footballs to the children. First there was disbelief, this was too good to be true, first a TV for the village and now cricket bats, balls......
Then suddenly the kids became unruly because they were sure that we could not give something for everyone, we sensed the starting for trouble and had to ask the van driver to remove the van and move out of the village. The children ran after the van hoping they would get what their friends got. Pres. Karthik when handing over the TVs made a special mention of the aid we got from the Rotary Clubs abroad and specially the Rotary Clubs of
Strathcona Sunrise, Escondido Sunrise and Mentor Ohio.
The TV given here was named Rtn. McCullugh TV, I odn't know of these people would remember Art's name after we left but for the few minutes we were there they would and they would think about some men in a foreign land who were generous and sent money so a TV and play things could be given to them. The TV in the next village was tn. Ross TV and in the third village it was Rtn. Grose TV.
We went over to the next village and saw destruction but thankfully in this village though they lived on the sea no lives were lost. This was a smaller village and peple were more disciplined, the TV was handed over to the villae headman and this village also got 20 transistors (radios). All materials were handed over to the headman who would ensure they were distrubuted in an equitable manner. Most people who go with relief material go with the belief that the village headman would usurp most of the things and very little would reach the people, but in our experience we found that when we tried to give the materials drectly there was only chaos and the strong ones trying to take away more than their share. We always work with the locals who know the people, who has what and in most cases we have never had a problem.
There was a borewell that had bene drilled and a pump had been installed recently, we freshened ourselves here and moved on.
Food nor drink was on our mind, the only thought was to reach out and make these people happy. the next village was closeby and had faced severe damage to property and loss of lives. The tn. Grose TV was installed in this village. We said that the radios must be given to the old people. An old lady came and thanked us saying that she had not listened to music since the Tsunami stuck and that today the entire village would be istenig to music form the 30
radios that were handed out. The kids had already started planning on what to watch on the TV in the evening. Cricket teams had been formed and the laughing and smiling children were getting ready for the happiest Sunday after the Tsunami.
We left the village and started driving towards Chennai, happy and in the comfort that there were people who would stand by us in this hour of need. People who would spread happiness from a distant land, people who would reach out to these people, to make them happy to show them that people cared and wanted to help them.
We had just received news that the Medford Rotary Club would be sending in happiness soon and that a member of their Club would be visiting us in the third week of February. We had received funds form non Rotarians as well, from Botswana, Netherlands and other countries.
In most villages the emergency relief work is over and people are preaing to get back to normal life as fast as they can, but when you have nothing in hand then you have nothing in your head too, it is difficukt to think how to move forward, with nothing or little hope and it is here that Rotary Clubs step in, because we can stand, plan, persevere and help people back on their feet. Thanks heavens Rotary is here.
No comments:
Post a Comment