Hello Strathcona Sunrise, Kel and I have just returned from a visit to one of the camps, and I wanted to take a few minutes to let you know how things are going.
Hari and the local club here have been taking very good care of us. We're staying at a flat owned by one of the members, and as well as carrying out the "business" end of things, have had several opportunities to enjoy the company of many Chennai-Kilpauk Rotarians. Last night we had a lovely potluck dinner, and I took the opportunity to present our hosts with the Strathcona Sunrise banner and the bank draft from Fertile Ground's fundraiser.Kel, Sarah and I visited several settlement areas south of Chennai with a group from the Chennai-Kilpauk Club on Sunday. Hari did a great job of describing the visit on the club's webpage - his photos and stories describe the situation here very accurately.
The situation in the camps remains quite awful - temporary shelters have been constructed, but very little in the way of medical aid, and almost no food apart from rice is making its way to the families who've been relocated there. Weather is hot and getting hotter. The shelters the gov't has provided are made from woven palms and plastic tarps - about 8' x 8' square - 6 feet at the centre and 3 feet high at the sides. No groundsheet, just sitting on the sand.
This was our second visit to this camp. It's located about 70 km. south of Chennai. A wife of one of the Rotary members accompanied us there today to act as translator so that we could hear directly from the women about what's needed, and what's happening in the way of aid.
As Hari's reports explain, people in the camps have been given cooking pots, water containers and stoves, but have no place to store their bedclothes, dishes or belongings. They've asked that the funds raised by Fertile Ground be used to provide each family with a small shelf unit or metal suitcase with a lock so they have a secure, dry place to keep their things.
There were lots of tears and frustration expressed this afternoon - fishing boats and nets have been destroyed, people have lost their homes, and now the government wants them to relocate on land across the new super highway, about 1 km. from the shoreline. Gov't officials say it's to make sure they're on high ground, safe from any further flooding, but local people worry that the government is taking the opportunity to basically expropriate the prime ocean-front land that was granted to the fishing families a number of years back. At that time, the city of Chennai was a long distance from their homes. Now the settled area has expanded up and down the coastline - pretty similar to the situation along the coast of Vancouver Island.
In addition to purchasing the chests or cabinets, we're going to explore whether it's possible for the Chennai Rotary Club to arrange for weekly delivery of a supply of fresh vegetables to the 180 families in this camp - it feels like such a small drop in the bucket, but hard to know what else we can do in the short-term.
The state gov't has announced big plans, but apart from making sure people have drinking water and a roof over their heads, there isn't much more happening. The Chennai-Kilpauk Rotary Club has decided to purchase simple catamaran boats and nets for a village just south of the one we visited today so that people there can get back to work and feed their families. There are some grants and loan schemes being set up by the gov't, but no one is very confident people will get access to the funds very quickly. It's pretty discouraging and overwhelming.
Things haven't all been gloomy - we've visited a couple of the many worthwhile projects supported by the local club, and had a very interesting and worthwhile visit to the organic farming resource centre set up by the Centre for Indian Knowledge Systems yesterday - more about this part of our trip later.
We're catching an early morning bus south to Pondicherry tomorrow, and returning to Chennai next Wednesday. We've made plans to visit that afternoon with some of the people who've received prosthesis through the Helping Hands Project. On Thursday morning, we board the Guwahati Express and begin our 56 hour train ride to Guwahati, Assam. Rahul, one of the club members, and his wife are planning to drop by tonight for a visit, so I'll sign off now and head back to our flat.
Thanks very much for the assistance you provided in making arrangements for us here in Chennai, Chip. Everyone looks forward to the opportunity of meeting with you and Karen next year - I hope you'll be able to make the trip! The support that's been provided over the past few years by Strathcona Sunrise is very much appreciated by people here. I'll send along a bit more information about my visit later in the week.
Peggy Carswell
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