A few weeks ago I had the privilege of being present at a function when catamarans where handed over by our Club to a village affected by Tsunami. AND now I get terrible news of an incident that makes me wonder what is happening to these people affected by the Tsunami.
Imagine all your belongings washed away in front of your eyes and in a matter of minutes and you are helpless. Here is a guy who we thought had gotten over his wife's ailment (she is a heart patient) and also managed to keep a smile on his face even after the Tsunami took away much of his belongings.
Gopi one of the carpenters who made the catamarans for the village of Pudukupam was a young man who seemed happy and willing to help people. It was his hard work and dedicaiton that we were able to get the catamarans completed in a shorter time and it was he who fashioned the replica of a catamran that he presented to Rtn. Tim Johnson of Medford Rogue Rotary Club when he handed over the catamarans to the village and wished them a safe life.
One day Gopi found that he had misplaced his mobile phone and no amount of search could help him find it. He seems to have got into some sort of a depresison about the loss of his phone and.......
something must have snapped in his mind, something that he could not manage, he had lost so much in loife, he has a wife who is suffering from a heart problem and a young child and the stress of it all must have just hit him and lsing his prized possession was something he could not bear.
What did he do?
He hung himself, till he died.
His wife now has to fend for herself and her child and she cannot do any hard work.
I dont know if it was the loss of his mobile phone alone that could have made him do this, but yes it must have been one of the contrubutory factors but I really do think we need to find out wat happened to him. maybe it is too late, but we can and must find out what is happening to these people, in their minds. While they seem OK and seme to be managing their loss, they seem happy for what is being given to them, they seem better, they seem.........
Are they?
Tsunami is no more news and people have forgotten that fateful day after Christmas in 2004. The losses remain and so do the problems.
I am not able to believe that Gopi would have committed suicide just because he lost his mobile. There is a deepr underlying problem and we need to address that.
I think we need to remember, remember that there are still people suffering from the after effects of the Tsunami, remember that what was lost was many generations of savings, remember that it will take many years for people to get back on their feets, remember that there are people who have suffered a great catastrophe, remember that these people need help and more than anything else remember that we need to help them.
You can see a picture of Gopi handing over the replica of a catamaran to Rtn Tim Johnson in this blog.
