Report 2000 for Abbey CBS India Project

In September 1999, the Abbey was approached, on account of its record in espousing social causes in developing countries, to become involved in an India project. This type of project was a Christian Brother initiative arising out of the move to the margins, one of the directions of the Brothers’ work in the modern world.There was great enthusiasm from students for the project and also the full backing of the school authorities.

In the New Year, those interested made their wishes known and thus began the selection process that involved that involved an application in the form of an essay outlining their reasons, their hopes and their reservations. Interviews followed before our group of six was selected.

In the New Year (2000), those interested made their wishes known and thus began the selection process that involved that involved an application in the form of an essay outlining their reasons, their hopes and their reservations. Interviews followed before our group of six was selected.

From The Abbey six students travelled – David Boland, Stephen Ryan, Donough Shanahan, Charles Walsh, Liam Quirke and Eoin O’Dwyer accompanied by Dick Walsh and recently retired Michael Ryan. We travelled and worked with other students from St Josephs C.B.S. Drogheda. At all stages both schools acted as a team. Travel arrangements, accommodation and project activity were planned as a unit.

Their RE teacher and Transition Year Co-ordinator, Marie McCabe, accompanied them. Both groups had met previously during a preparatory weekend workshop in Emmaus Conference Centre in Swords, Co Dublin in September. Right from the start, both groups bonded as one and such unity proved to be a major factor in the success of the project.

PREPARATION

Each student was set a target of £800 to be raised out side of school before the end of the Summer holidays. This fundraising got off to a fast start with table-quiz, sponsored cycle, raffles, summer jobs, whist drive and also support from relations, friends and other donors. All not only achieved their targets on time, but far exceeded the nominated amounts, some raising almost double the amount. School based efforts consisted of grocery packing, flag days, match forecasts, bottle-coin collection as well as a number of anonymous donations and help from local firms. Others sponsored travel and health-related services required by our participants.

TRAVEL

Both groups met at 5 a.m. in Dublin Airport on Wednesday Oct 25 and before dawn broke they were on board a British Midland flight bound for Heathrow.. After the expected five-hour wait in Heathrow we took our seats on the Royal Brunei seven-hour flight across Europe and the Middle East to land in the recently opened sumptuous airport in Dubai as darkness had just fallen. Then in the early hours of Thursday morning our flight continued for another four hours to arrive in Calcutta International Airport just before 9 a.m.. Temperatures of 27 degrees met us as we emerged onto the tarmac, quite a change from the cold

climate we had left at home. All flights were extremely smooth and comfortable and on time. Because of the non-arrival of the luggage of three of the Tipperary party, there was a long hold-up in the Arrivals hall. The non-appearance lasted for a full 17 days i.e. till we returned to Calcutta Airport on the way home. Having planned for such an eventuality, we all carried emergency supplies as hand luggage, and although inconvenient and awkward, some of us learned at first hand how little one can actually live on.

Br Maurice Finn (a native of Youghal) met us in St Joseph’s Bow Bazaar St and base was established there. The Brother’s house is located in the heart of the city with the crowds and the homeless right on the doorstep. St Joseph’s is a large fee-paying school ranging from kindergarten to class 10 (Leaving Cert). Also attached is St George’s Free School covering the same age group and Aashirvad a project run by the Brothers for street children. Neither of these schools were in operation on the days that we were there on account of the Diwali festival - the Hindu Festival in honour of the goddess Kali. During the two days of this festival, colourful elaborate shrines and altars in honour of Kali are erected in the lanes by the local dwellers and crowds congregate there till the early hours paying their homage to the sound of their music – music that seemed to be predominantly drum based. Such centres of activity were beneath our windows, but the fatigue of much travel was sufficient to counteract the throbbing decibels about us.

Arriving in the haven of St Joseph’s gave us some sense of security after being bombarded on all sides by so many shocking attacks on our senses. Like it or not, the vast crowds on all streets and lanes feels threatening at first. One’s sense of control is shattered temporarily and time is essential to come to terms with this new culture. Reassurance from someone in the know assists in the process and it was in this way that Br Maurice was invaluable. His words, his company on the streets and lanes in the immediate vicinity of the school gradually rebuilt our sense of control and before the end of our two-day visit to the city, we were at ease on the crowded pavements and on the apparently chaotic streets.

Jim McGuinness, an Australian volunteer with the Missionaries of Charity (who often visits his relations in the Glen of Aherlow ) acted as our guide for the two days. Jim gave great direction to our few days in Calcutta. He guided us from A to B using the constantly moving busses, trains and taxis and also he directed our gaze to the life of the poor and suffering. He recognises the difficulties of our likes there and the tendency to feel pity only. He constantly speaks of the dignity of the poor and of the privilege of working for them. Such respect for their dignity doesn’t take from the fact that it is so unnecessary that they live such wretched lives.

ORPHANAGE

A walk through the crowded streets and a bus ride, -a memory in itself,- brought us to Shisha Bavan, a home for infants abandoned for one reason or another in the city. We all were touched by these children in their cots, being cared for by the Sisters of Mother Teresa. The explanation by one of the Sisters of how they were abandoned was incredible and unbelievable. The infants were naturally passive during our short visit but the older ones (age 4,5) once they got used to us, tended to cling and we found it difficult to move away. We felt so awkward just passing through and felt the need to get involved in doing something for them.

MOTHERHOUSE

Next was a visit to the Motherhouse where we just caught the end of Mass around the simple tomb of Mother Theresa. Not a shrine or a basilica but located in a very plain assembly room opening directly onto the busy streets of the city in keeping with her life of giving hope and love to those entering and leaving life on the streets. It felt a privilege to be there on a hallowed spot with the Sisters busily at work in the open space.

Returning through the streets to Bow Bazaar St, the celebrations were just beginning around the colourful altars to Kali and the sky filled with fireworks and the sound of bangers and loud strange music.

KHALIGAT

On Friday , the day was cloudy and a number of familiar showers interrupted our progress. Morning visit was to Khaligat, the first institution that Mother Theresa established. Here she started and still continues the caring of the dying destitute that continually arrive from the streets and from the railway platforms. However, it was the monthly scrubbing day when the volunteers give the beds and clothing an extra strong washing and the patients weren’t in the usual room and so we had no opportunity to spend some time with them – much to the disappointment of the lads. This centre is funded almost totally from Ireland.

LEPROSY HOSPITAL

After a small lunch, we took a train journey to the Leprosy Hospital at Titaghar . To say that the train was heavily overcrowded would be an understatement. Getting on quickly, holding your position and getting off in the small time allowed were feats in themselves. The Leprosy Hospital and Workshop covers a long stretch by the railway and the patients, as well as being treated for their leprosy, also make crutches, artificial limbs, grow and cook all their own food and weave all the cloth necessary for the centre. We had an opportunity to meet and spend some time with those who were being treated. The visit was well worth the train journey out.

As we returned to St Joseph’s that evening in the pouring rain, it was heart-rending to see families huddling under bits of plastic in their ‘homes’ on the footpaths. Later in the night the rain became torrential (in our experience, but mild in terms of the monsoon rains).

ST. EDMUNDS

Saturday, and it was off to the airport again for the internal flight to Guwhatti, as part of our journey to Shillong. A short comfortable flight but then a 6 hour bus drive to climb up the 5000 feet to our main centre of activity. Heavy rain and darkness made the trip seem extra long. The warm welcome that the Brothers gave us was so comforting at the end of a taxing day. Br Steve couldn’t have done more to make us welcome and capped it all with an extra large dish of potatoes at dinner. Still no chance to see the surroundings outside with the rain pouring down, well into the night. Over five inches of rain had fallen during the day ….. a mere heavy shower in local reckoning.

Dawn breaks quickly here at around 5 a.m. and there are signs of an easing in the rain. We have just caught the tail end of the heavy rains sweeping in across Bangladesh from the Bay of Bengal. By the afternoon the day had cleared up, but no sign of flooding or surface water about.

Here in Gail’s we received instruction at the hands of the deaf and undertook projects in local crafts – some hand-weaving (ties and table mats) and others using split bamboos to make lampshades and morrahs (low circular stools). During the course of the week we learned all the skills of the craft and assisted in the completion of the items.

During the three-hour session each morning, instruction was given without a word being spoken. It was a strange sensation but the instruction was clear and easily understood. We had excellent teachers with all the skills and a most pleasant way of dealing with people. The work demanded concentration and patience. Both were severely put to the test on many occasions early in the week. Especially in the bamboo work fingers suffered and a fair share of plasters and bandaging was used.

Our purpose in being involved here was to highlight for ourselves that we were here not as superior beings about to bestow our largesse on these poor unfortunates of India. We were here to receive from their richness, to learn from their culture as much as to teach and to give. The week’s work achieved this. Our respect for our instructors as people and as skilful teachers increased by the day. Our communication with them intensified and by the end of the week a great relationship had been built up. We had a number of sharing sessions with total concentration on communication by sign language and the blackboard. Doing the sign language classes at home was of great benefit in dealing with the concept of communicating without speech.

The work here put things into perspective. It eliminated the pity idea at an early stage and replaced it with admiration.

Our main work in Shillong was to be in the project that Br Steve d’Souza in some of the rooms in St Edmund’s School. Br Steve teaches Maths, Physics and Geography to Class 10 (i.e. Leaving Cert) but also runs this project for children who because of the poverty of their families could never avail of the opportunity to start school.

With the assistance of his Class 10 students and of the girls of St Mary’s (3rd Level college nearby) this project runs for the whole school year. We slotted in for the two week period and ran it under the guidance of Br Steve. “The School with no Name” Br Steve is keen that the school remains nameless. Being without a name requires any one referring to it to enunciate the nature of the project. It is aimed at enabling children to catch up (i.e. learn the basics of English language and writing and of basic maths) and to enter as soon as possible into mainstream education. We found that the children were so ambitious to learn and displayed far greater discipline than we have.

David in Br Steves School with Sylvester and Pinky.

We got great positive reaction from the children from day one…they were so keen and eager to learn. We were impressed with the fact that many of them had spent much time in getting here. For some it was an hours journey by bus from some of the outlying villages. Some of them arrived an hour or more before we normally started at 12.30. Beltila, (21 years) one of the adult members of the group who really wanted to learn English and basic Maths, arranged to get off work at her own expense, although Br Steve offered to pay, because “someone has come from another country so that I may learn” There was never a show of boredom or disinterest by the children and each was present there every day. They were delighted to see us coming each afternoon. Their eyes lit up when we walked in the door to this group of enthusiastic young boys and girls all fired up with a love of learning.

By half-three as I walked down those steps after school, I could only smile and feel great satisfaction in the fact that my kids were one step closer to entering mainstream school. For the bit we put in, we were given much more in return” The speed at which the children absorbed information was amazing. They never had enough. There was an impression before we left for India that we would just keeping these children occupied for three hours each afternoon. These children were so willing to learn and full of drive. The work was free flowing and the kids really proved hard to keep up to. They were so happy in themselves and learned everything that they were taught. was done perfectly each and every night and the arrived with a smile each afternoon.

Towards the end of the party on the last day, each of our boys received a present from their children ‘To my teacher’. The lads will cherish these tokens of appreciation for ever and they readily admit it.

No doubt that we all became attached to those in our own particular charge. All of us experienced great emotion on that last day when we said goodbye to the children for the last time. In some cases the emotion was openly expressed and all agreed that it was painful, as it is more usual to say goodbye on happy terms. One student had his arm gripped at the end of the party on the last day and the girl, with tears in her eyes, only repeating, “Don’t go, sir. Don’t go, sir”. A difficult situation to deal with. Then again those goodbyes may only be temporary. Some plan to go back and will meet up with young adults there who will have been given a break in life courtesy of the time and energy of a number of Abbey students.

Liam with his pupils, Michael and Pyndap.

Reacting to a suggestion by Br Steve, the lads undertook to sponsor their child (children) each year for ten years when they enter into mainstream school. Our students will cover thirteen in total. Such sponsorship (£20 per year) will cover uniform (such an important item for the Indian child) , books and school fees. Each academic year coincides with the calendar year and next year has already been covered by the donation that the Abbey students at home made i.e. £402 from the coins collected in ‘the bottle’. The students from Drogheda will also sponsor the children that they were dealing with. This sponsorship project is a way to carry on doing our best for these children. It’s a privilege to be able to do it. When the idea came up and the opportunity to participate was offered, according to one student “I can never recall being so happy or proud”

For some of the lads, they see this sponsorship as an opportunity to divert some of their hard earned cash to the benefit of someone else, someone who will thereby have their needs attended to instead of merely gratifying our own wants.

Children in this school are of all religions, but most would be Christian. Beltila and Banshan attend the Church of Jesus Christ with a two and half hour service each Sunday. Pinky, Ratna and Sapna are Hindu.

Work alternated between the classroom and the fresh air covering such areas as English conversation, reading, writing and spelling and also basic Maths – tables and calculation.

VALUE

“It was the most enjoyable and most rewarding work that I have ever done. The change in my own thinking has been turned on its head, for the better”

“The value of the two weeks there was indescribable. I learned more than I taught”

“I find that the work has opened up many avenues for me to explore. These children have given me a deep insight into my ability and the ability of others to do tremendous good work”

“The work that we did was invaluable for us and for the children. It was a life changing experience and would make you aware of what can be done in such little time with effort and children who are willing to learn.

MARY RICE CENTRE

The Mary Rice Centre for the Disabled is located on the St Edmund’s campus and is organised under the umbrella of the Bethany Society. It is unique in that it is the only institution named after the handicapped daughter of Edmund Rice. The centre assists the physically and mentally handicapped as well as a number of children who for behavioural reasons are not acceptable to other schools. The present building is only 15 years old but is unsuitable for the needs of the children there now. Some of the services are being provided in temporary buildings outside e.g. physiotherapy for the physically handicapped. There are plans to build a new centre on the plot of land alongside.

A large number of the children arrive by bus each day, a bus donated by a number of groups in Spain. Here some of our students took children for exercise with the help of their own rather basic walking aids. Others assisted teachers in activities dealing with shapes and colours etc..

Many found the Mary Rice Centre work most attractive and only wished that they could have spent longer there. The children there have so much love to give, but are we ready to receive it. They found it a most rewarding and amazing experience.

The School for the Blind operates under the Bethany Society, an umbrella body in Shillong that deals with the welfare of the disabled. The Workshop for the Handicapped is also under this umbrella. It is located at the lower end of the campus in a new building only completed this year and funded by the Spanish Basque government.

The headmistress, Bertha, is also blind and an amazing person to be with. She runs a school with a pleasant atmosphere under very difficult conditions. Money for any kind of development is very hard to come by – even small money by our standards. However she trusts a lot as ‘something always turns up’.

For many of us this was our first ever encounter with the blind. It dawned on us the awful disability that it is – perpetual darkness with no compensation aid. But the children were full of life and ambition. They weren’t sorry for themselves but living their life to the full. The more senior students were preparing for their end of year State examinations in Science etc. Using Braille copies they studied the properties of different elements. To study Geography all maps need to be embossed.

In this school all Braille has to be hand-written. It is relatively slow and only one copy at a time especially when dealing with teaching materials. It is like one of our schools operating with copies and pencils only. Talking to Bertha and Carmo (Director of Bethany) we discovered that a suitable school Braille printer is available on the market but well outside the reach of the school’s meagre finances.

Most of the students come from villages throughout the state and reside in the hostels next door. Both these hostels are under Bethany and were also funded by the Spanish Basque government.

For some of the time we brought groups of the smaller children for walks around the grounds. It was amazing how trusting they were with us on our first day there.

The children were very fast in writing Braille on their copies of extra thick paper. Using a template they write on the back of the paper, from right to left using a six dot matrix. It would be so slow even if one had your sight. Turn the page over and locate the lines with the fingers and read.

At our early (7a.m.) Mass in St Edmund’s chapel on our first Sunday there the first reading was done by one of the students using a sheet of Braille. Perfect.

At present the School for the Deaf is located on the upper floor of the School for the Blind building. Its new premises are under construction and will be ready this time next year. The Principal, Br Dinny O’Donoghue from Clare who was of great help in setting up the project only arrived back from hospital in Delhi at the end of our stay. The school has about 50 on the roll, some living in the hostel and others arriving by Bethany bus each day. We found the students quite open and differed little from ourselves in their interests and ambitions. Most just had two mornings in the school for the deaf during that second week. Great use of the two-handed sign language was made here in introducing ourselves. In many cases the conversation, in small groups, went on for hours with making and reading signs becoming progressively easier.

For the weekend between our two weeks, Br Kevin Ward (a native of Co Meath) arranged everything for a stay in the valley of Khadarsnong, a deep valley ( or an interconnected series of valleys) containing up to 45 very poor and remote villages. He had arranged transport, food and a host family in the village of Khsaid. Br Kevin has a special love for the valley and its villages and speaks their dialect with ease.

The 60 km journey out to Khsaid took two and a half hours by bus, 50 km on tarred road and the remainder on mountain tracks through the jungle and at one point along a narrow track on the face of a cliff. Temperatures here were kinder than in Shillong especially at night time. After sunset as we gathered on the rock outcrop there was still a pleasant heat in the rocks. Br Kevin had all the preparation done for the weekend. The previous week, with some of the novices, he had travelled out bringing supplies of food and other necessities.

The village of Khsaid, though without electricity or a road or other basic infrastructure, presented no problem and the word ‘comfort’ never sprang to anyone’s lips or became a topic of conversation.

The reflection on the rocks led by Br Kevin was most appropriate and well received. For many of our students it will be their abiding memory of the weekend. The total darkness was indescribable and marred only by a single light spotted in the far distance on the Cherrapungie road. Seated here on the warm rocks above the deep wooded valley with a torrent rumbling away in the bottom far below, we spent three quarters of an hour in hooked on the beauty of the stars above and the words of Br Kevin as he reflectively told a darkness-related story on the theme of trust and confidence in God .. “If I knew you were there I would not have been afraid”. He inspired the hearts of 14 Irish people to contemplate that we are being cared for by One who loves while at the same time accepting our own insignificance in this vast landscape. “An unforgettable mysterious experience - one that made us think and examine our lives”

A night spent with Br Peter Gomez around the campus in St Edmubnd’s and on the roof of the Scholasticate paid dividends and enabled many to name and identify the constellations above. For some it was the first time being conscious of the stars. The total darkness contributed in no small way to this pleasant phenomenon.

Leaving the rocks after the reflection, it was everyone’s wish to return there to see the sunrise the following morning. Nobody was fazed by the fact that sunrise was due shortly after 5 a.m.. Although it was difficult for everyone to get settled down to sleep on the local church floor, still there was an immediate response to the call at 4.45 a.m.. We also learned that the cocks begin to crow long before sunrise … in Khsaid this occurred about halfway between finally getting to sleep and the call at 4.45. With the aid of flash lamps we passed along the village stepped path, past the local soccer ‘field’ and settled down as light slowly began to make the surroundings visible. Gradually the conversation fell away and there ensued a meditative silence while eyes were trained on the eastern horizon. The new sun duly obliged and steadily emerged to bathe our valley in the light of another day of promise. Periods of reflection were becoming a regular part of this wonderful Indian experience. The spiritual effect of this early morning meditation was commented on by a large number of the boys.

After breakfast (7 a.m.) it was up the long flight of stone steps for young and old as we headed off to our second port of call. Contouring around peaks, we followed a rough track for another 6 km to arrive at the village of Khrang, a two hour walk.

The village stands at the end of the road that is traversed a few times each week by a local bus that is built specially for this rough ground. The scenery around us was breathtaking – deep valleys, jungle vegetation, some rare harmless creatures by the trackside and majestic ridges stretching from us southwards towards Bangladesh (scarcely 40 km distant

Khrang has been visited many times by Br Kevin who has committed himself to organising the schools in this and in other villages in the valley. He speaks the local dialect with ease and is well known to all.

In the company of Marlyn from Khsaid, we arrived in the village in small groups over a twenty minute period. At first we noted a certain amount of shyness and reticence on the part of both children and adults. Br Kevin had arranged for us to assemble in a small tea-house where we relaxed from the strong November sunshine. Very few people of our colour come as far as them, and definitely not in a group of 15. We were given the nicest tea and cold yam in a local teahouse and also some locally grown oranges – an unripe green skin but inside as ripe as you could wish for. Gradually the children became a little more adventurous and relaxed even more when distributed sweets that we had brought. Now relations were improving and really took off when the children got the opportunity of looking through the video camera eyepiece as it zoomed in and out. By the time departure time had arrived, things had changed and we were given an escort from the village especially by the children. By departure time, the children especially were forthcoming in shaking hands and bidding us adieu. It was still only 11 a.m….we realised that so much can be done with a very early start to the day.

The houses of Khrang are constructed almost entirely of bamboo. They are slightly raised off the ground in a number of cases in order to deal with the torrential monsoon rains that pour down for months of the year. It was most difficult to imagine the village in such circumstances. The walls and roofs of the houses seemed ill equipped to deal even with a heavy summer shower, not to mention the heavy monsoon season

The finest building in the village has to be the one-room school. It has concrete walls and a corrugated iron roof. However it is difficult to obtain and retain a teacher for the children. Br Kevin hopes to conduct a school to educate people from the surrounding villages to a standard so that they will in a position to teach. Once this was done there would be a much greater chance that the school would remain staffed. The scheme needs an initial strong kick-start in order to activate and empower the community.

For us this was our first view of a truly remote community. While we visited (it was only a visit) on a bright warm Sunday morning, it is unnerving to imagine what it is like for the villagers there at this very moment and during periods of rain and inclemency.

Br Steve teaches a very full day in St Edmund’s school and also organises the project that we worked in as part of the Christian Brother “Move to the Margins”, one of the four directions of the Order in the modern world. He operates with a devoted single agenda and reckons that the greatest thing that anyone can give to the marginalised is time and energy. We found him to be an inspirational figure and kept us focussed on the daily details of our work while at the same time being aware of the larger picture. He established a close open relationship with us in a short time and proved to be most sensitive to the worries and upsets of each individual. Through it all was his wit and his giving and taking of good-humoured banter. The regard and admiration we developed for his sincerity made the projectr all the more meaningful for us.