 |
|
| Dear Friends |
December 2007
|
| Max Philbrick writes under the heading: "A Day at RTU"...
|
| As Administrator of RTU in the UK, I made my second visit to Kallupatti in late October, and spent time with several of RTU’s senior staff, as well as visiting villages where houses are being built, and families are being helped through the Home Sponsorship Programme. My wife Monica was also working in India (for the fair-trade company Traidcraft) and joined me for part of my visit Here is a glimpse of just one day… |
| We are sitting on the floor in RTU’s main meeting room, and out in front of us are about 20 women, also sitting on the floor in their smart rose-pink saris. Someone has kindly provided a strip of carpet for us to sit on, but I am having trouble folding my legs up into a comfortable position. I used to be able to do this! A few of the women have their babies with them, and one little boy is just behind me, reaching out to touch me every so often. Most of the other babies are lying on the floor fast asleep, while their mothers talk. These women are RTU’s Village Health Workers, who have received basic medical training to advise on everyday illnesses and on childbirth. One of their main responsibilities is to keep an eye on pregnant women in their villages, supporting them and making sure they have a safe delivery, and even that no baby girl is killed shortly after birth as an unwanted financial burden. Happily this is now a much rarer outcome than before they started their work, and helped couples to see the value of a girl – who may even care for her parents in their old age. (I must tell my daughters about that.) Serious medical conditions are referred to a hospital, and they also work with nurses from government health centres, although there are too few of these for the nurses to get to know the villagers well.
|
| Mr James (who wrote in September’s Newsletter) is running the meeting, and there is a lot of good humour and laughter as they talk about what has happened since last month’s meeting. Then he asks them to tell us what they think they have achieved. Some have been working for up to 15 years; others less than a year (and there is a new recruit learning the ropes), but everyone has a tale of encouragement and worthwhile change to tell. One was able to spot a cholera outbreak in its early stages, and ensure tablets and vaccination were quickly available. Another ensures that treated TB patients in her village have their follow-up tests at the right intervals. Mala had a personal success story – before working with RTU her husband wouldn’t let her leave the village. Now he is happy for her to go anywhere, knowing her job is helping the poorest families. In Mayil’s village, women refused to go to hospital to have their baby, even if there were serious complications. She has broken down that barrier, going along with them if needed to help and explain. Before, sometimes as many as 3 babies in 4 died at birth, but now deaths are rare. There are many other barriers, unhelpful traditions and taboos, which are being eroded by the achievements of these women. They weigh babies each month to check on their development, and at first some new mothers refused to let this happen from fear that it would expose their baby to ‘the evil eye’. So Kannamma weighed her baby first, leading by example, and now most mothers can see the benefits. Panchavarnam visited a government day-care centre in her village, where basic hygiene standards were lacking. She developed good relations with the staff, and successfully advised and trained on a range of basics – including hand-washing (for them as well as the children). |
| There was much more to hear about, and then we drove out to a village to observe some baby-weighing! The first problem was the discovery that the tree used for hanging up the scales had been cut down, so we had to find another - or an overhanging house roof would do. Then a mixture of happy and squalling babies were popped into the sling, and their weights recorded in a large book. These are poor villages and RTU is working with the poorest families in them, so if a baby is not putting on weight, a packet of sathumavu (which means ‘nutritious flour’ - RTU make their own from a mix of grains) is handed out for the mother to use. The children love this and handfuls are doled out to those standing around; it soon ends up all round their mouths!
|
| This was all on just one day during my recent visit with my wife to RTU, and a day which (like the others) confirmed what I already knew: that RTU is making real and valuable differences to the lives of people in its small corner of the vast land of India. |
| As usual, Brother James also writes... |
| Dear Friends |
| Each year over the Christmas season all the children in our care come together for 3 or 4 days. That means we will have over 850 children here at RTU main centre, together with all the staff caring for them. (As I write, we are still over 3 weeks away from this immensely busy time.) |
| The numbers will include 658 children from our four Children’s Villages, and the 91 “mothers” who care for them. There will be 154 teenage girls who have graduated from the Children’s Villages to the three hostels where they now live, and 56 boys from their teenage hostel. We also have 111 boys and girls studying in residential colleges in various towns, who will mostly not be able to come to the event; as well 55 boys and girls now engaged in a wide range of long term professional studies such as engineering, nursing, doctors, degree, classical dance and music, etc. Among all these children will be 310 who are AIDS-affected, including 80 who are HIV+. You will notice that we are now with 50% AIDS-affected children in our care. |
| This is an annual event when we will all together celebrate Christmas and it gives all those in our different villages and hostels the chance to meet and share. Many events and competitions are organized such as art, dancing, elocution, games, and the best of all these will be put on exhibition and there will be a final grand concert for the best performances. This is a time of great happiness and a time to spend a few days away from the everyday routine. As you will realise it entails a great deal of preparation and organising. Just to feed so many three meals a day (plus morning and afternoon tea and snacks) requires planning and a lot of work in the kitchens. Accommodation is always a squeeze but in India people are generally accustomed to making do with whatever facilities are available. As long as there is space on the floor to put down a bedroll, our children and mothers will sleep happily. However there is usually a big sigh of relief on the evening of the last day when our buses go off to their various destinations.
|
| Recently we admitted a lady with her two children, both very small, both in need of medical care. We then learned that she had another 7-year old boy who had been sold into bonded labour, a polite term for slavery, for Rs.1500 (about £20 or $40). She did this to be able to pay a medical bill for another child who needed surgery, and since her husband had left her and remarried and with three small children in her care, she had no alternative. |
| This little fellow was taken off to Andhra Pradesh, some 600 miles away to work making edibles deep-fried in boiling oil. His working hours were from 4am to 6pm every day. He was neglected and abused. This would normally be a permanent bondage and I have known it to be passed down to the son of the bonded person. No wages are paid. We eventually traced where he had gone, paid off his small bondage money and restored him to his mother. But the end of the story was quite dramatic when we tumbled him into one of our vehicles and made off at speed before there was a change of mind. Now the whole family are together in our Anbu Illam Children’s Village and the mother, after training, is a foster-mother and has three other children to care for. |
| About the same time we admitted 5 small children from the one family, ranging from a babe in arms to an 11 year old girl who was acting as the mother to the others. Their mother had died nine months ago from the dreaded chikungunya virus leaving a sickly father with heavy debts incurred trying to save her. He simply ran away from Madurai with the children in tow and wandered homeless and penniless from village to village. They slept where they happened to be at night, usually on a pavement, and depended on people’s kindness for food. They had nothing when they reached us. Somehow they had survived until he reached a village near to us and they were all brought to us by village young men. The older girl, Muttu Laxmi, continued to care for the others even after coming to one of our Children’s Villages. They are now well settled in with their ‘new’ mother; and their father, who has stayed in the area, visits them regularly. |
| With Christmas greetings |
| Cordially yours, |
 |
|
| Brother James
Kimpton |
|
|
|
