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The Cry of Orissa FCF Project: Family Services India After a cyclone hit the Indian state of Orissa, we challenged teenage volunteers in our project, as well as other parts of India, to participate in this relief effort, as a part of their training and outreach program. In order for an eleven-man team to be able to go to Orissa for twenty days, find accommodation, food, and drinking water, we needed 300-400 Rupees per person per day (this is approximately US $6-9). Through the contributions of concerned individuals and volunteers, we were able to make the trip. All the information needed was available from various agencies and we then teamed up with the Red Cross for our first trip to Orissa. Here are excerpts from field reports written by young people who participated in this relief mission: “As we approach the devastated region, I see the aftermath of the cyclone on a stretch of coconut grove. What was once beautiful Orissa, now lay in ruin. We hear the plea of these people, crying out for help, in need of food, shelter, and clothing. They want to rebuild, but they don’t know how or where to start. We go to the village, we walk in the paths that were once called streets, to feed, clothe, and warm as many of these in need as we can. The people cry out for help, for they have lost so much—husbands, wives children, houses, crops and yes, even hope.”
“We arrived in Orissa and found accommodation with the YMCA in the village of Cuttack. We divided the team into three, each one taking turns to make fieldtrips, as well as continue to work in the village. This area of Orissa was one of the worst affected by the cyclone. In some of these villages the sea threw waves of up to 15 feet high with wind velocities up to 350 kmh. One man said the wind blew for 26 hours and that it sounded like 50 helicopters overhead. Most of the large trees have been uprooted. All the big billboards and their support beams have been completely flattened to the ground. We started by distributing supplies in the village and we are working to build about 200 shelters as well as a school here in Cuttack. Each shelter cost about US $300. The YMCA is also taking all eleven of us to a village called Olatpur where they have a long-term rehab program.” “We went with the Red Cross to distribute supplies to colleges in the affected areas. Most of the students had lost all their belongings, so giving out clothing and other needs was a very rewarding experience. We saw firsthand the magnitude of the destruction, which was quite awesome. People are slowly getting back on their feet, but most have lost houses, cattle, crops, and even family members. We went to as many of the affected areas as possible, and saw the various mass graves and heard the terrible tales of sadness and destruction. It was quite an experience. We didn’t return to camp until about 12:30 am.”
“Saturday we all moved to Olatpur village. We began work there and sent rotating teams out with the Red Cross. The next day we moved to yet another village. The YMCA identified 70 homeless families in this village and donated bricks, cement, sand, and other materials. This will allow us to help these families construct simple structures. It should take us three to four days per structure. The foreigners on our team are learning to communicate with the village folks in a simple sort of sign language. It means so much to these people to see us working with them side by side. We went on a fieldtrip to some areas in the Puri district. It was very helpful to be able to interact with the villagers and find out what they have been through, as well as see some of the destruction and how it is still affecting their lives. Our trip took us from 8 am till 10 pm. It broke our hearts to see the suffering and the hardships people are facing. It was a special experience to meet these people. They were humble, sweet and happy to meet us. One of the fishermen insisted that we have lunch with them. They had so little, yet they were willing to share what they had. Back at the village the rest of the team worked on building a school. Everyone felt very fulfilled. The following day a poor lady was very touched when we helped with the construction of a shelter for her. Then on the way into Bhubaneshwar a man from the village who spoke a little English approached us to say that he was very thankful that we had come all the way from Bangalore to help his village. We could see he was sincerely touched by our gestures. Next, we dug the foundation for one of the sites and moved some construction material to the various building areas. There’s a lot of work lined up for us to do. We’ve been counseling with the local YMCA about how to invest the funds we have for the people here. We made one trip with the Red Cross the day before yesterday and possibly have one more next week. Many of the people that we have been interacting with, both at the village and here at the YMCA, have been very sweet to us and appreciative that we’d come all the way here, not just to give material, but to actually work with them.” Thank you so much for all your help and for making it possible for our follow-up relief trips to the devastated state of Orissa. In cooperation with the local YMCA unit in their rural development program, we worked mainly in two tribal villages doing road leveling, working the land helping to make it ready for farmers to begin the planting of their fields again, partaking in a tree planting/reforestation program, as well as being involved in digging a fishery for the farmers there. In addition to all this we helped to distribute 200 tons of food grains and relief supplies, dividing them amongst five villages. From one of our young volunteers: “I was among a team of 14 young volunteers, and we rode on an open train to Orissa, arriving at 6:45 AM. On this trip both boys and girls were able to volunteer so they had an Ambassador (a car with a body mould that was designed 50 years ago) for the 'ladies' and a 'tracker' cart for the boys to ride in. "We are about 45 minutes drive from Cuttack in a remote little place called Bhagatpur. There is nothing around us but open, beautiful countryside, clean pure air and lots of insects! It certainly is very simple life style here with no worldly distractions whatsoever! In fact we don't even have mattresses to sleep on, just a huge rug on the floor and a 'bed-roll' which is about two layers of cloth sewn together. However, everyone was in high spirits and all this doesn't seem to matter! Our drinking water comes from the well--the boys fetch it, strain it with a cloth and then we use sterilizing tablets before actually drinking it. "We distribute six 100-kg sacks of grain into five kg bags which were given to 100 tribal village families. We are also working on different projects in the tribal village such as leveling roads, digging ponds, planting trees, de-weeding farm land and a bit of construction etc. "Our morning starts early, with us having to prepare and get ready for our 8:30 arrival at the village. To get to the village we hired some bicycles. We then return for lunch and work for the rest of the afternoon on farming and planting. In the evenings doctors give us classes on First Aid and animal husbandry. "It's been raining a lot so we've had hundreds of insects and ants all around us to keep us company! Since we didn't have beds, we got bitten initially but were eventually able to acquire some repellant. One of the boys found a toad in his bed one night, but as I said, spirits are high and everyone is very happy working together on this needy and exciting project!” At the end of our stay we used the balance of the funds that we had raised through sponsors to provide each of the 105 village families with some basic farming tools. These included a shovel and a grass cutter per family. We also sponsored a pump set which they will use in irrigation. This way instead of the farmers leasing it from outside, they will be able to "rent" it from their own village committee, and thus save money for maintenance, etc. On this last day when we presented the tools to the villagers we did a little program that was attended by some of the YMCA board members. Our talented young people prepared two skits, both humorous, and yet with a thought-provoking message for the village folks. The skits were narrated in Oriya by our YMCA friend. Our team were very successful in their efforts and were able to accomplish an incredible amount of work in just three weeks despite a minimum of personnel and equipment. The YMCA members and those from various NGO's who work with us repeatedly commented on how our young people’s sample of whole-hearted giving and enthusiastic cooperation in spite of the hot sun and many physical difficulties had touched their hearts and had convicted the villagers themselves to work with more of a vision.
More on the Orissa Relief Mission from "Friends in Deed," Bombay, India The eyes of the world and even this nation have turned to other events and more recent disasters. But for the survivors of the November 29th, 1999 Cyclone, life may never be the same. Certainly for the team of three adult men and seven young men and teens who just returned from offering assistance in Orissa, it will never be the same. The experience brought a maturity and depth in our fifteen-year-old Joseph that we hadn’t seen before.
The team went out not knowing what they could do to help, and with a small lead, the doors began to open. One village head, because of his status, had the only concrete building in his area. He wept while telling us they had saved 200 villagers in his home, which wasn’t much larger than a good-sized living room. At one facility approximately 2,000 people waited out the 26-hour nightmare. Amazingly two babies were born in the bathroom! The sound of the wind was so frightening that one boy said he thought it was the end of the world. Although the official death toll was only 10,000, the missing from their families range closer to 50,000. These people who had homes and businesses and communities with movie theaters, stores, and radio stations was reduced to rubble. Many lost all but their lives. There were so many dead bodies, they didn’t know what to do. The ground was still too wet to burn anything. So to solve the problem, everything was tossed into the mammoth holes created from the gigantic trees that were uprooted, then sand was heaped on mass graves. These heaps stand as monuments to the great loss. Initially the reception to our team’s presence was cool from some: “Who are you? What good can you do when the problems are so vast? The need is too great!” —And truly it was an overwhelming situation! But the team started by listening to the local people, and soon their mission had become clear. As each little village was visited, the folks would pour out their stories and needs, and in turn, the villagers looked to them with such hope. By the end of the stay, the boys had inspired the countryside all around by their loving and hard-working sample. People they’d never met came out to their aid and poured out their profound gratitude for the help and care that had been shown to this coastal village area.
During this trip, the team helped build six foundations with pillars (the roofs and walls will need to be added later). They hand-drilled eight 40-foot wells and installed hand pumps, reinforced several meters of river bank, resurfaced the road leading to one village, donated spray cans to four villages for aid in pest control, and distributed boxes of new clothing. We are planning another trip to help with a grandiose reforesting project and continue with the shelter projects. On behalf of the Orissa team, we would like to ask for any help you may wish to offer to this cause. Your contributions would go towards making this relief effort possible. Please do join us in heart, spirit, and support to help us make a difference for those whose lives have been shattered by the cyclone.
To donate to this Family Care Foundation Project, please note Project NAME and then click here.
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