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Church Agency Restores Hope In Women Of Tsunami-Hit Villages

Updated: June 23, 2008 12:24 PM GMT
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Kajitha Nachiar´s elderly parents want her to get married -- again. ia_nagapattinam.gifThe 34-year-old Muslim was married twice, when she was 14 and 19, but both husbands abandoned her. Now, Nachiar´s poor parents want her to marry a rich 70-year-old man, but she has refused. "I feel confident about my life now after meeting the counselors," she told UCA News, referring to counselors from a Church agency. Nachiar, who did not study past the eighth grade, received counseling as part of the Suraksha (protection) project that Thanjavur diocese´s Multipurpose Social Service Society (TMSSS) has conducted in seven tsunami-affected villages in Tamil Nadu state. She also received vocational training. "Now I work and earn for myself, and will not be a burden to my parents," she said. Murugaiyan Vasantha, Suraksha coordinator, told UCA News her agency´s counseling has helped women whose lives turned worse after "the tsunami tragedy." Thanjavur diocese covers the part of India hit hardest by the tsunami that the Dec. 26, 2004, undersea earthquake off the coast of Indonesia spawned. The monstrous waves slammed into coastal areas of 15 countries, including a couple in Africa, in the Indian Ocean basin. Many bodies were never recovered, but the estimated death toll exceeded 200,000 people, with Indonesia accounting for more than 75 percent of the fatalities, and Sri Lanka, India and Thailand for all but a few hundred of the rest. In Nagapattinam district, part of Thanjavur diocese´s territory, the tsunami killed 6,067 people and destroyed 73 villages, according to official estimates. The dead included about 1,500 pilgrims who had come to celebrate Christmas at the popular Shrine Basilica of Our Lady of Health in Vailankanni. The diocese launched Suraksha to raise awareness about physical and sexual abuse in the tsunami-affected villages, to offer counseling to victims and to empower them, after a study identified these as priority needs Vasantha explained in Nagapattinam, 2,400 kilometers south of New Delhi. TMSSS conducted the study over six months in seven worst-hit villages in the district. The study revealed a marked increase in child abuse, school dropouts, child labor and child marriages in those villages. It also found an increase in extramarital affairs, prostitution and alcoholism. After the tsunami, many women and children "became a burden" for relatives "who wanted to dump them or marry them early," Vasantha noted. Several child marriages also took place because the government gave money and household materials to newlywed couples, she pointed out. Moreover, children who lost their parents "were highly vulnerable to sexual abuse, as there was little parental control," she added. "Poverty forced children to offer sexual favors for food and comfort." TMSSS workers formed children´s parliaments, youth groups and self-help groups for women and widows. "We also set up community vigilance groups to monitor child abuse and domestic violence in those villages," Vasantha said, claiming these groups have also prevented many child marriages. Jeyaseelan Punitha, a counselor, said TMSSS volunteers motivate women such as Nachiar to be self-employed. "Women became courageous after being counseled, and when motivated they generally break free from abusive situations," she told UCA News. Thilagavathy, a single parent, agreed. The 25-year-old woman said she was depressed after her alcoholic husband abandoned her. "I overcame my depression and found employment after TMSSS workers counseled me and advised me to join a group for single mothers," she told UCA News. Punitha admits they have not yet reached all women and children who need help, but they have not stopped. "We will continue working in those villages" and make life better for those women, she said. According to TMSSS, Suraksha has worked with 17,784 people from 2,870 Hindu, 355 Christian and 85 Muslim families, and its youth groups have identified 269 school dropouts and counseled 163 to get readmitted. END

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