Joel Edwards visits India

One year on from the Asian Tsunami 

23 December 2005

One year on from the Asian tsunami, communities are being rebuilt in India. Over the past year relief and development agency, World Vision, a member organisation of the Evangelical Alliance, has been working hand-in-hand with communities across the region to meet their immediate and long-term needs.

Joel Edwards, General Director of the Evangelical Alliance has just returned from a fact-finding mission to India to review progress. He was accompanied by World Vision UK's Chief Executive Charles Badenoch who was there to see how money raised by the UK public is being spent. The people they met, the stories they heard and the work they saw pointed to a stronger, more secure future for those affected by the disaster.

Since the tsunami struck, World Vision has provided more than 3,700 transitional homes in India and has assisted more than 200,000 people. The aid agency continues to work in the vital areas of community rehabilitation and economic recovery and will rebuild over 6,000 permanent homes.

Joel commented, “Meeting people whose lives have been devastated by the tsunami made me realise how we, in the UK, make a fuss about nothing. A late train suddenly pales into insignificance. It makes us ask, what is hope? I’ve seen it more pronounced over these three days in India than ever before – hope is a red tractor, hope is a new building with five concrete pillars, hope is a long walk to recovery.”

Vailankanni is a 17th Century Catholic Basilica in Tamil Nadu, India. Up to 3,000 people were killed on Boxing Day last year on or around Beach Road, which leads from the shrine down to the ocean. As the tsunami hit, pilgrims were making their way to the Basilica from all over India.

“It’s eerie standing where the greatest number of people died in the shadow of the Basilica,” said Joel. “Three thousand people’s lives were lost in this place, many of them pilgrims – but faith has endured. Lives have been lost but faith and human relationships have deepened.”

 World Vision worked with shopkeepers working along Beach Road to help them rebuild their businesses. A group of ten businessmen gathered with Joel and Charles – the men were Hindus, Muslims and Christians. They all said the same thing: “In the tsunami we lost our material possessions, but we gained a deeper respect for humanity and each others’ faith”…“The tsunami has brought us all much closer together.” … “The tsunami has become a connector between our faiths and between people all over the world through compassion, empathy and global solidarity.”

Six hundred self-help groups have been set-up in the last year – most of them by women. Commonly men dominate the Indian culture but some of the most vociferous and dynamic people at the centre of the community recovery are women.

Joel commented, “There is little doubt in my mind from what I have seen over the past few days that women have been empowered particularly in what appeared to be a very male dominated society. Women have now got access to decision-making and I wouldn’t be surprised if what I saw is the acceleration of the empowerment of women.” Nishanti is 17-years-old. She lost her mother and two of her uncles in the tsunami. Her father has become a drunk and is out of work in a different village. World Vision has given her temporary shelter. Since then she has been able to concentrate more and, although her grades have struggled since the tsunami, she has great and realistic aspirations of becoming a doctor.

"Nishanti is a very gifted and compassionate individual," said Charles. "She has gathered other children in the camp together and is giving them free tuition. Her desire to educate and build for the future was such an inspiration and she is coming out of her own disaster to rescue other people."

Nishanti hopes to educate many of the young people affected by the tsunami. “I want all children to be educated," she says. "I can’t do it by myself so I am getting others to do it too.”

Joel and Charles met a man on Beach Road leading up to the Vailankanni Basilica who is rebuilding his life. Nearing 40-years-old, Aiyattusai is a tea-seller. He lives with his five children and elderly mother. Before the tsunami he was struggling to make ends meet. World Vision assisted him with some equipment and is providing training to help him sell tea from his bike. Aiyattusai is now making $4 a day. He is learning how to save and plan his business: “Since the tsunami I have learnt the meaning of business life,” he said. “I am learning to save for the future.”

“We must continue giving vulnerable people every opportunity to build for themselves,” said Joel, “to follow their dream. We cannot dream for them but we must give them every opportunity to follow their dreams.”

In Pichavaram village, Cuddalore, 242 families have been given two tractors by World Vision. The community lost cattle and crops a year ago while salt ruined the soil. World Vision responded by providing agricultural goods, including two tractors. A steering committee has been working to ensure the tractors benefit the community in a sustainable way. The group of three women and four men manage and maintain the agricultural reform.

In a village close-by, Vijaya lost all four of her cattle in the tsunami. World Vision has provided one cow. She has joined a women’s self-help group, and is now accessing loan assistance.

“Education is so important,” said Joel. “We met a mother and her three children who had been given a cow. We asked her, what is your dream? She didn’t pause for one second – she wants her children to be educated. And when we asked her children, aged ten, 11 and 13, standing by their cow, what do you want to do? We had one doctor, one politician and an engineer.”

Chris Webster, World Vision UK