Category: Disaster Relief
disaster relief efforts of MAM
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Four families, one house
One of the largest landslides from last years Uttarakhand flooding started far above the Mandakini River at Bhiri. Houses were destroyed, but because it happened one week after the flood, the government considered this a seperate incident. The affected families did not qualify for the same level of aid as other flood victims. We found five families living in tin sheds on a steep, unstable slope. They had no resources to relocate. In June, an experienced construction team arrived from West Bengal led by Br Ratnakar. On much more stable land, this unique four unit building plus a single…
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Our Doctors still make housecalls
Returning from Kashmir our Medical Team stopped at “Adopted Villages” in Jammu, Himachal Pradesh, and Harayana. The mood was quite different. The people know of Amma. They know we will return. The clinics were smaller and the doctors were able to take more time with each patient. Some even got to visit the villages. Wandering through our Himachal Pradesh village, Dr. Jaggu came upon this lady, obviously in distress. He applies old fashioned “doctoring”. A kind word. A gentle touch. And she is in smile. Sometimes that is all that is needed to lift a spirit. Dr. Jaggu Kottilil is…
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Uttarkashi houses
Three years ago, a group of houses in the village of Siror, near Uttarkashi, began to slide into the Ganges. Families were given temporary shelters like the blue structure below, on the left. However, they were not scheduled for any further assistance to build better homes. Many would be living in these tin sheds for years to come. In June of this year, MAM began construction of fourteen permanent homes on stable farmland around this village. Although the sites had no road access, after just five months the homes are within days of completion. Families are eager to move in,…
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Delivering Amma’s blankets
Unlike the Kashmiri Medical Relief Camps which involved 30 people, it was only Br. Amit and I who returned to Bandipora to distribute 3000 blankets. I was busy documenting the project, so the whole job fell on Br. Amit. I write about him, not because he is exceptional in any way. Rather, he is a common example of those Brahmachari and Brahmacharini who Amma sends away from her with huge tasks like this. We in the west have no idea how hard they work for their beloved Amma. Swami Nijamrita bought good, heavy blankets. A whole truck load weighs several…
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Breaking the Rules
I saw her early in the morning, a small, tentative woman. She would come close to the truck for a short while then retreat, afraid to have hope. I knew by her manner she would not be on the list for a blanket. She tried to tell the list-makers to include her name also in the list but all in vain. Sure enough, as we gave our final twenty blankets, she was still there watching, knowing she would again be left behind. Br. Amit saw her too and quietly found a way to slip her two blankets without drawing…
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The List
You can not simply drive to a village with an open heart and start handing out blankets. It would cause a riot. Instead, we rely on “The List”, a hand written record of all the village families. Depending on the accuracy and integrity of the Panch (Village Mayor), his list will ensure a fair and reasonably orderly distribution as he calls out the names. Mata Amritanandamayi Math distributed three thousand blankets over three days. – Scotti
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The end of the road
It is the end of the road. The edge of nowhere. Vast marshland receding into Wular Lake. Aid comes slowly, if at all to Baneyari. Nearly 10,000 people live here, scraping a meager existence from the land and water. At first hostile as they thought we were government, but they soon warmed as they realized that someone such as Amma, all the way from Kerala cared about their problems and had sent them blankets which are desperately needed for the upcoming winter season. About 1600 blankets were given to 800 families in Baneyari. -Scotti
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Lahar of Love in Laharwalpora
Laharwalpora was an area that had its structures under water for more many days. Long queue of people gathered in no time as soon as we started or medical camp there. After those dreadful waves of flood, soothing waves of Amma’s love and compassion was reaching out to this village via the medical camp. For some reason, out of the all the people who turned up for the medical camp, women and children were much more in number than men. Our lady doctors and paediatricians were seeing maximum patients for the day. Here in this village there were not many…
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A surge for blankets
The trucks had come ahead of us. Just as the sun was setting, we stepped out into a pool of Kashmiri faces which surged upon us. Concerned for my safety as a foreigner, there were frantic shouts of “Get him back in the car”. Our jeep retreated to the edge of the crowd. What to do? You can not deliver blankets huddled inside a jeep. More cautiously, we stepped out again with Br. Amit and our local videograper explaining why we had come, to any in the crowd who would listen. A few obvious leaders from the village and the…