After the Tsunami: If not Fishing.... What?

March 26, 2005

Imagine thousands of dollars worth of construction materials left out in the open, easily accessible to very poor people, people who have lost everything, and who don't even have homes.

"Won't the people steal the bricks?" the reporter asked Syam, one of the local people whose family now lives in a temporary thatch hut provided by Sahaya, an NGO. They are waiting for the home the M. A. Math will build for them as soon as government sanction is received.

"No, there is no risk of that. They know these are from Amma; they know she wants to make houses for them. They won't steal from the Math."

Syam, now 26 years old, grew up in a fishing family, but--extremely rare in this community--he managed to leave the island, continue his education, and take up a different life: he is a corporal in the Indian Air Force. Now he is home on compassionate leave.

Syam wasn't here for the tsunami, but his elderly parents were. Although his father, (Sashi, 55) is handicapped (his leg was damaged in a fishing accident), he was able to help several people escape the flood. He and Syam's mother (Thankamani, 50) survived by holding fast to a coconut tree--a tree now in the "front yard" of their hut, a daily reminder of their narrow escape.

Syam's parents showing how they were clinging to the tree.

Now Syam is helping not only his parents, but the entire community. As a fluent speaker of English, he is able to provide a bridge for foreign journalists. Not only does give his own answers to their questions, but he translates for his neighbours. He suggests people who might be interviewed, and sets up the contacts.

Living now in the outside world, and having grown up in the fishing culture, Syam is uniquely qualified to assess the strengths and the needs of his childhood world. Yes, he agrees with the reporter, there is something idyllic about the simple life of a fisherman and his family on the charming shores of the Arabian Sea, children playing in the sand, the father quietly mending nets, the mother washing the family's dishes and leaving them to dry in the sun, all perhaps relaxing under the palms as the cooling evening breeze comes in from the ocean.

But that is only one side of a fishing family's life.

Mostly, the life is characterized by struggle: the husband will spend hours out on the sea, hunting schools of fish, hauling heavy nets, dragging the boat onto the shore, unloading the catch--only, too often, to find that it is inadequate. Shared among the owner of the boat and the five or six men working the boat, the income is generally not enough. The wife will try to feed the husband and children on too little; she will carry water from the village pump; she will clean the house and yard, wash the clothes, take care of the children.

Both will wonder how they can ever provide a better life for their children. A more secure life, a life with "enough".

Syam's opinion, shared, he says and this reporter's queries support, by the majority of the fisherfolk, is that if the sons grow up to do what their fathers do and the daughters grow up to do what their mothers do, the cycle of poverty will continue. They will be trapped.

So Syam again and again emphasizes the need for new options--opportunities off the island and outside the familiar sphere of the fishing culture. For these new opportunities, more education and training are necessary, and connections with those who can offer employment.

When the M. A. Math announced, shortly after the tsunami, that training, education, and job opportunities were among the relief being offered by the organization, it was like a dream come true.

Young people flocked to the ashram to register for paramedical training at AIMS, the Math's state-of-the-art hospital three hours north on the mainland. People who already had training but no jobs as electricians, X-ray technicians, data entry personnel, and licensed drivers rushed forward to apply for jobs the Math opened up specifically for them. Hoping for a job as driver, young men who didn't know how to drive enrolled in the Math-sponsored program to earn their licenses. Women who needed to stay near home welcomed the tailoring class set up at the temporary shelter. Learning on donated sewing machines, they could become skilled tailors, and earn a significant income by working on guaranteed jobs such as stitching all the uniforms for the many Amrita institutions throughout India, or by taking in private work.

Many survivors are being trained and given jobs such as for data entry position (shown above) and tailoring (shown left) - all these people have been sponsored in these programs by the Math

The tsunami marked the end of many houses, many boats, many lives. It was undeniably a terrible event. But the disaster seems to have given birth, also: to not only new houses, and new boats, but also very new and different lives. New hope.

- Janani
Correspondent from M. A. Math

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