ധ്രുവദീപ്തി // Autobiography // People and the Pace // The Healing Ministry : Fr.George Pallivathukal -Autobiography :
The Triple Ministry in Mandla District
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| Fr. George Pallivathukal |
The Triple Ministry in Mandla District
" Mandla is a tribal district situated in the east-central part of Madhaya Pradesh. The district lies almost entirely in the catchment of river Narmada & its tributaries. A district with a glorious history, Mandla comprises of numerous rivers and endowed with rich forests. The world's famous Tiger Sanctuary, Kanha National Park located in the district, is one of the hottest targets for both the domestic as well as foreign tourists.
The extreme length of the district is
about 133 Kms. from north to south and extreme breadth is 182 Kms
from east to west. It covers a total area of 8771 Sq.Km. and consists a
total population of 779414.
There are 9 blocks 6 Tehsils and 1247 villages in the district. With
the promulgation of Madhya Pradesh reorganisation of district has been
bifurcated into the Mandla and Dindori districts. The Dindori,
Shahpura Tahsils and Mehandwani development block formed Dindori
district while rest of the area existed in Mandla District."
Kusumlata Bhavedi (extreme right), 25, of Bhatgaon village in Mandla
district of Madhya Pradesh is an exceptional Gond tribal woman who is
spreading awareness on issues like health and nutrition, education and
rights to enable the local community to fight poverty and hunger.
(Credit: Shuriah Niazi\WFS)
2. The Healing Ministry
Jesus
was a person of compassion and love. He was compassionate towards those
who were suffering. He used to cure the sick, wipe their tears and
alleviate the pains and sufferings of any one who came to him for help.
He would ask them to believe that he was able to do this service for
them. Thousands believed in Jesus. He told his disciples to continue his
healing ministry after he was gone (Mk,16,18) and he empowered them
with the giftes of the Holy Spirit to lay hands on the sick and heal
them(1Cor,12,9).
Our
tribals were animists and ancestor worshippers. They were victims of
sorcerersand which doctors who were known as 'Gunias' in this district.
People were made to believe that some one in their family got sick or
some calamity occured to them because their ancestors were displeased
with them. In order get well they had to placate the angry ancestors and
for this the people were made to pay a huge amount of money to the
Gunias for sorcery. The Gunias were the beneficiaries of this
superstition.
The
missionaries projected Jesus to the people as a great healer. We opened
dispensaries in all our mission centres, sisters were running the
dispensaries and treating patients.The priests, sisters and catechists
prayed over the sick and treated them with medicines. The Lord
accompanied them with his healing touch. This ministry brought thousands
of people to believe in Jesus and they became his followers. People had
great faith in holy water, besides the Sacraments. They used to keep
the holy water in their homes and used it along with prayer when some
one was sick at home. Even those who were possessed with evil spirits
used to get cured by prayer and the use of the Holy Water. Even non
christians used to take Holy water from the christians when someone was
sick in their families. Healing ministry was the most effective means of
Evangelization. The Gunias (Sorcerers) were the biggest enemies of the
chritians, because our healing ministry was affecting their income.
One
of our Dutch missionaries Fr. John Van Schinjdel built a referrel
hospital at the district head quarters of mandla. He was the priest in
charge of a small mission centre called Dhanwahi from 1941 onwards. When
he was there hundreds of villagers died of a cholera epidemic because
of lack of medical assistance. He was moved by this tragic incident and
decided to return to Holand, study medicine and come back to serve the
people here. He did his M.D. and came back to Mandla with two more Dutch
doctors in 1959 and built a hospital with 200 beds in the year 1960
especially to serve the poor tribals of this district. Today katra
hospital is the best hospital in the district and hundreds of patients
are being treated every day in this health centre.
3. Social work- the Feeding Ministry.
No
one can preach to an empty stomach. Jesus envisaged a society free from
all that hurts man, including hunger and poverty. God is a God who
listens to the cry of His people. He has fed them miraculously with
manna from heaven and water from dry rock (Ex.16& 17). Through
prophet Isaiah God teaches us that the kind of fast that He likes is
when we share what we have with the poor, feeding the hungry, clothing
the naked and sheltering the homeless. God will bless such a person in
abundance 1s.58:1-9). The natural resources that God has created are
meant for all God's children.
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| Women working on a road repairing |
Gandhiji
says that there are enough of resources to satisfy the need of
everyone, but not the greed of anyone. A model of this we find in the
christian community of the first century(acts,Chapters 2,4). They were
of one heart and mind. There were no beggars among them because whatever
they had they shared with everyone according to each one's need. This
was a perfect model of socialistic mode of life! The christians of the
first century were a believing, praying, serving, or sharing and
witnessing community. This community is called "the church".
Jesus
Himself is the norm and model for serving and sharing. Jesus did not
accumilate anything for Himself. He only gave to the extent that he
broke his own body and shed his own blood and shared them with his
friends. Blood is life according to the teaching of the Jews. By
shedding his blood for others he was sharing his own life with them. And
he instructed his followers, "You also do as I have done", give until
it hurts you, give even your life for the sake of others. Following the
command of the master the church has served the society till today.
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| Catholic church in jabalpur |
Jabalpur
diocese did not have any fund or material resources to help our people
on a large scale. The Dutch were severely affected by world war II and
they had not recovered from its impact when our dutch Missionaries came
here. Hence they could not get any help from Holland. Yet the Dutch and
the pioneer Indian Missionaries kept up their services to the tribal
villages with the limited resources they would get from their homes or
their friends. The Bishop would pay every priest Rs.90.per month as his
food allowence and Rs.75 per month as Mass stipend. With this amount the
priest had to manage his food, the food expenses of the boarders as
well as the maintenance of the house. Besides this, he had to supply
free books and stationary to the students. Education was not the
priority of the parents and in most cases the priests had to persuade
the parents to send their children to the school as though their
education was the need of the priest. Hence no boarding fees could be
expected from the parents of the boarders.
To
our relief in the mid fifties the diocese started getting some help
from the " Catholic Relief Services (CRS) in the form of milk powder and
wheat. In the initial years, the CRS help was meant for free
distribution. Our boardings greatly benefited from this supply.
Thousands of poor villagers who were on the verge of starvation due to
continuous drought and crop failiure also benefited from this supply. By
the year 1960 the CRS help was better organized and made more
beneficial to the villagers. Instead of distributing the grains freely
they were given as wages for improvement of their own agricultural
fields, for building of approach roads in villages, digging of drinking
water wells etc. This way thousand of acres of land was turned into
better paddy and wheat fields.
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| School children in Mandla |
In
1962 Caritas India started their countrywide relief programmes. With
the help of Caritas India more drinking water as well as irrigation
wells were dug, irrigation tanks were built and watershed-programmes
were started. With these facilities our farmers who had to depend only
on seasonal rains started getting better yield from their farms.
Government agencies came much later to help the villagers to improve
their life standard. Today several mission centres have their
co-operative societies and banks managed by the people themselves. They
are free from the clutches of money lenders and businessmen.
Our
diocesan Social Welfare Centre guides and co-ordinates the above
mentioned programmes. The centre conducts social and legal
awarenessprogrammes, as well as programmes to teach the people about the
benefits of Panchayati Raj, their rights as citizens and the protection
of environment. Eleven years ago our Social Welfare Centre received the
prestiegious Priyadarshini National Award for environmental protection.
Thus
through their Educational, Health, and Social Ministry the christian
missionaries have been able to enter into the lives of the tribals of
Mandla District and their presence brought a lot of blessings over the
people of this district.//-
