Grassroots Projects for Tsunami

It has been a few months since the tsunami hit Southeast Asia and I spent close to 2 months in Nagapattinam (Nagai, in the state of Tamil Nadu in South India) my birth place where it was hit the hardest.

What I saw in the media didn't prepare me for the real destruction of the tsunami. Hundreds of boats were littered though out the city streets as well as building compounds and even houses. It was hard to imagine how those boats got there? The tidal waves rose close to 50 feet high. They lifted and carried the boats inland up to 1 kilometer from the sea.

99% of the boats have been destroyed/damaged and fishing has been halted since there are no boats. These boats can't be repaired. 15% of the population has been lost in Nagai district alone. Three generations of fishermen are lost in the sea. The situation of the women and children are unknown since the government is stalling for answers; as a result no projects have been developed for them.

Farmers have lost their land due to salt water contamination of the soil. Along the coastal areas, the farm land is devastated with 2 feet of mud mixed with salt; they have to be dug out. Plant life and mature fruit trees in orchards are dying. It will take years for the land to be revived and usable as farmland.

The government is still negotiating loans for fishermen to buy new boats but as of today they have not reached any agreements, so fishing has not been resumed. Some NGOs are doing good work but there are still problems with duplication and "fancy" projects, good mostly for newspaper headlines. Still today some people are do not have clean water, food and shelter so basic needs have not been met.

I was able to rise close to $4000 dollars from neighbours, friends and family. The generosity and the kindness of the people who came forward to help still overwhelms me. I was able to identify some basic grass roots projects which addressed fishermen, women and children. I was able to purchase and do the
following projects:

5 Tricycles, Transporter carts for fishermen who lost their carts. Carts are important to load fish baskets, vegetable baskets or water tanks and make delivery to local markets. These carts would enable the fishermen who lost their carts to start their own small business and provide for their families. 35 families were interviewed and 5 families were selected.

12 Sewing machines for tsunami widows and young ladies who don't have steady income. Many women are uncertain about their future as their husbands or fathers have been lost at sea. These sewing machines would enable them to start their own small business from their homes and take care of their families.

Text books, Note books and Storage boxes, shelves (for clothing) for 220 orphaned children. There are two orphanages in Nagapattinam. Children were
in great need of books since their books were washed away by the tidal waves. The orphanage also needed storage space since they didn't have storage facilities for the children's clothing.

Uniforms for 250 school children (two small schools in the coastal villages
of Nagai district) who lost their clothing when their belongings were washed
away by the waves.

Nutritional meals including fresh fruits for 1 day for 120 orphaned children
in Nagapattinam.

I would love to share some of these stories and pictures with you soon. There is so much to tell and not enough time to write at this moment.

While I was in India I was able to write articles for CBC on the impact of the tsunami. You can view my articles on the following website.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/viewpoint/vp_swaminathan/

I apologize for not getting this information posted sooner.

I and the people of Nagapattinam would like to thank everyone for making a
big difference in this time of great need. I have never seen such generosity, kindness and the outpouring of love for humanity.

I will be also posting some stories and pictures soon.

Technologically Challenged

Besides doing Aid work and trying to find local NGOs to work together and provide Tsunami relief, I like to share some of the challenges that I have come across.

My home town Nagapattinam (Nagai) hasn’t changed much since when I was little and left here to my adapted homeland Canada. Still things are pretty much the same where it’s a small town to accommodate a large population and filled with many religions and many job sectors.

What has changed? I see many two wheelers and cars on the road. Easiest way to get around India is a two wheeler. It comes in all shapes, colour, price range and sound. There are no small streets or big streets or national highways. They are all the same.

Same with cars. Since the last government, consumerism has taken over India. When I was little all you saw was an Ambassador or a Fiat. Now the streets are filled with foreign imports from Japan, Korea, Germany and USA. There is demand here form since the wealth is here. I can’t imagine what a Mercedes cost here in India but I see a lot of them. Imagine 1% richest of the rich of India (size of Canada) owning private planes. It is not the same India as before. It’s quite enterprising. It’s an economic giant.

Imagine a street filled with bicycles, mopeds, Enfield Bullets, cars, buses, people and cows (yes cows) and dogs. It’s a quite a trick to get around town if you are by foot. Bigger you are, better you are.

There are no sidewalks so you will have to compete with the cows, dogs and vendors to get around without getting killed by two wheelers or vehicles. Crossing a street can be challenging. There are couple of rules that I follow and perhaps it might help you if you come to India.

Follow a cow, you will get a space and people and cars will stop. So look for a cow to cross the street, chances are you are head of the game. Otherwise you will be stuck for a while. There are no street signs or traffic signs. Its cars, bicycles, buses and cow comes first, pedestrians come last.

Another rule that has helped is, when you cross the street without a cow, don’t make eye contact with the car or the bicyclist. If you make an eye contact you are responsible for yourself but when you cross and don’t look at the other person they will yield for you. It’s a simple rule that worked in Mumbai last year (a very busy metropolis). I haven’t tested it this time yet; I am still following a cow or taking a rickshaw to get around.

Cell phones have a huge market here. The land lines are so old and they are not dependable. The citizens have bypassed the land lines to wireless technology. Every person has a cell phone and are most of the times engaged into a conversation (defiantly more than Canada, not more than Europe from my experience).

Text messaging (SMS) is a must. Cheaper than talking on cell phones when all need you are couple of words like “yes” or “no” or “pickup bread”. Chances are you will hear a beep-beep coming from all corners (in coming text message). I check my cell phone (handy) all the time to see if it’s coming from mine, we all look at each other and chuckle. A small luxury in middle of old Nagai.

When I came back from Europe I was sending text messages to my friends in Germany from Toronto. It was free to send 2000 text message to until Rogers and Fido (the only GSM providers) decided to put a lid on it. Now text messaging is expensive in Canada if you want to send out to Europe or Asia on a daily basis. Email is cheaper or free in Canada. Not in India, they are wired and they use it well. Pay attention Canada.

Basically anyone can get a cell phone here. For 95 Rs. ($3 cdn) you can get a starter package without a contract. Wow!

I really couldn’t do my work without cell phone here so the second day that I got here I got myself a cell phone. Now I am wired.

But let me tell you about the bureaucracy to get a cell phone provider that will work all over India without paying your life savings. There are many here but unfortunately they don’t work with each other. So if you want to be in the real game (reaching your family and friends across the ocean) you better a good provider and read the small prints. It all depends where your SIM card is from (your original chip for the phone). Each city has its own network and they all charge each other. So it can be a big problem when you move around.

My SIM card is from Chennai (Madras, the capital of Tamil Nadu) but since I am in Nagai for each phone call or sms I have to pay a roaming fee. This is within the same state. People don’t seem to worry so much about it. I can’t wait to see what surprises holds for me when I head to state of Karnataka (Bangalore) next week to visit my ex-pat friends from Canada and my cousins. Karnataka is the silicon valley of India where all the high tech firms are, so I am sure things will be better there.

Speaking of high tech, in Chennai I had no problems to walk into an Internet café using broadband (DSL) to send emails from yahoo or hotmail. But Nagapattinam is a whole new ball game.

Broadband is not available in small towns, (much of state of Tamil Nadu). It’s coming in July I hear, sort of like the like a Pope’s visit. Everyone waits with anticipation.

There are only 30 modem lines available in the town of Nagapattinam (population 100,000). I am still unclear whether its 30 modem line at once or 30 altogether. By the way it’s 54K lines. So you will notice the change quickly. I couldn’t subscribe to a local internet provider to do my work because of the wait list that’s been around for years and tsunami. I have to wait until I get short listed or emergency wait period with collector’s approval (City Mayer) for 3 weeks.

In case you all have been wondering why I haven’t replied to all your email, this is the reason. It takes 3 minutes to switch pages or do a simple task (including typing in a password or click SEND), some times the line drops so I will have to retype my emails. so you can do the math for sending a success email.

IT Park (Internet café) in Nagai has adapted since I spend close to an hour or two in an Internet café to just to send two emails a day. Another reason that I haven’t posted my blogs frequently. Thank god for my laptop where I compose most of my work otherwise I will be growing old in IT Park. Most of the internet café are filled with hundreds of people wanting to get into the information highway but due to heavy traffic (no pun intended here) they are simply turned away.

Nagai and rest of Tamil Nadu (and India) faces another problem, electricity! Yes, the one energy source that all high tech. needs. Almost everyday you will get a power failure. It comes unannounced and can’t tell how long it will take to come back. Some times ten minutes, some times hours! Every second Saturday, the local government shuts the power off for nearly all day to conserve energy. Most shops and rich houses have generators to provide skeletal energy.

To a person who wants to be wired or go on the information highway these might be big obstacles (no internet café opens at this time). So this discourages people from getting on the information highway. But it doesn’t trouble people that they don’t have dependable energy source to get their work done, life just goes on normally.

Imagine a “black out” Toronto with power generators every second Saturday.

Another problem in Nagai is power fluctuations. The voltage drops. So most electrical items at shops and houses run by transformers or power stabilizers. To protect and use my laptop at home from getting fried I had to a UPS or a transformer. Please don’t ask me about power conversions, voltage difference between North America and Asia (110v to 220v). It’s a long story. But it hasn’t been fun explaining to the local computer dealer about a power adapter to run my laptop since it’s from North America (110v plugs). India uses 220v.

It was an adventure when my adapter for my laptop blew up with sparks and smoke and trying to figure out how to get back “on-line” (get my laptop working at home so I don’t have to go IT Park to spend more than 2 hours just to send the mails that I composed at home).

It was an adventure riding in an auto rickshaw on a pothole filled streets and speed bumps (no need for them, the large potholes will stop anything). Trying to hold my heavy bag filled with the UPS weighing 8kg (17.6 lbs) and another bag containing my laptop on my lap without leaving them down on the rickshaw. Nothing would survive or might fly out over the speed bumps or potholes. Rushing across town just to figure out what blew up when the outside temperature was +33c and suffering from heat exhaustion and covered in dirt was an adventure on its own. If it wasn’t for my articles for CBC I wouldn’t be at IT Park’s daily customer, that’s for sure.

What did we do before wireless technology and internet?

I’ve had my share of colourful moments when I needed the Internet café (for the pure use of Internet) but nothing can be done because it’s a “situation”.

I remember from my last vacation from Jamaica a tour operator told me that they have “no problems” in Jamaica. She taught me about the difference between “circumstances” “situation” and “problem”. Imagine coming down a curved street and miss hitting the other car, it’s called a “circumstances”. When you hit the other car it’s called a “situation”. It’s not a problem until there is a “dead body”. So she said they don’t have much “problems” in Jamaica and people are stress free. Hence the saying “no problem” in Jamaica.

So I wonder what she will say when I have these “situations” in India.

Anyway to wrap my story, its easy to do Aid work across the ocean but if you really want to be on the information highway and wired all the way in India, there is a price to be paid. Understanding, Patience and defiantly Persistence!

My first day in Nagapattinam

Dawn was breaking as my train approached Nagapattinam train station. I couldn’t believe that I was few minutes away from Nagapattinam (Nagai in short) and I was going to do Aid work for Tsunami. Nagai is a small fishing Hamlet on the shore line of Bay of Bengal where I was born in. When I heard that Nagai was hard hit by Tsunami I couldn’t just donate some money to a NGO and sit in my comfortable home in Toronto and watch what unfolds on television. I couldn’t comprehend that nearly 6200 people have died, close to 2000 boats have been destroyed in Nagai District and the fishing has come to a halt. I had to see Nagai.

Nagapattinam is an example of how a small town with three major religions can live side by side without problems. As a child waking up to “Call to Prayer” coming from a nearby Mosque was a daily routine. During the months of December and January all religious institutions would compete and play devotional songs over the town’s loud speaker. One corner Christmas choir coming from a church where I went to kindergarten; another corner harvest celebration (Pongal) for the Tamil months of Margazi-Thai music coming from a Shiva Temple and lastly special Koran readings for Ramadan from a nearby Morzapali Mosque.

Just to savour and re-live my precious old memories I would plan my visits to India during December or January months.

My favourite hobby during my holiday would include watching the fish being unloaded from the boats from the Nagai harbour called Akkarapetti. I remember fondly when I went to Akkarapetti last February with my mother and two years ago with my cousin Kavitha. Hundreds of boats would go out at night and return the next morning where all the fisherwomen and children would wait with their baskets and the whole-sale merchants with their ice packed crates. Bright Indian flag flying high on these small but strong wooden boats would come from the sea and pull into a backwater area where they unloaded the boats. There would be a buzz in the air and urgency in the harbour. Everyone one would rush to the boats and the bounty will be unloaded manually by hands by young fishermen.

Many large piles of shrimps, large prawns, yellow fin tunas, blue crabs, cuddle fishes, sting rays, sharks, various kinds of fishes and shell fishes including conch would be scattered on the main ground. Some items would be quickly auctioned and passed to the vendors for re-sale before reaching the consumer. Sadly some items will never see a Nagai home and quickly exported to foreign countries. What is left will be sent to the local fish markets. For hours I would watch in wonderment and ask questions and take notes with my camera.

My Toronto home is filled these pictures from my various visits. Do I take comfort that I have these memories and pictures?

My brief sighting of the harbour at the dawn of the day when I returned to Nagai sat on my stomach like a heavy rock. What I saw on TV and newspapers didn’t prepare me for this reality. Boats tossed into the main streets like piles of rubble. Some boats were thrown and twisted around buildings and electrical posts were they all lay dead. The gentle giants have been slayed and lost in the war. A battle scene that I was not prepared to see only confirmed the horror and the destruction of Tsunami.

Our family driver Bashir said “I am glad you weren’t here on the Dec 26th you would be very upset because I’ve taken you to Akkarapetti many times but I am glad you are here now”. He gave me courage and took me to my uncle’s place where I am stationed.

During breakfast my uncle and cousins paint a sad story of the fateful Sunday December 26th when they had to decide if they had to flee the town or not when the water came close to their home only ½ km away from the sea. I felt pain and anxiety took over me and all the strength and confidence that was given to me had vanished. I was not sure if I could face Akkarapetti in minutes to come.

As the car pulled closer to the harbour I saw traces of destruction and the wrath of Tsunami. No words could describe what I saw the in the ill-fated morning. Akkarapetti no longer exists. There was no buzz but only sadness and grief filled the air.

As I passed the main bridge where I used to watch the sunrise was littered with boat debris. Boats smashed against the bridge like match sticks and the under pass clogged with many boats pushed by the force of the mighty wave. A boat named “Mariyaman”, named after the Nagai goddess Kali couldn’t survive the killer waves. I couldn’t believe the annihilation of my beloved fishing Hamlet. Boats tossed like piles of waste, steel rods bent and twisted like rubber, fishing nets tangled, torn and hung on whatever it could and finally torn clothing and shoes abandoned where it lost its owners. Each piece tells a sad story.

Local fishermen were desperately trying to pull the jammed boats back into the harbour so the salvage operation could start. But news breaks each day when they discover a body buried under the rubble.

I walked over to the area where they used to have piles of fishes and now it’s the new home of many buried under. A large tree planting project has started with the names of the lost ones just few feet away where it used to host the prawn auctions.

Beach littered with carcasses of destroyed boats and an old woman mourning and beating her chest nearby haunts me. I asked the old woman what she was doing. Ranganayagi said that she was performing “Karumathi” (death ceremony after one month) for her daughter-in-law Papamal and her grand daughters Thilagesvari and Paramesvari. Banana leaf filled with sweets, fruits and incense and death songs were offered to the perished at the same spot where her home stood once where now filled with only sand. She said she survived because she went to the vegetable market 2 km away but wishes to join her family in deep grief.

The old beach where I used to go when I was young with my sister and grandmother was littered with torn clothing, fishing nets and piles of wood and broken logs from catamarans and boats. Nothing exits but small traces of debris to remind the existence of a fishing village with hundreds of houses. I heard the beach was full of children and adults that morning. The beach is silent now.

My once favourite beach now cradled ashes from the mass burnings. The shoreline is filled with half burned lumbers and dusts of ashes everywhere. I heard that they didn’t have enough time to burry some of the bodies since they were decomposed so they burned them quickly as they found the bodies. I washed my feet in the water not to remove the ashes from my feet but to cleanse myself from attending a mass funeral. This is a Hindu tradition.

I walk passed the beach toward the train station and saw a large cargo boat lost its direction and ended on a concrete ground. A survivour told me that the waves rose as high as palm trees and pointed to a group of trees on the beach. The palm tree is nearly 30 metres high and the leaves are brown where the salt water waves climbed over. According to many that it took only two waves, the second more powerful than the first swept away what had taken many generations to build.

Indian flag still flies proudly on the broken boats. Some tainted with mud and some with blood reflect the terror of the fateful Sunday. They remain silent but flutter in the wind. The arena where the spectacle took place, where I stood in bewilderment seems so far away. Nagai will never be the same again.

Greetings from Chennai

It’s my third day in Mother India, and I still can’t seem to get a grip of what has taken place in Tamil Nadu. I am in Chennai, once known as Madras, the capital of Tamil Nadu. Since the day I left Toronto and landed at Chennai airport early morning of Thursday (Jan 19) I‘ve been talking to many strangers in the airports, in the planes about their reaction toward Tsunami and how it has changed or affected their lives.

Many people I came across got to know my reason for coming to India and gave me strength and their insight on how Relief and Rehabilitation should take place in Tamil Nadu, specifically for Nagapattinam, (Nagai). When I say “I am going to Nagapattinam” their jaw drops and they gently whisper if I am prepared to see what I am going to see. I am deeply touched the fact that they are all affected and they care.

This question has been on my thoughts the last few days. What will I see? Am I really prepared to see Nagai? I know that it will change me forever. I was in Nagai less than a year ago when I visited the beach and the fishing depot with my mother. My prized possession of Nagai’s shoreline pictures come to my mind. I have been shifting through them since the Tsunami and sharing it with my friends and neighbours. Now I will see the destruction of nature and what she has done to the hamlet of Nagai.

Chennai was also hit by Tsunami. The last couple of days I have been I working with Aid India-Chennai, the NGO that I have been in contact with doing field and media work. They are hard working and doing amazing rehabilitation work for various affected districts near Chennai. They are very happy that I can go to Nagai to do some work for them. Nagai seems to be “ground 0” for Tsunami and I feel like a whale rider waiting for my ride to take me in to the sea.

I have been moved by the share volume of volunteers pouring into Aid India-Chennai to help out. The same day that I arrived I met a young American named Adam who showed up all the way from Hawaii. He is a waiter at a restaurant and wanted to do relief work so he packed his pack and showed up after a 3 days of milk-run flights. His employer was kind enough to let him go for a month and also plans to donate a good sum to Aid India. He will work with Aid India to rebuild houses for the affected area of Chennai. He isn’t worried about where his next meals will come from or where he will sleep. Talk about dedication, I am really touched.

I’ve met many individuals who are dedicated and want to make changes in Tamil Nadu. But somehow I can’t seem to hide my feeling of anxiety of Nagapattinam. I haven’t slept well. I am fighting my jet lag (10.5 hrs time difference), heat exhaustion, coming from -30C of arctic Toronto to setting foot into humid +32C of Chennai and just the fact that I am in Chennai. It’s a paradox on its own. But it’s been nice to decompress in Chennai and basking on my mother’s home cooked south Indian traditional meals. She is also in India.

Chennai has given me great strength and courage to face Nagai. Tomorrow I will see the fury of Tsunami and what she has left behind.

See you from Mother India

Hello Everyone

I am leaving for India today. I just wanted to take a moment and say that you all have been incredibly supportive and extremely generous for Tsunami Relief for Nagapattinam. Through neighbours, friends and family, we have raised close to $4000 in a short week. It’s really amazing to see the power of kindness and I am so lucky to have you all as my friends, neighbours and family. The money will be put to good use in Nagapattinam as I will be working directly with some of the ongoing rehabilitation projects.

I will keep you updated with my blogs and also let you know the website that we are in the process of making which will feature pictures and articles from my field reports in Tamil Nadu.

See you all on the other side of Atlantic and from Mother India.

..Siva

Some of the projects

There are many aid agencies and NGO’s stationed in Nagapattinam. Many aid workers have been reporting the spread of disease and nearly half of the wells have been contaminated with salt water. There is a heavy loss of human lives and destruction of nearly 2000 boats where the fishing industry in Nagapattinam has come to a halt. Nagapattinam was the main hub of fishing industry for Tamil Nadu.

I plan to visit Nagapattinam January 19th with an aid agency called AID India, a grass roots organization active from USA since 1991, where they have many chapters all over the world. My task will be to document the survivors and write field and media reports.

I also plan to write several feature-length articles about the situation of Nagapattinam and Tamil Nadu. I have many angles to write including writing about what the fisherwomen are doing now since their husbands and children are dead and their homes and boats are destroyed. I would like to investigate what they plan to do next with two generations gone.

I also heard about a temporary orphanage setup up to house close to 3,000 children at a nearby village called Sikkal. I am planning to visit Sikkal and to investigate how the children are coping with the loss of their parents and the funding they are receiving.

My articles will feature interviews from local fishermen, aid workers and also quotes from NGO representatives for Nagapattinam and the local municipality leaders. Because I am fluent in Tamil and know many people in the Nagapattinam area I believe I can gain a unique insight into how the disaster has affected the people.

Nagapattinam, here I come!

I would say that Dec 26, 2004 will be remembered by millions of people around the world as one of the nature’s worst disasters.

I haven’t slept much the last two weeks and I have been trying to figure out what my part is in the Tsunami disaster. My home town Nagapattinam (Nagai) was worst hit, off the coast of Tamil Nadu State (South India). Nearly 6100 people have died.

Nagai used to be the fishing hub of Tamil Nadu and it’s decimated. I wonder what the fisherwomen will do. Their husbands and children are dead. Their house and boat is destroyed. I can’t just sit here and watch this happen in my town.

I ate their fish until I came to Canada. I sat on the beach every Sunday with my sister, grandmother and friends eating salted peanuts watching the waves until the moon rose and the bright yellow light turned on the light house. It was like a large giant, painted in black and white stripes with a red top. I would watch in wonderment.

My biggest thrill was to dig a hole behind all the elders and watch them fall behind. The high light of the evening would be to stand on the water until it came up to my knees. My grandmother would hold us tight and worry. But Mother Nature took good care of us. On our way home we would pay a short visit to the town’s biggest church. We would light a candle and say a small prayer. Even though I was brought up Hindu, my grand parents exposed us to all 3 religions that were predominate in Nagapattinam (Hindu, Muslim and Christian).

It’s sad to know Nagapattinam (Home of a large Shiva temple), Velankanni (home of a very famous Portuguese Basilica) and Nagore (home a famous masque where the prophet Mohamed had once visited) were all hard hit by Tsunami. So Mother Nature didn’t play favorites.

Yesterday according to the Hindu national news paper of India, Nagapattinam district’s death roll has risen to 6,035 (1,875 men, 2,400 women and 1,760 children). The whole fishing industry has been decimated. My little town and all villages nearby are in serious trouble. How will they rebuild and survive? Their houses or huts are gone. Their fishing boats are destroyed. Women have lost their husbands and children. Many children have lots their parents. Two generations of fishing industry is wiped out.

I also heard about a temporary orphanage setup up to house close to 3,000 children at a nearby village called Sikkal. The children are asking for their parents and crying at night.

I can’t get these pictures out of my head. Looking at the pictures of Ackarapatti (the fishing village of Nagapattinam) taken last year with my mother seems so far away. It will never be like that again.

What can I do? How can I help?

After going back and forth I have decided to go to Tamil Nadu, to be specific to Nagapattiam.

I have hooked up with an aid agency called AID India. They are doing great work. I have been corresponding with them and seems like they can put my skills to good work. I will be doing Media and Documentation work. I will be documenting the village with digital camera and writing reports for AID India and other media outlets.

Finally I feel at peace. Seems like the right thing to do. What little I can do is going to help so many people. I am happy that I can make the difference.

The beauty and innocence of Nagai is gone, what is left are people in need of great help. As humans we have moral obligations to do the right thing. To me, my decision feels good inside. Nagapattinam, here I come.

How can I comprehend this?

I get up each day thinking what I can do for my home town Nagapattinam a small seaport town in Tamil Nadu India that was worst struck by Tsunami. We have donated money to NGOs but this is not enough. I have contacted two Aid Agencies asking if I can do more but I havent heard anything. The frustration of waiting kills me.

I talked to my uncles today in Nagai (Nagapattinam). They are still finding bodies. It has been 11 days. I also get conflicting stories about how much the government is helping. I need to find the truth.