Rev. Dada J.P. Vaswani’s tender heart has never let him remain indifferent to the suffering of others. During any calamities, Dada’s instant response has been to put together a band of volunteers from the Sadhu Vaswani Mission, often even accompanying them, and immediately rush to the site of the disaster, to provide the required assistance and sustenance.
True to Dada’s practice and tradition, a team of dedicated volunteers from the Sadhu Vaswani Mission, Pune rushed to Kerala.
Day 1: The Sadhu Vaswani Mission Pune Kerala relief team started their march as soldiers of the army of God on the early morning of 18th August. They reached Coimbatore by afternoon and met with the local community leaders, & other members of NGOs such as CBE4KERALA.
Day 2: After assessing entry points to Kerala and affected zones, they moved to Palakkad on 19th morning, which was the most suitable entry to Kerala. They met up with the local MP and later visited some affected areas of Palakkad. Palakkad was in the mode of recovery as it was amongst the first few areas to get affected. Some local government officials came forward to help, in the form of the Master’s angels. They arranged a meeting with the Collector. The team was informed that a lot of supplies have reached but roads were closed further for aid to move on. The team also met Dr. Sreeram Shankar, head of Sewa Bharti and Mr. Kailasamani, District Head of Indian Red Cross. It was decided to move to Paravur, Ernakulam district, which is one of the most affected areas. There were 20 kilometres of road blocks, landslides, but the govt. officials promised a police convoy too, in case of problems.
Day 3: It was action time. The team started early morning at 5.30am to Paravur, firmly believing that the Beloved Master would guide them and clear all the hurdles. And so it happened! There were no road blocks! The 20km jam disappeared, with no landslides to hinder! On reaching Paravur, the team met the local MLA Mr. V.D. Satheesan. The condition was grim. Though the water had started receding, most of the houses are damaged or washed away due to the 4 to 8 feet water levels. After an extensive search, the team found a suitable venue to start the food kitchen. Now the challenge was of supplies – the raw material, cooks, cooking equipment and gas cylinder, water etc, as everything was closed.
Day 4: With God’s Grace and the local support of the Councillor, everything got arranged and the team set out with a small target of 300 breakfast packets of Upama and 400 lunch packets of pulav and pickle. When they reached out to the affected areas, the packets got over in a matter of few minutes. People were hungry, having returned to their homes with no food, water or electricity. There no transport available either nor were provision stores open. The team saw the rich and poor equally hungry wanting food. Extra items like biscuits, rusks, bananas, bread and water bottles were distributed. Seeing the desperate need, the team set a target of 2000 for the next day. More supplies were procured from Palakkad in terms of raw food items like rice, oil, dal etc. which was unloaded by all of them – the Mission team, the officers, and the local people.
DAY 5: The cooking started at 1.30am, the night before, so that distribution could be done from 10am to 1pm. The menu was a packet of biryani with dahi kachumar and pickle and water bottles. The first van left at 9.30AM and distribution was completed as planned by 2pm. The food was tastier this time, adapted to the local requirement. It finished much before than planned, and left the team with mixed emotions as they couldn’t feed more due to constraints of materials, manpower, space, distribution vehicles and volunteers. Yet, they took on the daunting task to double up the production to 4000 packets. At the same time, the Mission team was thinking of reaching out to more affected areas, especially to Kuttinad which is one of the worst affected near Alleppey.
DAY 6: Quantity is scaled up to 4000 food packets, with cooking going on the whole night. Today’s menu is local dish errisery, plain boiled rice, cabbage thoran and lemon pickle.
DAY 7: The food distribution was done with another 4000+ packets. Sadhu Vaswani Center Ahmedabad worked with the Indian Western Railways in arranging a special High Capacity Parcel Van to send relief materials to the flood victims. 23 tons of materials, including medicines, water bottles, bedsheets, napkins, blankets, mosquito repellents, and food items were collected and loaded. The extra bogey was attached to the Porbander Kochi Express train in Ahmedabad at 3AM and reached Ernakulam the next day and was received by the office of Ernakulam Dist Collector, Mohd. Y. Safirulla K (IAS) for distribution.
DAY 8: It was one of the most important days of the Onam Festival. According to history, King Mahabali lost his land of Kerala to the Gods, yet received a boon to visit his homeland once a year. All the festivities during Onam are mainly preparations to welcome him. This year, it was a solemn time as many of the residents were themselves homeless and many others were without water and electricity in the affected areas. To keep their moral high and bring smiles, the team cheered them up with their warm smiles and added a sweet to the meal – a ladoo, along with their favourite sambhar rice with uperi (Kerala-style okra) & pickle.
DAY 9: The volunteers had been working in sweltering heat with the humidity coming off the air rising from the drying soil. The muddy land, the broken trees, the mosquitos made it a rough terrain for the volunteers. Today, after finishing the distribution of food packets, they took some time out to celebrate Raksha Bandhan, known as Avani Avittam in South India.
DAY 10 & 11: Dada’s samaritans continued to toil to provide relief and every day, the team kept going further into the interiors, where the recovery was still wanting. The team ended up serving 20 areas in Paravur – Neendoor, Pattanam, Pooyapilly, Parayakad, Kootukad, Chendamangalam, Kottayilkovilakam, Karimpadam, Pallanthuruthu, Thekkumpuram, Kumaramangalam, Munduruthi, Palathuruthu, CP Thuruthu, Kochuavara Thuruthu, Kozhi Thuruthu, Pattam, Tholathuruthu, Elanthikkara, & Puthenvelikkara.
DAY 12: The well-known local MLA V.D. Satheesan was deeply moved by Sadhu Vaswani Mission’s efforts. He visited the camp and thanked them for coming all the way to help the Kerala residents. He expressed, in glowing terms, that the Mission has worked in an organised, outstanding manner, and was unique amongst others. And expressed his keen interest to visit the Pune Mission.
The Paravur area has partially recovered with water services restored and the home kitchens getting active again. Some businesses have opened up with people returning to work. Schools too had reopened. The team neared its end of the relief mission – closing out the food distribution drive with about 3000 meals prepared and distributed. In total, 30,000 food packets were served over the 12 days.
DAY 13: Bidding Adieu! In the final phase, a parting gift was distributed to the most-affected ones in the Paravur area. The kit consisted of a T-shirt & a lungi for men, a gown for ladies, a bed sheet and a towel. The material was procured with help of Coimbatore Sadhu Vaswani Center and supporters. The goods arrived in the morning, and were unloaded by volunteers themselves, opened and kits were made. Then it was taken even on two-wheelers and on foot into the interiors where the truck could not go.
Day 14: August 31st – it was the day to return home! Yet, it was another opportunity to serve. The local MLA V.D. Satheesan guided the team to one of the most interior and badly affected area where a small distribution camp of approximate 138 affected families was organised. Satheesan came personally and briefed the crowd about the tremendous effort put in by Sadhu Vaswani Mission, especially the central kitchen setup.
In the afternoon, the team took to the other interior zones to distribute the remaining kits. “The experience was saddening and heart wrenching after witnessing in person the damage and losses to the residents of Paravur. They will take lot of time and help to come back to normal life,” they said. The flood waters had reached the roof-lines in most of the houses. The waters receded, but left behind massive layers of sediment and mud. Life-savings go into buying TVs, refrigerators, appliances and electronics and they were all damaged by the flood waters. The people had never experienced such kind of disaster before.
With one hand the team waved goodbyes, and with the other hand they kept giving away apples – about 1200 pieces. Some people shared their sad stories, while others courageously smiled and with moist eyes, thanked the Mission for coming all the way from Pune. An ex-armyman said, “The Mission volunteers offered their services unequivocally. We were served with food items like biryani, rice etc. and even before leaving, they are distributing apples. Where the vehicles could not reach in the remote interiors, they carried food on their heads to reach the people. I can’t express how troubled we were. I hope someday I too get a chance to come to their service.”
As Dada’s team returned to Pune at night, they felt grateful to the Lord and the Mission for giving them the precious opportunity to serve this cause.
