By Building Houses For Poor, Bro. Keane Has Made Hearts Of Poor His Home By Amarnath Dinesh Roy, SAR NEWS
BANGALORE, Karnataka (SAR NEWS) -- Irish-born Brother Tony Keane has spent 54 years of his life in India. And in those five decades, he has become a sort of demigod to several poor villagers in Tamil Nadu’s Sivagangai Diocese. By building houses for the homeless, Keane has cemented a place in the hearts of the poor. When SAR News approached him for an interview, he threw up his hands and said, “Why do I need to be interviewed or appreciated for something that God demands of me as His disciple? I am doing my Christian duty…let's not make anything big of this. The credit goes to those wonderful people out there who contribute money for this good cause.” It was only after several appeals did Brother Keane accepted to talk with SAR News. With joy beaming in his eyes, he displayed a few photos saying, “Look at the joy on the faces of these poor people who now have a roof above their head.” Keane, now 73, has over the years approached Christian Brothers and other benevolent people, including his own sister in Ireland, to support the homeless in Tamil Nadu state. “Back home in Ireland, even a poor man has a 6-room house, but a poor man in India is roofless; it is even more pathetic to see seven to ten people living in a small 15/15 feet shack,” he adds, pointing to a tiny little hut that he photographed. Though the beautiful houses Keane has been building with the help of donors are spacious, strong, well ventilated, good-looking and with attached toilets, Keane says that these houses may be considered as chicken houses in Europe. “But for the people here, it’s like a palace…I am happy that with the help of the loving people out there in Ireland, we are able to do so much for these poor people of God here…” Brother Keane personally visits the afflicted, ensures if the land they intend to build a house is their own and reaches out only to the “genuinely desperate”, he says. The money he spends is not loans, but outright charity. Most houses that he builds bear the name of the donor, like “O’Connor Illam”. “As for my name that appears somewhere on the foundation stone, its useful to ensure authenticity to the donor…” he adds. Together with support from the Little Way Association, brother Keane successfully launched a drinking water project in a village in Sivagangai. Apart from building homes for the homeless, Brother Keane also sought the help of the Edmund Rice family to adopt several children in Adigondahalli village, 25 km from the Bangalore city, in the Bangalore Archdiocese. The children receive tuitions, midday meals and other benefits. Though Brother Keane spent a good number of years in the teaching apostolate and had people like Sanjay Gandhi as his student in St. Columbus School New Delhi, he says he has found greater joy reaching out to the poor people of India. “It gives me a sense of satisfaction and peace. I also enjoyed working with the adivasis (aborigines) in Gujarat.” When asked to comment on what he felt about building huge churches, he smiles, putting a finger on his lips and says: “The Lord was happy in a stable in Bethlehem. No further comments please.” Thanks to the generosity of his own sister, he was able to build a small factory in Sivagangai and so provide a livelihood for many poor people. The government provides the spinning machines and raw material. With his responsibility as Executive Secretary of the National Assembly of Religious Brothers in India, Brother Keane lives in Bangalore with the CRI community. Appalled by the miserable living condition of the people living in a slum in Gudadahalli in Bangalore Archdiocese, he immediately took up building a new house in place of one that was almost crumbling. The Parish Priest of St. Anthony’s Church in New Gudadahalli, Father Philip Arockiadoss told SAR News, “The living conditions of several people in my parish is very sad; in some houses, more than 12 people live, some are forced to sleep outside because of overcrowding. Keane’s contribution is a great relief to the people here…” Robust and well-built, Keane walks healthy, talks humorously. A publicity-shy man but one with a dream for the poor says, “I hope we all work to improve the human condition. For me, that is true evangelisation.” This Irish Christian Brother (Congregation) sees no distinction between Hindu, Muslim or Christian. Anyone in desperate need gets his attention and sympathy, even if he really isn’t able to do anything at times. Recalling the most memorable moment in recent years, he says: “We were to have the inauguration of a newly built house and the husband of the lady was in jail. We worked out a way to get him released on bail just for a day so that he is present for the inauguration. It was unbelievable to see the amount of joy on his face and the faces of his family members and all the villagers on the day of the inauguration. He returned to jail, but he went with immense happiness in his heart. These are moments that bring us peace and joy. These are unforgettable moments.” When asked if he had any serious regrets in life, he says with a broad smile: “The only sad thing is that we professed Brothers are hardly addressed or mentioned during functions or programmes even by the people in the hierarchy.”