In a Goa beyond visitors' eyes http://goodnewsindia.com/index.php/Magazine/story/jan-ugahi-goa/
Goa enjoys a prosperity greater than the rest of India. Its standard of living would rival that of Asian tigers. On human development criteria too, it would score well. Goans are a spirited, hospitable, fair minded, God-fearing people. While 26% of all Indians are in poverty, the figure for Goa is less than 10%. Its roads, beaches, resorts and open-ness would make you believe you were in the south of Europe. But beneath the cheer, problems gather and lie like the garbage that affluence generates -- for someone else to clear. The most affected are the children. Several thousands are growing up without knowing childhood. Even while battling on their behalf using familiar means, Bernadette D'Souza and Gregory D'Costa are working on a deeper plane. Beyond laws, they believe is a God-given right of all humans to realise their full potential. Their organisation Jan Ugahi, means 'Self realisation for all'. The story of how they came to this mission is fascinating; one that is so very Indian. Greg used to be a priest and Bernie, a telephone operator. Mines and beaches: Under Portuguese rule for over 400 years, Goa had developed a unique culture all its own, with a very Latin flavour. In 1962, Goa hit world headlines as a 'sovereign state' 'annexed' by 'imperialist India'. When West's moral outrage subsided, its people began to come over -- in curiosity first, and for the infectious friendliness thereafter. The Goan had charmed them. The Portuguese had also incubated many native entrepreneurs who went by names like Chowgule, Dempo, Salgaokar and so on. Many of these were known worldwide as mine and ship owners. The Persian Gulf job-boom that began in the mid seventies made even the middle and lower layers of Goan society cash rich. There was much spare money looking for investment opportunities. Goa decided to invent itself as a tourism destination. The construction boom of the 1980s, --combined with labour shortages, due to many Goans away in the Gulf-- drew poor migrants from drought hit areas over the hills, notably Bijapur in Karnataka. They built the now shining Goa and manned its many menial services. Even as Goa became world's darling, immigrant labour and tourist influx were precipitating new social problems. Housing shortages, slum living, denial of civic rights are a commonplace. Slum children are also victims in the now notorious Goan crisis: paedophilia. Merging streams: Neither Greg nor Bernie grew up in Goa. Bernie was born in 1955 in Andheri, Bombay, one of seven children of a post office superintendent. She remembers herself as a rebel and something of a feminist even at a young age. Going through college, she held many part time jobs-- at a stone crushers for instance. She may not have been actively aware then, but her mind had begun to store away inequities in society. She was the telephone operator at Almonard when a workers' strike occurred. She was appalled by the management's callousness. "I would leak information to the workers and take messages for them," she says with a chuckle. That spell at Almonard made her want to go away and see how 'India' lived. Bombay seemed a poor place to find that out. Greg, though born in Goa -1951- was taken away to Bombay when he was six. He was a studious, inward-looking young man. Family moved again to Ahmedabad when he was 13. It was there that he was impelled to become a priest. He was a natural teacher and mathematics was his favourite subject. It seemed education as a mission would be served by his becoming a priest. After high school the promising scholar entered a seminary in Ahmedabad. In 1981, he was ordained a priest in the Society of Jesus. The church nursed great ambitions on his behalf and sent him to Vidya Jyoti, a centre for higher studies run by it. His reputation as a teacher grew and he was marked for great responsibilities within the church. Bernie meanwhile saw her first 'Indian village' in Bihar. As a Bombay girl, she was astounded how different, life was in a village. How much they endured with cheer and resignation. Workers at Almonard for whom she had raged, had been in clover by comparison. They at least knew what laws entitled them to. She saw in the villages around the ICI explosives plant and the Tenughat thermal station in Gomiya, Bihar the environmental degradation that unaccountable development brings. Her true shock was yet to be. She and a few idealistic young people saw the transformation of well integrated Santal villages into a mind-blown, disrupted community losing all its self-esteem. All because of the rising Kushmandu dam near Alirajpur. For five years between 1988 and 93, Bernie and her small band of friends lived among the villagers and tried to form them into a unit fighting for its rights. They had little or no money, but they were full of passion and grit. They failed. "The state may not be evil, but it's a wily adversary once its mind goes into a dumb spell. It's machinery will seduce, split, buy and overwhelm vulnerable people," she says. "The once cash-poor Santals were suddenly into money. Their drinking used to be communal and built into their culture. Now they had the money to drink without reason or occasion, and at any time. They were willing to turn their backs on a great heritage and give up their lands. The government had its dam. The hills and the dales we had traversed for year was gone." She was shattered. There was a broad sheet of water like a shroud over a culture. The rebel's voice went weak: "was it futile to stand up for what seems right?" She began to fall ill. Elsewhere, Fr. Gregory D'Costa's doubts were rearing their heads. The church had indulged him and let him explore. He spent some time with Fr Anthony D'Mello at his Sadhana Institute in Lonavla near Bombay. Fr D'Mello was indeed a radical priest. But his work also defined the limits of working within the church. Greg's learning said he was blinding himself to the world that lay beyond the life he had chosen. He went away for a year to work on watershed development in Maharashtra. And became more convinced that he must begin anew if he were to express himself. He considered the possibility of giving up priesthood. "I had no quarrel with the Church or Christianity," says Greg. "I still don't have. My problem was, I had no quarrels with other religions and systems either. It therefore seemed so pointless to brand myself." He was close to a major decision. Redefinition: Bernie was recuperating in her brother's house in Surat when Greg dropped by one day. She had heard of him as a brother's friend who went away to become a priest. Now she met him in one of those contexts that life routinely arranges for us. They began to talk of their worlds. As Greg heard Bernie's story of a penniless life among the Santals, it hit him: "I already feel a failure for not knowing my mission; she knew her's, and failed-- but only after having fought. Here I am in reasonable physical comfort, a man who had taken a vow of poverty. There lies Bernie who, without any vows, had unconsciously chosen selflessness in the cause of injustice." Greg was convinced his decision to leave was right. It shook his admirers in the church. Bernie and Greg continued their dialogue. Perhaps their disillusionment was because they were either working within restrictive confines or against insurmountable odds. That need not imply there was no meaningful, selfless service required by people out there. Perhaps too, they must identify small groups of people and help them rise, without fancying themselves as God's or Nature's sole missionaries. They perhaps had to redefine their lives' goals. They spent hours talking. They explored Vipassana meditation. They married in 1993 and decided to move to Greg's ancestral home near Margao in Goa. They had no work plan. Bernie and Greg continued their dialogue. Perhaps their disillusionment was because they were either working within restrictive confines or against insurmountable odds. That need not imply there was no meaningful, selfless service required by people out there. Perhaps too, they must identify small groups of people and help them rise, without fancying themselves as God's or Nature's sole missionaries. They perhaps had to redefine their lives' goals. They spent hours talking. They explored Vipassana meditation. They married in 1993 and decided to move to Greg's ancestral home near Margao in Goa. They had no work plan. In 1997 -- four years after their arrival in Margao, Goa--, Jan Ugahi was registered as a charitable trust. Student volunteers from colleges began to drop by. Greg returned to his passion-- giving tuitions. And Bernie to hers-- standing up for rights. They went on picnics, staged plays, held sports meets, celebrated festivals, sang, danced and cooked and ate. People came over from other slums in Saddu Bandh, Malbhat, Aquem Bandh and Santan Chawl. A 'Childline' was set up to handle calls related to offences against children. Jan Ugahi volunteers began to man it. On March 19, 2001 Bernie manning the Childline, heard her nagging worry coming true as a nightmare. She dragged the police to arrest 71 year old Briton, Middleton Colin John at a guest house in Benaulim. He had two Nepalese boys in his bedroom. He was charged with paedophilia related offences. Elsewhere on the same day, a 63 year old Goan, Lawrence Fernandes was arrested on similar charges. Goa was rudely waken up to the reality of child abuse that the new affluence was bringing. Reality education: India too, discovered the other face of unbridled tourism. For Bernie it was the larger issue of development without thinking things through to the last man. At Kushmandu, dam building drowned individuals; here tourism was running amok. Three years after that fateful day however, she is not disheartened despite police lethargy that let that Briton flee India. "Awareness has grown. People are better informed. Volunteers have joined hands and though paedophilia surely exists, it is nowhere as rampant or blatant as it was, " she says. If so Jan Ugahi has played not a small role. They have conducted innumerable workshops for children, students, parents, teachers and citizens on the ways of the paedophiles, and the ways to combat them. Greg constantly works on expanding his network of informants. Among them are many taxi drivers, hotel workers and foreign tourists themselves. A Swiss lady who holidays regularly in Goa, drops by whenever she spots a suspicious fellow guest. There are several like her. Jan Ugahi has made Goa a harder place for paedophiles. Jan Ugahi today runs its centre from the fifth floor of a building in Margao. One part is set aside as a short-stay home for women in distress. And there is a steady stream of them in search of this service and Bernie's comforting words. Funds have come from the government as well as well-wishers overseas, like Terre Des Hommes, for instance. About a 100 children drop by everyday to play, sing and learn. They run adult education programmes and coaching classes for poor children. In all they interact with over 3000 people --young and old-- offering them employment ideas, education, counsel and just plain listening time. Gemma, Greg and Bernie have been joined by five more trustees: Nagesh Daivajna, Neeta Sedekar, Mohan Bhatt, Subhash Jorge and Anita Naik. Their calendar of activities is crammed with programmes for the poor. Bloom time: Expectedly, the Greg and Bernie formula for making people realise their potential is working. Heroes are popping up regularly. Rekha Addekar now 33, had been cowering for years in a dark room at her father's house. Two abusive marriages and divorces had pushed her there. She had no children, had studied just up to 6th standard and had given herself up as worth nothing. She thought herself a burden to be fed by her kindly father. Bernie and Greg found her seven years ago. Today, Rekha is a champion street-educator on AIDS related issues. You will find her daily among truckers, taxi ranks and labourer huddles, explaining how to put on a condom and protect themselves. She is unabashed and shy men walk up to her for a chat. She strides home with a monthly pay packet of Rs 2250 and is an admired member in the household. They found Feroz Khan too, eight years ago as a ten year old boy. His father and all the men around him were drinking louts. Feroz literally grew up with Jan Ugahi. Today he is a silent, dedicated worker at Jan Ugahi, and a model citizen. Greg speaks dreamily of what Sonia Borker is going to become. "She is a natural academic. Her mother is a poor tailor and a single parent. When I started coaching Sonia, eight years ago,I found her exceptional." So they put her on fast track and into a regular school where she is about to give her 12th standard public exams. Eight years is a long time and many street children -- quite a few of them, parentless-- have grown to adulthood while being rooted at Jan Ugahi and gone away to sober jobs all over Goa. "Recently we inaugurated our new day centre and sent an invitation to all of them to come," says Bernie. "But they arrived in the morning for the evening event and took over the show. They cleaned, decorated, arranged and when the time came stood in the line to receive the guests. After the show they stayed on to straighten things out." After all, they had not known another home. But the queen of Jan Ugahi is clearly Gosby Sheikh. Greg and Bernie found the innocent nine year old tagging along with her parents. They went from shop to shop singing and begging for money. It was the way of their Sakir Muslim community, widely deemed a public nuisance, to be bribed a few pennies and shooed to move on. Well, Gosby started coming to Jan Ugahi and went on to pass her 10th standard through the Open School system. Today she is 16 and a well-paid schoolmarm at Jan Ugahi, teaching young street children through songs, games, dances and plays. Gosby is how people bloom: some reasonable soil, a little care and a few indications of love. That, in fact, is the Jan Ugahi mantra. Address: Jan Ugahi, 'Vikrant' 5th Floor, Malbhat, Margao, Goa Phone:[0832] 2737167 email: [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED] April,2004 ====================================================================== *~Jen Birmingham UK http://groups.yahoo.com/group/VascokarsUnited/ http://groups.yahoo.com/group/IEIGLC/ http://groups.yahoo.com/group/GoanStudentsAbroad/ ====================================================================== _______________________________________________ Goanet mailing list Goanet@lists.goanet.org http://lists.goanet.org/listinfo.cgi/goanet-goanet.org