WORLDS IN DIALOGUE
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Joining
HandsDIFFERENT FAITHS ONE SERVICE
Two very different people - one a Muslim and veterinary surgeon, and the other, a Christian and…Jesuit priest – have joined hands to help the people of Belgaum valley in the Indian state of Karnataka.
The Jesuit Fr. Joe Chenakal and his friend Dr. Zaffiruk Baig are working together for the Koruba, a tribe of nomadic Hindu shepherds, which is faced by three main problems: illiteracy, ignorance and exploitation.
The Koruba - about 40.000 families in all - are nomads, little used to foreigners. So at the beginning they distrusted Fr. Joe and his friend Zaffiruk. Their different religions did nothing but increase the people’s diffidence. Now, though, the Koruba recognize the two friends as benefactors of their tribe, for the priest and the vet have actually saved them by preserving the herds on which their livelihood depends.
Difficult task
It all began a few years ago, when a contagious disease began to decimate the livestock, killing several thousand animals. Soon the shepherds applied for a subsidy from the government, but since they were getting nowhere, they organized a protest in which Fr. Joe too participated. At the time, Fr. Joe was ministering in one of the churches of Belgaum, and had begun to take an interest in the Koruba’s plight.
Soon after, the priest had a chance meeting with Dr. Zaffiruk. The veterinarian told him that the contagious disease affecting the herds could be prevented, and the two of them agreed to help the shepherds. This task, however, turned out to be quite difficult: the Koruba are very traditional and superstitious, and so suspicious of modern ways of rearing animals. In addition, they are nomads, so they have no fixed dwelling or pasture lands.
One with the people
Fr. Joe and Dr. Zaffiruk became nomads with the nomads, moving around with them, sharing their everyday life so as to gain their trust. Their commitment yielded excellent results: today the veterinararian directs a mobile clinic, and the Koruba are accepting modern ways of livestock rearing. They no longer sacrifice a lamb, as they did in the past in the belief that the disease was caused by the wrath of one or other divinity.
Fr. Joe, on his part, soon understood that the shepherds’ backward situation was largely due to the illiteracy affecting more than 90% of the population, as well as to superstition and to the exploitation on the part of the brokers and the butchers. So he launched a literacy program and now directs the Jana Jagaran agency, which aims at safeguarding the rights of the shepherds especially in the use of pasture lands and water springs.
Transforming lives
The two friends also began teaching the Koruba how to vaccinate, rear, shear and market the animals in a modern way. Soon the contagious disease began to recede after affecting about 349 families rearing about one million sheep.
The concerted efforts of Fr. Joe and Dr. Zaffiruk are today also assisted by two social workers and eighth veterinarians. This collaboration in the service of the poor people on the part of believers of different religions is quite exemplary. On a very practical level, it shows how people of different faiths can join hands to safeguard the dignity of the poor people. This not only in emergency situations, when immediate help is needed, but also in a long term program aiming at the transformation of people’s life.<WM
Copyright©2003 World Mission Magazine