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Tsunami Brides This entry was posted on 2/22/2007 12:49 PM and is filed under Women. Most
people remember the Tsunami of 2004 as a distant nightmare, one that was soon
forgotten and replaced by other more recent tragedies. But the aftermath of the
gigantic tidal wave is still not over, three years after the horrific event.
While staying in Kerala for two months at the end of 2006, I was able
to understand the long lasting effects of this devastating tragedy.
The
Tsunami that affected almost 3 million people in
The
majority of those who died were women - over three times as the number
of men killed as noted by Oxfam Organization http://www.oxfam.org.au/media/article.php?id=11 as well as in the many websites mentioned
below.
The
men saved themselves by swimming against the current, but the women trying to
swim against the tidal waves were pulled back by the weight of the children
or elderly relatives! Many were taking care of children in their huts which are
built on the beach. Some of the women were waiting ashore for the arrival of
their fishermen husbands. With so many women in the community dead, this created
an imbalance of the female to male ratio in most of the villages that were
ravaged by the Tsunami.
In
spite of all the help that
So
far, less than 25% of the houses promised to the victims have been built and
handed over ( http://www.adb.org/Media/Articles/2007/11305-indian-tsunami-progress-reports/default.asp)
After the Tsunami, governments offered help in the form
of “wedding packages” hoping that men
would come forward and marry from the tragedy stricken area. And the men of all
ages did arrive, in hordes, for the money as well as teenage girls! These girls
are now known as the Tsunami Brides, children barely into their teens, now
married to men as old as sixty!
Recently, the trend has become worse. Now, female children
younger than 12 years old who had lost both parents and living with neighbors or
relatives are married off to anyone who is interested. I am glad to see some
outrage amongst the people of the news media in Kerala about child marriages,
but, as usual, the marriage did happen without any govt. or police
hindrance
Organizations such as Oxfam not only collected donations,
but stay the course with these families, offering new houses, boats, as well as
clothes and cooking utensils, everything they needed to start a new life and
maintain it.These compassionate people are still working at re-building the
lives of the Tsunami victims.
Another organization that came to the aid of families affected by the Tsunami by building houses, distributing free food, medicine and personal items as well as helping send the children back to school is the Amritanandamayi Math in Kollam, Kerala. In addition to helping the women settle their families, they were also given sewing machines and classes to help them become self-sufficient as well as to learn to live independently as can be viewed at http://www.amritapuri.org/tsunami/tsunami.php Teams of psychologists and psychiatrists from the Amrita
Institute of Medical Sciences travelled to the villages to work with the
children and adults who are suffering from mental trauma of the tidal wave that
shattered their lives. This is a long term venture and hopefully we can see the
beneficial effects of such loving care in future generations.
More
sites to visit if you are interested:
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