Nuns help victims of landslides in India cope with emotional trauma

Maria Bambina Sr. Sherly Joseph, a trained counselor who helped Siva, serves the relief camps at St. Joseph's Higher Secondary School, closer to the landslide locations, some 50 miles northeast of Kozhikode (formerly Calicut).

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited her camp in August and interacted with the residents. "This disaster is not normal. The dreams of thousands of families have been shattered. I have seen the situation on the spot," Modi said.

Sherly Joseph says most residents in her camp suffer from severe trauma as they have lost their family members and relatives in the early morning landslides following heavy rains. Catholic nuns from several congregations are among those helping the victims recover from the tragedy.

Sr. Binu Ann, Sherly Joseph's local superior in charge of the camp, told GSR they had readied their school for relief even before the government machinery swung into action.

Youth from the local parish, who joined the rescue operations as volunteers, brought rescued people to the school in the early morning of July 31.

Ann deputized her five nuns, including Sherly Joseph, to serve the camp in Meppadi.

The Maria Bambina nuns have converted one school building into an administrative block and center to collect relief materials and provide counseling and therapy. They have also set up a temporary dispensary with doctors, psychologists, nurses and volunteers.

Two other buildings accommodated nearly 500 victims. Catholic youth and nuns helped manage the centers and prepare and serve food. They have also offered entertainment and various therapies to the residents.

Missionary Sisters of Mary Immaculate Sr. Princy Mathai, an Ayurvedic doctor and psychiatrist serving the St. Joseph camp, says most residents require professional counseling and psychiatric care.

"Most of them have experienced depressive panic episodes, trauma, excessive stress, and anxiety disorders, which may require long-term intervention," she told GSR.

The Kerala government has engaged school counselors, psychologists and mental health professionals to help those in the camps.

Bishop Varghese Chakkalakal of Calicut and Bishop Jose Porunnedom of Mananthavady in Wayanad visited the camps on July 31 and asked all church schools in Meppadi to function as relief camps. "Subsequently, the district administration also recognized our school as a primary care and relief center for the victims," Ann said.

People with external injuries were treated at Dr. Moopen's Medical College in Meppadi and the Government Hospital in Kalpetta, 6 miles northwest of Meppadi. Catholic nuns also served these institutions.

Ranga Swami, a survivor at the De Paul School camp in Kalpetta, told GSR that the Catholic nuns' presence has given them great relief.

"We could relate to the sisters better because we see them as our sisters or mothers," said the Hindu, who works in a tea plantation in Chooralmala, a severely affected village.

Swami said the government officers wanted to restrict the nun's presence in the camps as several residents poured out their emotions and cried when the sisters visited them. The officers misinterpreted it as causing further distress to the victims through their counseling.

However, such concern was baseless, said Sr. Linet Sebastian, a member of the Ursuline Sisters Daughters of Mary Immaculate, and a psychologist who led a three-member professional team to the camps in Meppadi and Kalpetta.

"The people have undergone the biggest trauma in their lives, and how do you expect them not to cry?" asked the 55-year-old nun who serves as the nursing superintendent of Nirmala Hospital, Marikunnu, Kozhikode.

Sebastian told GSR that a counselor allows the victims to express their emotions, such as crying. "People who have experienced trauma require such emotional outbursts as part of the therapy," she asserted. She said she suspected a political agenda behind the official resistance to the nuns' counseling.

She and two other nuns from her congregation listened to victims and organized play therapy and interactive sessions with the children, besides helping in the two hospitals.

Maria Bambina Sr. Joicy Joseph, principal of St. Joseph's School, said most residents in their camp were Hindus and Muslims. "But they are more comfortable with us and trust us," she told GSR.

Her school has given counseling and emotional support to its students who survived the calamity.

She quoted available data to say that the landslides have killed at least 53 children and destroyed two schools. "Over 500-odd children are currently staying in relief camps. Some have lost their parents or siblings," Joicy Joseph said.

Sr. Aneesha Arackal said her congregation, the Sisters of the Destitute, sent 18 medical and mental health professionals to Wayanad from their headquarters in Kochi, some 170 miles south. They stayed in Wayanad Aug 1-8 to serve the camps and hospitals.

"We have come at the right time when the people really needed emotional support, especially the children in the camps," Arackal told GSR Aug. 8.

She said several people had difficulty sleeping. "We stood by their side at night until they were able to sleep," she added.

She said their team left Wayanad "with a lot of satisfaction and fulfillment as we could do whatever possible to help them." The team would return if the district administration or the church leadership requested its services.

At the review of the relief camps at Kalpetta and Meppadi, the district administration officers applauded schools such as St. Joseph's in Meppadi and De Paul Public School in Kalpetta.

Sr. Jose Chakiath, a Sister of Charity of St. Vincent De Paul who served in the De Paul School relief camp, said the nuns' service would be required more when everyone leaves after rescue and relief works.

"Now, everyone is competing to show their presence and services, especially political parties and their youth wings. After all this stops, we need to step in," said the superior of the congregation's convent in Kalpetta.

She says the church and the nuns will offer the victims emotional and spiritual support, education and counseling, accompanying them in their journey.

Fr. Jibin Vattukulam, the pastor of St. Sebastian Church in Chooralmala that lost nine members in the landslide, told GSR that the church's response to the tragedy was "almost spontaneous," with priests, nuns and the laypeople working together as a family.

Fr. Sebastian Karakatt, pastor of the Sacred Heart Church in Kalpetta, observed that the Wayanad landslides have had emotional responses from all walks of life. "Once this initial momentum subsides, the church must play its role more convincingly," added the priest, whose church is a collection center.

The parish priest of the St. Vincent De Paul Forane Church and De Paul School in Kalpetta, Fr. Mathew Periyapuram, who facilitates a relief camp in the church campus, observed that several nuns worked in the camps in the first week but most have gone back because of the government restriction.

He told GSR that nuns who served the camp in his church have given exemplary services. "No doubt the sisters could easily empathize with the people and win their confidence, but some watch church intervention with suspicion," he said.

Meanwhile, the Kerala Catholic Bishops' Council, Caritas India and several Catholic organizations have pledged to build homes for the landslide victims and educate their children.

Siva said he overcame his trauma only after the sisters counseled him many times.

"I was afraid of sound and sunlight after the tragedy. But now, I can manage my stress and even serve as a volunteer in the camp," he said, expressing gratitude for the nuns' "loving care and support."