The women of Tuticorin

 

Perhaps the most devastating effect of trauma is a sense of helplessness, verging on despair. Helplessness is not just a state of mind. Sometimes people truly have few options. The cure is not a handout. For healing to take place, people need to be given the means and encouragement to help themselves.

The village of Tuticorin in south India was flooded by the tsunami and its fishing industry was destroyed. Relief organizations provided new boats and began to build new houses, but the women of the village needed ways to bolster their income. An Indian aid organization and long-time MCC partner organization, CASA, helped groups of them set up small business cooperatives. A remarkable thing happened in many of these groups: The women became fast friends, supporting each other not just economically but emotionally and in many other ways. The women in this group take obvious delight in each others’ company. "As long as we have strength," they say, "we will continue working together."

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