By Shann Joseph Fernandes

Rourkela, March 13, 2020: I was excited when assigned to a slum exposure program as part of my theology course in a regional theology seminary, Sambalpur, Odisha.

We were 18 students of Khristo Jyoti Mohavidyaloyo (Light of Christ College), who went to Rourkela with our principal Father Florence Ranasingh, to spend two weeks in slums.

We stayed March 1-13 at Malgodown Basti, Ward No.9, close to the Railway Colony, Rourkela, an Industrial city in western Odisha.

It was my experience in a slum. To be honest, I was afraid to live in a slum where I had to live with minimal necessities, forgetting the comforts of the seminary. However, as days passed my fear gave way to joy and excitement as I came closer to the poor and the marginalized — their lifestyle, occupation, strengths, weakness, opportunities and threats.

The Community Welfare Society (CWS), the NGO that works for slum people’s welfare in Basanti Colony, welcomed us.

Father Bennychen Peter, CWS director, advised us on certain ‘Do’s and Don’ts’ to help us to have a safe stay in the slums.

“Accept people as they are and most importantly be a human,” were Father Peter’s words of wisdom.

Intercultural living

Malgodown Food Corporation of India Slum is blessed with a multi-cultural community. It was indeed a blessing in disguise for me as intercultural living is the charism of the Society of Divine Word society that I belong to.

What amazed me was the way the people lived as one community sharing in their joys, sorrows and problems. They came together and celebrate the festival of ‘Holi’ (color) when we were with them.

How good community life can be, I thought myself.

Seminaries teach you the theoretical aspects of community living, but in the slums, it was practical living. Although the slum people have their problems, they keep them aside. They know their survival depends on how they live together as a community.

During one of the visits, a villager said, “Live a value-based life to change society and not a religion-based life. We are happy to share the problems, even if we are poor.” This touched me and confirmed my resolve to adopt pastoral ministry in the future.

Slums and youth:

Dealing with the slum youth was a beautiful experience. The youth surprised me with their well-focused ambitions for future.

Many youths said they are grateful to the love and support they receive from their families and friends.

Initially, connecting with the youth was tough as they went to work or study. But we made it a point to have a dialogue with them.

One youth appreciated our work saying, “This is a good initiative taken by all of you. We want to speak to someone and share our thoughts.”

Some young people were addicted to alcohol and smoking. It was difficult to make them understand the terrible consequences it can have on their family and siblings.

All this experience helped me build up my communication skills with the youth.

Sharing and caring

After being acquainted with the people, we were given questionnaires by the director of CWS so that we could know more personally and closely.

We went in groups of three with a mixture of Odiya, Sadri and Hindi speaking seminarians.

This helped me to become more comfortable while filling up the forms. It was difficult in the beginning as people thought that we were from the government or other agencies. But as we spoke to them, they accepted us as their own.

I could see that they badly wanted someone with whom they could confide and share their problems, joys and sorrows. It was a heart-touching moment because we met all dimensions of people like youth, married as well as widows or widowers.

They needed a listening ear. One who could listen to them and not give expert advice.

In the end, the smile on their faces made my day merrier and meaningful. This made me reflect that as a missionary, it is not only important to give advice but also, more importantly, to lend a listening ear to people.

One villager said, “We have no one to share our problems. We are alone here with our family. But your presence and patience made our hearts and burdens lighter.”

We also took the opportunity to wish the women on International Women’s Day on March 8.

After the program, the words of a woman touched my heart. She said, “This is the best Women’s Day we had in our slum. We will always remember you in our prayers.”

This program brought us closer to the people in the slum. During these days, I learned an important lesson for life: sharing is caring.

Challenges in the slum:

Our stay in the slums had a few challenges. The most important was knowing people’s language. They spoke a mixture of Odiya, Sadri and Hindi.

The other challenge was getting the acceptance. It was difficult in the beginning, but as the days went by, the villagers became more familiar with us and the relationship grew strong.

I could see that people would stand for us whenever we faced any opposition from strangers. They would support us or listen patiently to the insults from others.

We used to cook our meals. But the neighbors often came with whenever we required. I was touched when they let us use the water supply first.

The next challenge was the filling up the forms. The people were hesitant in the beginning, but later they trusted us and provided us all needed information as they were confident we would not misuse them.

Lessons learned

The love and simplicity of the slum people touched me. From the very first day, I felt their concern as the villagers were always there to see that we were felt at home.

One villager said, “I see my brother in all of you. I can feel the presence of God with the love you share to us.”

I could see the image and likeness of God in the people, their love and concern for me in my short stay in the slum.

The faith in God of the people at all times made my vocation stronger. In my journey towards becoming a missionary priest, this slum exposure has made me strong emotionally and spiritually.

Although there are challenges in every ministry, there are three things that I have learned: faith in self, love towards the neighbors and prayer to God.

These three values are important to living and survive in any ministry and I believe that these have played a crucial role in my slum ministry.

This slum exposure also helped me to master my pastoral and social skills.

To conclude, I would like to quote the words of Father Joseph Freinademetz, the first Divine Word missionary to China, “The only language that people understand is that of love.”

(Shann Joseph Fernandes is a Divine Word seminarian. He is in his first year of theology at Kristo Jyoti Mahavidyaloyo, Sambalpur. The seminary organizes a slum exposure program every year for its students as part of theological education.)