THIRUVANANTHAPURAM : Friday marked 28 days since Anushka R was born. A black thread was tied around the baby’s waist and black bangles were put on her. The 28th-day ceremony was held in the sombre setting inside the godown of Kerala Maritime Board, Valiyathura, where the makeshift relief camp has been opened.
Reni A, Anushka’s mother, while rocking the baby, says that life has been a struggle ever since they moved in to the camp. “There is dust all around and this isn’t a space to raise a baby,” says Reni. She lives with her husband and their two daughters in the tiny cubicle set up in the godown. Her mother and family live in another cubicle. Reni gave birth to Anushka in the camp set up at St Roch’s High School, Valiyathura, where she had been residing for nine months after sea waves destroyed their house at Valiyathura. Just a few days after giving birth to the baby, Reni was forced to move out with 15 other families on December 3.
“The school authorities and residents of the area arrived one fine evening and asked us all to move out. They knew the classes would begin and could have given us a heads-up. Instead, they drove us out, throwing all our goods out. We have lost a lot of our belongings,” says Mary. The families live in the dingy cubicles that have been set up in the godown, amid the dust, without electricity.
Ask Mary how the families cook. She takes you by out to one of the crammed rooms, which has a gas stove, but no burner. “How can we cook? When they threw out our belongings, we lost a lot of things,” says Mary. With the bare minimum facilities in the godown, the residents are finding it difficult to live, and some have chosen to stay in the verandah of the building. Eighty-year-old Alice who has suffered a stroke lies on the verandah. Not a moment passes without flies hovering around her.
Sixty-year-old Matilda who takes care of her mother says that her mother needn’t be shifted to the hospital and all that they want is a proper space to live. “I can take care of my mother. There is no need to shift her to the hospital,” she says. Officials from Muttathara village office arrived in the afternoon to check on Alice. “We arrived after hearing that she was unwell. But she is refusing to be shifted to the hospital,” says village officer Kumar A.
He said electricity will be provided to the facility soon.
The 16 families residing in Kochuthoppe were asked to move to the relief camp at the school after their houses got destroyed in sea erosion. “We lived well. We had enough rooms, privacy and a good space to live. It is not our fault that we lost everything to sea erosion. Ever since the Vizhinjam project began, we have been bearing the brunt. The government has promised us homes and that the foundation stones of our homes will be laid in January. If that doesn’t happen, the repercussions would be heavy,” says Mary.
In the two godown spaces of the building, the 16 families took refuge, along with the families already living at the facility. “The godown spaces were used to store cement, so there is a lot of dust here. And there is no electricity and we are forced to sleep outside,” says Jesse.
Jesse lives in one of the makeshift cubicles set up in the godown along with her husband, son and daughter-in-law. Jesse’s husband Antony suffered a stroke which has affected the movement of his left arm and left leg. Antony who used to go fishing can no longer do that and the whole family survives on Jesse and her son’s earnings. “We can’t stay here forever. We had our own homes where we lived in peace and dignity. Our lives are now reduced to these dingy rooms. Our request is to give us what is ours,” she says.