His Life and History
of RDS
Kendrapada district of
Odisha was a coastal district which faces frequent cyclonic storms and floods. The
1971 storm destroyed mud houses, livestock and farms of people. Kaltunga is an
island village in Mahakalpada block which had no roads, electricity, toilets or
proper government support. People mostly Bangladeshi refugees, lived in
superstition, ignorance, illiteracy and poverty.
A young man of 22 years accompanied missionaries for cyclone & flood relief works. He was none other than Mr. George Mathew, Cheerankunnel from a poor farming family from Kannur, Kerala. Seeing the condition of the people, he discontinued from the team and dedicated his life and remained there for sometime to uplift some poorest families. He understood that just by giving them a meal is not enough. Living and working with them is important to teach them to uplift themselves. He learnt their language, ate their food, lived with them and studied their needs. To organize the community people some more systamatic way, RDS was established in 1975. It helped to undertake various projects in association with Govt and non-govt agencies. He walked miles and travelled till Delhi, meeting people, Organisation Heads and Governments to understand projects and get funds for them.
After his Marriage with Jyothy George, he had a companion who took his visions to a higher level. He was fondly known as George Babu and his wife as Jyothy Didi. The development works lasted for 30 years reaching out to 100s of villages.
Challenges
Breaking through blind beliefs and introvertness of
the people was the biggest challenge. Learning from a foreigner was not
accepted by many. Parents were not ready to send children to school, as there was
nobody to work in the fields or attend to livestock and younger siblings. Girl
education was against their culture, as girls would not go out or show their
face publicly and got married at an early age.
Women associations and making women support family were opposed by some of families and by local traditional political and communal leaders. They threatened, charged false allegations, divided the staff and even attacked them. But some of the faithful staff who got to know of these plans, immediately hid him to safety with all required documents. People vandalised the RDS house and office and looted its belongings. It caused RDS to continue its activities there. They continued to operate it from Cuttack. He moved to Ayyankolly, Neelgiri District, Tamil Nadu with family in 2010 but continued to connect with RDS team and people. On 14th Jannuary 2018 he died. It was great loss for the people of Kaltunga and they said "Our God left us. George Babu sacrificed his life for us".
RECOGNITIONS
George Babu travelled all around India for various workshops and training programmes to upgrade his skills to give back to his people. He and Jyoty didi were called for various awards and recognitions, but they refused all. The smile and confidence on the faces of the villagers were the most precious Awards for them.
RDS was one among the pioneer works of Community Social Work Services in india. Through this he organized the communities and developed various poverty eradication and community empowerment projects successfully with various methods. So it is a great model for community social work/workers, Governments, NGOs social work students to learn how a social worker dedicated his life for the communities and organized them for their own development with help of available resources at that time.
Educational Tour
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