Accepting, but not unaffected by the loss of his wife and commercial fishing boat, 35-year old Mariyappan instead focuses on a self-sufficient future.

Date: March 21, 2005

HE HAS LOST MUCH, BUT NOT HIS PATIENCE.
LUTHERAN WORLD RELIEF HELPS FISHERFOLK EYE RETURN TO THE SEA.

Twenty-nine year old Mariyappan simply seems to understand and accept things more than most people. More than most people who might live in temporary housing, Mariyappan understands that finally moving into permanent housing will take time. Not privy to all the behind-the-scenes coordination and proposals and agreements that must take place between his village, NGOs and different governments, Mariyappan instead simply says that he will not be impatient when other people are working so hard to help him.

One of several young, energetic men who have volunteered to help the head of their village of Chandrapadi in India , Mariyappan explains, "I cannot separate myself from my village at this time. We will do whatever is needed of us. The NGOs that come to help us need assistance unloading and doing manual labor, and we help doing whatever they need us to do."

Fiercely proud, this group of fishermen, ranging in age from handsome twenty-two year old Sarathy to his 67-year old uncle P. Kannaiya, the fishermen simply long to get back to the sea. "We don't eat with pride," explains 35-year old Shanmugaraja of the much-appreciated food assistance they've been receiving. "We will be better," he concludes, "when we're back to providing for ourselves."

The beach in Chandrapadi still is strewn with the remnants of catamarans and tangled, useless nets, but the spirit of these men, and their whole village, seems ready to move forward.when the time is right. Pressed for any frustrations, they simply cannot conjure up any. "The NGOs, like Lutheran World Relief partner, UELCI (United Evangelical Lutheran Church of India) came in here and asked us what we needed, and we think that is very good," explains Mariyappan.

Asked about those who perished in this village of fifty families, Mariyappan matter-of-factly hands over a neatly typewritten three-page list of the deceased, the right column listing ages ranging from one to ninety-five. Mariyappan's losses were without doubt the greatest in the room this day. His wife of two years, he explains with a photograph, was swept away from her children as he was returning on his boat from fishing. He produced another photograph of himself and his crew from happier times in front of the commercial fishing boat that saved his life, but was snapped in two.

"I knew when I was a young boy that I would have my own boat some day," explains this second-generation fisherman. "My brother and I worked as laborers on other people's boats and saved our money for ten years," he continues. As his neighbors await replacement boats, being built nearby and expected within the month, Mariyappan won't show his disappointment that the small fiberglass boat that he will receive is only a fraction of the size of the $150,000 boat he lost.

He is too proud to be unhappy. He is lucky to still be alive. And even with a small boat one-tenth the size of his life's biggest investment, Mariyappan is, more than anything, appreciative. For even with a small boat, this confident, positive father of two will be able, once again, to provide for his family.

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