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Dr. Zephyrinus Baxla SDB
Mathias Institue Mawlai, Shillong - 08 Meghalaya, India E-mail: baxla@kurux.com |
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This short life sketch of Fr. Zephyrinus Baxla SDB alias Etwa Oraon because he was born on Sunday (Etwar), could be of help to understand the Adivasis who are the most neglected, exploited, oppressed and suffering from the sense of low self-image. Fr. Etwa appears to have a very clear vision for his Adivasi people. My association with him has enabled me to appreciate and care for people not as glamorous and responsive as other tribal groups of Northeast but deserving our immediate attention for pastoral concern. By nature he is a quiet man lost in his own thoughts but very sensitive and active for his people. When asked about his past activities he terms them ‘apocryphal,’ and repairs in silence to a corner of his self, always dreaming of a better future for his society. I wanted to find out for myself whether this dreamer was actually doing something for his people. I was not disappointed. What I am putting down in brief is an account of bare facts I saw and heard during my fifteen days of visit to his place of origin and area of work in Jharkhand. People have already started spinning legends about him and many take him as godfather in their struggle for a better lot in life. For example for the people of Dina, tribals, non tribals, Oraons non Oraons, Christians, Hindus and people of traditional religion he is god because he helped them build a dam to irrigate hundreds of acres of land enabling them to have double crop on a field it was impossible to cultivate.
I am putting down what follows from the experience of this man whom I drove from place to place as he went mingling among his own and tried to give meaning to their life even in most desperate situations. He immediately becomes the soul of any group engaged in creating a just and more humane world. His presence among them is enlightening, inspiring, uniting and instilling courage to struggle for a better world. He is a priest of a peculiar type very different from others, who is fully engaged in shaping the destiny of a group of people lagging far behind other groups that have entered the Church. In the case of the Adivasis there is something that has somehow not clicked with the welfare agencies. This is true not only of the Adivasis in the Northeast but also of those working anywhere in India. Fr. Etwa perhaps with his ideas, methodology and his team can show a way out of this impasse and help them find a rightful place in the Indian society.
Fr. Etwa Oraon is a Don Bosco priest belonging to the Salesian Province of Guwahati. He was born with a defective right leg and took five years to walk helped by his father’s country medicine. He says he remembers where and when he took the first physical step of his life’s journey. After completing his primary education he came to Shillong and graduated from the North Eastern Hill University in 1975. After just a year or so of pastoral ministry in Umswai in the forest of Karbi Anglong, following his ordination in 1981 he was sent to Rome for his Biblical studies. He did his Licentiate in Sacred Scripture and was continuing his doctorate at the Biblicum but his heart was more with his people currently facing displacement due to a mega government project affecting over three hundred thousand people. He completed his Doctorate in Biblical Theology at the Angelicum also in Rome. Earlier he did Biblical Archaeology at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
Church Involvement At the moment Fr. Etwa is a professor of the Old Testament at the Sacred Heart Theological College in Shillong. He loves to teach the Old Testament Prophets and acts as prophet for his own Adivasi people in and outside Chotanagpur. And so he had presented a paper entitled, “The Tribals of Chotanagpur in the Northeast” at the Hua Hin Conference of F.A.B.C. in 1995. His work among the Adivasis is still very much appreciated and he is an expert in Adivasi matters. In fact he was asked to analyse the “Challenges in the Pastoral Care of the Adivasis” in the Northeast at the Annual Pastoral Conference of North East India attended by the Archbishops and Bishops and the Major Superiors of the of the region in 2002. The talk will appear as an article in the volume to be released to mark the 25th death anniversary of Archbishop Stephen Ferrando SDB in 2003. He was called as one of the experts on the Adivasi socio-political problems at the Regional Bishops’ Conference of Chotanagpur held at Ranchi in February 2003. He is asked to present another paper entitled, “Values in Adivasi Culture” at the symposium/seminar to be held in November 2003 at the Social Forum Guwahati for the Bishops, Major Superiors and formators of various men and women religious working in the Northeast region.
Social Concerns Fr. Etwa’s chief concern is empowerment of his own Adivasi people who are rather backward and oppressed lot of the Indian society. His inspiring, enlightening and encouraging presence is felt in every struggle by the Adivasis for their own betterment.
Literature Fr. Etwa is the father and founder of Gharaiya Goith (GG), the surviving monthly in Sadri that serves as the link language for the various sub tribes of the Adivasi group. This he did as a student of theology in 1978. The primary purpose of such initiative was to keep the Adivasi students focused on their own community and get reminded them of their roots. The larger purpose was to keep the social conscience of the Adivasis alive in order to address the numerous problems peculiar to their society. He intends to bring out the purpose and achievements of Gharaiya Goith in detail in the volume coming out to mark the 25th year of its publication. In 1998 he had also started “Kurux Jharia” a paper in Kurux (the language of the Oraons) in Gumla but to various reasons he had to give it up. He has contributed articles to various reviews and papers. With the exception of a few all his writings are focused on Adivasi issues.
Organizations Fr. Etwa is an executive member of Jharkhandi Organization for Human Rights (JOHAR),. In this capacity he attended and addressed the International Conference of “Rain Forest Peoples” held at Nagpur on 9-12 March 1997. On the occasion he had left a lengthy interview with The Decan Herald on the subject of ‘creation of Jharkhand state’ at a time when the Jharkhand movement had received a major blow following the ‘kick back story involving the top JMM leaders. At the mass rally organized by JOHAR at the town hall of Ranchi, to mark the creation of Jharkhand on 2 August 2000 he addressed the crowd of over ten thousand Adivasis on the “Current Problems of Adivasi Politics.” The text of the talk will be published in the 25th anniversary volume of GG. Earlier he had been to Kathmandu to represent the Adivasis of Chotanagpur at the Asian Indigenous Peoples Program (AIPP) conference in November 1998. He went to meet the Amnesty International personnel at the NHRC at Bhubaneswar, Orissa in July 1999 and apprised them of the burning problems faced by the Adivasis then.
Fr. Etwa was one of the people’s representatives who convinced the government and the army representatives to avoid massive displacement of the Adivasis as proposed by the ‘Netarhat Field Firing Range’ in a tripartite talk held at Netarhat on July 1997. He is a relentless campaigner for the traditional Adivasi Self Rule for a meaningful democracy among the Adivasis. In order to make people respect nature’s biodiversity and to preserve and promote the indigenous knowledge systems he had joined the “National Forum of Forest People and Forest Workers”, New Delhi. However he is opposed to the idea of displacing the Adivasis in order to make way for the wild animals. He attended and intervened on behalf of the Adivasis at a seminar held in March 1997 at the Gandhi Peace Foundation, New Delhi to discuss Forest and the Adivasis. The seminar was attended by the present defence minister Mr. George Fernandez and former minister of forest and environment, Mrs Maneka Gandhi. Fr. Etwa reminded the participants that there should be no formulation of forest policy without first consulting the Adivasi bodies. He underlined the fact that the 30% of land surface having forest cover is only with the tribal people. Wherever the non-tribals went they destroyed the forest and built mega cities and polluted the environment. How can they champion the cause of forest and environment?
Fr. Etwa has started a pilot project at Lurdippa, Bhagitoli (PO), Gumla (Dt), Jharkhand for the all round development of the Adivasis. The project covers the areas of Economic, Health, Educational, Cultural and Integral Development of the Adivasis. A non registered organization that looks after centre is called Kurux Kath Khorha (KKK) ‘Oraon Speaking Community.’ Fr. Etwa has also played a major role in the birth of another brainchild called PAJHRA (Promotion and Advancement of Justice, Harmony and Rights of the Adivasis). It is registered in 2003 and at the moment its activities are fully sponsored by Bosco Reach Out (BRO). Biju P J Salesian of Don Bosco E-mail: biju@mishing.com |