India: Jesuit Priest comes to aid of migrant workers

May 7, 2012 | MariaNews.com 

Jesuit Priest comes to aid of migrant workers 

INDIA - With the highest of hopes, Deepen Kora and a group of friends took the train from West Bengal to Kerala. There, they were confident, they would find gainful employment.

But far from fulfilling his ambitions, Kora found himself in jail.

He was caught by airport security guards while trying to scale a perimeter wall. He was only trying to take a short cut but he could not explain that, as he spoke neither the local Malayalam language nor English.

The guards suspected him of being a Maoist rebel. He was charged with sabotage and transferred from one jail to another. On more than one occasion he was beaten so badly by the police that he ended up in hospital.

To make matters worse, he lost all contact with the friends who had set out with him.

After nine painful months, Kora’s ordeal ended when Jesuit Father Martin Puthussery got him out of prison and helped him get back home.

Fr Puthussery came to Kerala and began his mission of helping migrant workers in July 2011. He has now played the Good Samaritan to more than 100 of them, mostly from West Bengal and Odisha.

Read More: http://www.ucanews.com/2012/05/07/jesuit-plays-good-samaritan-to-migrant-workers/

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