Murdoch and Anne MacKenzie
  • In Memoriam Murdoch MacKenzie
  • Funeral, Thanksgiving, Family Reflections & Obituaries
    • The Funeral Service
    • The Thanksgiving Service
    • Family Reflections
    • Scotsman Obituary
    • Guardian Obituary
    • Peter Millar Obituary
    • Related Obituary Websites
  • Murdoch's Ancestral Grave
  • Introduction to the Website
  • St Andrew's Bicentenary
  • Bossey (Switzerland)
    • Bossey Students' Projects
    • Images of Student Life
    • Leaving Bossey
  • Christmas & Advent Letters
    • Advent Letter 2014
    • Christmas Letter 2012
    • Christmas Letter 2011
    • Christmas Letter 2010
    • Christmas Letter 2009
    • Christmas Letter 2007
    • Christmas Letter 2006
    • Christmas Letter 2005
  • India
    • Kirkspire Articles Chennai >
      • Village Project in India
      • How it All Began
      • What Happened Next
      • Our Social Worker
      • Independence Day
      • Rural Development
      • Some Setbacks 1976
      • Up-Beat Assessment
      • Rural Project Visit
      • Integrated Development
      • Caledonian Chair
      • Symbols as Signs
      • Stargazers
      • Symbols and the Kirk
      • The Eagle Lectern
      • The Pulpit
      • The Baptismal Font
      • Newbigin Centenary
      • Love Nature as Yourself
    • The Riber Memorial Centre >
      • The Origins
      • The Official Opening
      • The Rev Harold N Riber
    • Rev Roy Manson: An Appreciation
    • Rev Roy Newell: A Tribute
    • A Gift of a Chalice
    • Acorns into Oaks
    • The God of Small Things
    • A Week in the Life of a Missionary Family
    • Bishop Lesslie Newbigin
    • Video of Bishop Newbigin
    • Christmas Letter 2010
    • New Year in Chennai
    • Pilgrimage to India
    • Images of St Andrew's Kirk
  • Lectures
    • People not Paper
    • Methodist Synod Lecture
    • Christianity Must Change
    • Maitland Memorial 2004
  • Macdonald Collection
    • Video of the Collection
    • Murdoch's Inventory
  • Meditations
    • Roots and Fruits
    • St Colm's Reunion 2006
  • Moderator's Letters
    • 1998 >
      • Home Thoughts from Abroad
    • 2001 >
      • Creation & Environment
      • Evangelism
      • Unjust Structures
      • Christian Aid
      • A Roundtable
      • Unjust Debt
      • Christian Normality
      • Partnership for Mission
      • Remembrance
      • Christmas
    • 2002 >
      • Vocation
      • Prayer
      • Organic Unity
      • Christian Aid
      • Venerable David Goldie
      • Personal Covenant
      • Christian Declaration
      • Book that Reads Me
      • Terrorism
      • Palestine
    • 2003 >
      • Yuppies
  • Oban FM Broadcasts
    • Thought for the Day >
      • 2010 May 2
      • 2010 August 1
      • 2010 December 19
      • 2011 March 13
      • 2012 May 1
      • 2012 June 9
      • 2012 September 9
    • Sunday Broadcasts >
      • 2011 July 17
      • 2011 August 28
      • 2011 November 27
      • 2012 November 11
      • 2013 January 27
      • 2013 March 3
      • 2013 June 9
  • Occasional Papers
    • Coracle Summer 2014
    • On Being an Elephant
    • Meaning of 'Naturally'
    • Expedition to Wales
    • Four in a Boat
    • Trotternish Thesis
  • Photo Galleries
    • Golden Wedding 2014
    • The Ascent of Ben Nevis
    • The MacKenzie Family
    • The Road to the Isles
    • Images of St Andrew's Kirk
    • Family Tree
  • Poetry
    • Under Hallwood
    • Tennyson Travels
    • Father's Day Hymn
  • Reflections
    • Appin and Lismore 2007
    • Hugh Drummond
    • United Nationas Day 2012
    • Fair's Fair
    • Advent 2012
    • St Colm's College 1965
    • Trick Or Treat
    • Leipzig Group 2012
    • Bishop Lesslie Newbigin
    • The Iraq War
    • Good Friday Meditation
    • Christingles
  • Reports
    • Justice and Diversity
  • Reviews
    • From Crisis to Creation
    • Every Blessed Thing
    • Seeing the Good
    • Christian Faith Today
    • Finding Hope Again
    • Mission in the 21st Century
    • Pentecostalism South India
    • Axis of Peace
    • Living Spirituality
    • Mission Partnership
  • Sermons
    • Oban Cathedral >
      • Oban: Good Friday 2003
      • Oban: Good Friday 2005
      • Oban: Good Friday 2009
      • Oban: Good Friday 2010
      • Oban: Good Friday 2012
      • Oban: Good Friday 2013
    • Milton Keynes Farewell
    • St Oran's May 2013
    • St Oran's Maundy Thursday
    • Orchy & Bridge of Orchy
    • Muckairn Church 2013
    • St Cuthbert's Edinburgh
    • About Prayer
    • Trinity Sunday 2005
    • Trinity Sunday 2012
    • Taynuilt October 2012
    • Racial Justice 2002
    • Racial Justice 2004
    • Iona Abbey 2006
    • New Year in Chennai
  • Travels
    • Madras to Edinburgh
    • Children's Journey to the UK
  • Useful Links
  • Copyright
This Collection of his Writings and Photographs is a Memorial to the Life and Work of Murdoch MacKenzie              

Kirkspire february 2007

St Andrew’s Church Village Project

Some setbacks 1976

 Murdoch MacKenzie

At the Annual General Meeting of St Andrew’s Church in July 1976 Mr E.D. Devadason, Chairman of the Project, reported on some ups and downs. Reporting on the work in the 20 villages in Ponneri Taluk he referred to the Book of Exodus and the liberation of the Israelites from Egypt. He pointed out that the Israelites preferred the stability of slavery and had to be liberated in spite of themselves. The exploitation of landless labourers in India is a kind of slavery and the Church is called to bear a cross of suffering alongside the villagers. He emphasised how Mr Subhan and his wife, Kummudini,  were in fact doing this in so many ways including negotiating loans for the villagers from the State Bank of India, providing a travis at the Veterinary Centre for the artificial insemination of cattle, and working with the Superintendent of the Mental Hospital in Madras in a survey of the mental health of the local people.

But there were setbacks. The Rs. 24,500 which the church had deposited on behalf of the villagers as a 25% deposit against a matching grant from the Government for two schools and three deep-bore drinking water fountains remained unmatched. The youths who had been trained at Katpadi and at Madras Christian College Farm , like the Israelites of old, did not take full advantage of their training. But it was up to them and maybe they were right.  From August till March, while there was the opportunity of seasonal work, they preferred to work as day labourers. One boy left his training because ‘he did not like the atmosphere’. Another left after two weeks because he secured a pass in SSLC and began studying for his PUC at Ponneri Government Arts College. Another left because his wife could not stay with him. One boy who actually completed his training in dairy farming decided he would prefer a job at Rs.60- Rs. 100 per month. His father heard that the Indian Bank had a scheme for sheep-rearing which he believed was easier than cattle.

Another trainee who did well, and who in many ways was the most resourceful, gave up the idea of obtaining a loan because of the 13% interest rate. He had hoped to get the Differential Interest Rate applicable to backward areas of 4%.  He just could not see how he could make repayments during the dry season. Also the hoped-for subsidy to build a cattle-shed talked about by the B.D.O. was not available due to paucity of funds. He also felt the bank officials were very bureaucratic and therefore opened a tea-shop in his own village and was earning his living that way. He also found he could earn Rs. 10 per morning, fishing at Pulicat.

Amongst the other trainees one had an uncle who demanded a third of the milk should he get a loan, another committed suicide, another was sixteen and too young for a bank loan, whilst another went home for the Pongal holiday and did not return.  None of them got bank loans as the surety they had to pledge was impossible in terms of land or property and this meant that others were not keen to go for the training at Tambaram.

In the midst of all this the social worker found himself running hither and thither between the local villagers, the B.D.O., the Collector, the Bank Manager, the Directors of the Training establishments, and the Committee in charge of the Village Project! But some things were being achieved in the form of developing cottage industries such as plastic bag-making, basic medical work was being done, wells were being dug, improvements in school equipment had been made, adult literacy work was being carried on, and food for work programmes including some road-work had been undertaken.

Edwin Devadason finished his report as follows: ‘It is difficult in a report of this nature to be exhaustive. The presence of our social workers has made a tremendous impact. Our effort to encourage the members of the Church in greater numbers to visit the villages has not been very successful. If we intend to bring about ‘mutual enrichment’ by contact between those who are affluent in the cities and those who are poor in the villages, we would succeed only to the extent by which the members of the Church show an inclination to visit the villages periodically and share the life of the villagers.’

Murdoch MacKenzie
Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.