Profile: Tribute: A fishing village in mourns Italian nurse Lauretta Farina of Bergamo

Item Type article

Authors Kurien, John

Download date 27/09/2021 17:09:49

Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/1834/41245 id you know that there is a small Hence, much time was spent in trying to make Dfishing village called Marianad, in the people understand what was going on in district, Kerala, , their midst, encourage their involvement and which owes a lot of its history to a public health help them to shoulder responsibility. During nurse from Bergamo – the epicentre of the this time the men, who were highly skilled in novel coronavirus outbreak in Italy? fishing, and their women, with a good sense of This nurse, Lauretta Farina, 86, passed market opportunities, slowly constituted their away on 12 March 2020, in a retirement home fishing and fish selling activities. in Bergamo. ‘Chechi’ of Marianad History of Marianad In Marianad, Lauretta was known as Chechi Bishop Peter Bernard Pereira, head of the Latin (elder sister) by old and young. She picked Catholic church in Trivandrum was a great up quickly, though she spoke it visionary of socio-economic development with the slang of the fishing community. She practice. In 1960, he started the Trivandrum adopted the saree and wore it elegantly. Her Social Service Society (TSSS) with the wish influence on the community was proverbial. In to run it on professional lines. The bishop the dead of night, she would go to stop drunken sought advice from an American economist, brawls between fishermen and their families. a Brazilian architect and a Kerala government In the dark, she would shine the torch onto her official familiar with cooperatives. He visited face and call out the man by name. The sound Europe to scout for funds and volunteers who and sight of Chechi was enough to turn the could undertake planned activities which violent man into an apologetic timid child!. would help to uplift the economic and social She commanded respect by her very presence. profile The next morning, she would go back to the family and talk to them with love and concern and admonish the man for his actions. But she Tribute: A fishing village in Kerala mourns always left with a smile and a loving touch. Italian nurse Lauretta Farina of Bergamo A skilled organiser In the early 1970s the fishers organised into a cooperative, which was formed after development conditions of the thousands of By John Kurien considerable struggles between them and the fisherfolk in his diocese. Responding to the (kurien.john@gmail. village merchant-money lender. They wanted bishop’s call, a team of three women, from com), Managing the freedom to sell their fish and not be bonded three countries, belonging to an international Trustee, ICSF Trust, to him. Lauretta, along with her colleagues – who professional women’s volunteer group arrived Chennai. were by then all Indians – stood by the demands in Trivandrum in 1962. Lauretta Farina, then Source: Manorama of the fishers and helped them to organise the 28, was one of them. Marianad Malsya Ulpadaka Cooperative Society Online | April 08, Marianad (the land of Mary) was a created (Marianad MUCS) under the aegis of the Kerala 2020 village. TSSS bought land at a coastal tract government. Lauretta was a good organiser. called Allilathura (the coast with no people) She was very methodical and systematic. She and built 56 well-designed, low-cost houses as realised that methods are not universal, but part of a housing cooperative. Fishers from the can vary according to a person’s experiential coastal villages in Trivandrum were requested knowledge and was open to the great knowledge to come and stay there. Only the really poorest, of the fishers, who were illiterate. Working in a who had nothing to lose, ventured to take the community, which had a low self-esteem and challenge. The bishop, based on his learning was also shunned by the larger society, Lauretta from past failures to help his community, gave Lauretta Farina asserted that a person’s dignity resulted from the organisers three radical principles to follow. both the person’s own assertions and actions, as Do not provide anything free. Try to assess the well as the perception of others. Many fishermen real needs of the people, not their wants. Always would come to the cooperative office straight involve the people in the decision making about from the seashore – often bare-bodied with interventions that affect their lives. their chests exposed. She used to insist that no Initial years fishermen should enter their cooperative office Lauretta and her colleagues facilitated the without being properly dressed. Initially there starting of a crèche, a nursery school, a small was resistance. But soon there was realisation health clinic, a group savings scheme, a club of among the fishermen how such behaviour was young girls learning crafts, an arts and sports important both for their own collective pride club, a mahila samajam (women’s collective), and dignity and the way others in society thought and finally a fishermen’s cooperative – all about and valued them. evolving organically. The basic aim behind Lauretta had a caring professionalism in the activities was to initiate an informal her dealings with the men and women of the educational process to encourage changes, to fishing community. She emphasised the need build awareness and inspire self-confidence. to be understanding and kind, but yet firm

APRIL 2020 9 and fair in dealing with all people, irrespective help with the arrangements. It was through of their position in society. Such values and these contacts that the conference, held in the full participation of the fishers in the 1984, was ‘sponsored’ by the municipality management of their cooperative made it one and permission was granted to have an of the best functioning in Kerala. The strong international cultural event by the fishers at resolve of the fishers to resist all opposition to the world famous Piazza Navona. During their organisational efforts and their excellent the conference, which she attended, Lauretta cooperation led to the Marianad MUCS being got the satisfaction to see how the Marianad recognised in the official Economic Review 1977 experiment became an important basis for of the Government of Kerala as “an eye-opener to the creation of a big international network of the fishermen cooperatives in Kerala. Dedicated fishers and their supporters. Lauretta visited leadership and the felt need of the fishermen Marianad again once, 25 years later, in 1992 for united action against the exploitation to the great joy of the community. Marianad by the middlemen could be reckoned as the is now one of the biggest, prosperous and contributory factors for the dynamic outlook well organised fishing villages of Kerala. The of Marianad”. In 1985, the Kerala government Matsyafed Cooperatives now functioning in woundup all MUCS cooperatives and created the village received the President’s award for the Matsyafed which was modelled along the the best primary fishery cooperative in India basic lines of the Marianad MUCS. Marianad, on two occasions. In 2015, Lauretta was taken with over 1,500 families now, has two well- to a retirement home in the town of Treviglio functioning Matsyafed cooperatives. in Bergamo in an advanced state of dementia. On 12 March 2020, some of us who worked Lauretta leaves Marianad closely with Lauretta were together for dinner. Lauretta left Marianad in 1977 after playing It was 9.30 pm. Listening to the news about the a lead role in creating the new village of rapid spread of COVID-19 virus in Bergamo, Marianad from the land with no people. She we wondered whether there was any news went back to take care of her invalid father. She of Lauretta. At about the same time, in that also nursed her ailing mother and Alzheimer- retirement home, Lauretta left us and joined stricken sister in her home town of Caravaggio her creator. The epitaph on her coffin read: Vi in Bergamo Province. Later, when some of ho amati tutti – uno ad uno. Yes, she loved us her earlier colleagues took the initiative to all – each one of us in a very special way. organise the first international conference Source: https://english.manoramaonline. of fishers and their supporters in Rome, they com/news/kerala/2020/04/07/marianad- visited her in Bergamo. She put them in touch fishing-village-italian-nurse-lauretta-farina- with some members of the Communist-led bergamo.html municipality of Rome who could probably

Delivered by women, led by men A report on gender and equity in the global health and social workforce ow do we address the question of inequality in million new jobs in LMICs. The gender dividend Hglobal health infrastructure, especially during argues that education and autonomy are likely to the pandemic grip of Covid-19? The report, improve family education, nutrition, and women produced by the WHO Global Health Workforce and children’s health. The development dividend Milestones Network’s Gender Equity Hub is the latest gender argues that new opportunities will be created and equity analysis on the health workforce – which will work as fuel for economic growth and looking collectively for the first time at issues of universal health coverage. leadership: decent work free from all forms of This report calls for gender transformative By N. Venugopalan discrimination and harassment, including sexual policies and measures to be put in place if global ([email protected]), harassment; gender pay gap; and occupational targets for better health and gender outcomes are Programme Manager, segregation across the entire workforce. to be achieved. It serves as an essential resource ICSF Trust, Chennai, The health sector is a major employer of to all policy makers, practitioners, researchers, India women. Using a review of 170 studies from the global educators and activists in the sector. North, the report shows that there are major gaps The report ‘Delivered by Women, Led by Men: in data and research from low and middle income A Gender and Equity Analysis of the Global Health countries (LMICs) with respect to the gender and and Social Workforce’ may be downloaded from equality dimensions of the health workforce. https://www.who.int/hrh/resources/health- The demand for a better health dividend observer24/en/ shows that there is an estimated shortfall of 18

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