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I am 31 years old and I come from the state of Tamil Nadu, India. I am a Christian and a Dalit. My parents are agricultural coolie (daily-wage) workers. They are in their seventies. In our area, all people work for landlords, like slaves, for a very low income.

I am the only son in a family of four children. In my culture, boys are responsible for their family and the marriage of relatives; this implies huge costs, so we have to ask loans from our landlords, which binds us even more to them.

We are supposed to beg for food

Landlords don’t respect us. They don’t see us as human beings and they don’t call us by our names. Even their small children speak to my parents saying “vaada, pooda” and “vaadee, poodee” (“come over here” or “go”). This makes me very angry and I have already threatened them.

At Christmas time, at Deepavali (festival of light in India), or at Pongal (harvest festival in Tamil Nadu), we have to beg for food at the landlord’s place. If we don’t do so, he scoffs at us and asks, “are you a rich man now?”

All major infrastructures such as ration offices (where poor people can get rice, oil, loans… at lower prices) or schools are built in the rich areas so that rich people do not have to come to Dalit areas. Buses pass through the higher caste parts and only at the end through the Dalits’ parts – so there are no places left for us to sit.

This whole system creates a dynamic among Dalits: we try to save some money in order to send our people to university. The upper class people do not have the same motivation because they own a lot of land. Now they start respecting us. They fear that we might study and become aware of our situation or that we might get a job somewhere else and become financially self-reliant.

My encounter with the JOC

I used to go to church regularly and sometimes I participated in activities but as I am very shy, I would only speak to my friends. One day, two YCW fulltimers came to set up workers’ groups focusing on Dalits. They forced us to participate – I didn’t like that. They told us about the YCW method. I didn’t fully understand but I liked their speaking about issues that concerned me as a Dalit.

He was a priest but he shook my hand

One month later, the parish priest wanted me to go to a YCW training session. In my culture, you don’t question a priest, so I went there with a few friends. When we arrived, a man welcomed us. He treated us like friends, which was quite unusual to me. He asked me: “Who are you? Where do you come from?” and he even shook my hand. I learned that he was a priest, Augustine. This affected me a lot. Before that, I had only been touched by a priest on my forehead after confessing, and only very briefly.

At the training, they asked simple questions and made us contribute. They spoke about our problems as Dalits and since it was my reality, I could easily participate.

They asked me to be the group secretary

After that, I participated in base group meetings once every two weeks. At the very beginning of a meeting, they asked me to be the group secretary. My God, how was that possible? I didn’t have any experience in writing! But there were training sessions on the role of a secretary, how to lead a group, etc. During the trainings, they held “cultural nights” and I also learned to express myself in different ways: dancing, singing, music.

Then I attended national training sessions. It was really amazing for me to go to Chennai and to make friends from other districts. They told us that ‘nobody’s perfect’ and that you can only learn if you do things.

Action at the national level against an increase in bus prices

After a national training seminar, there was a dharna (public rally to put forward demands) in Trichy. Normally we have posters printed but this time we wrote our demands ourselves on posters. Even girls participated, which was quite unusual. We split and went to different parts of the district to stick the posters. We got onto buses and asked passengers to support us financially. We collected money. We made an evaluation after each step. It was a good experience. Until then we had only had training and now we were acting. We were very proud!

My arrival in the national YCW

When I was asked to become a national team member, I saw it as a huge task. I had the feeling that the others knew everything and I was so small. At the beginning, I could only share about my district and my experience. I still remember the first time I went to Chennai alone!

However I could see that people were different in the YCW. At a national meeting, our chaplain Augustine was cooking for the team. This was the first time I had seen a priest cook. He even lent me his alb to use it as a pillow!

Then they appointed me as a part-timer to extend the national YCW. I had to set up new groups. I managed to convince a parish priest and I got on my bike early in the morning to ride 22 kilometers in the cold in order to speak about the YCW at the 7 o’clock mass. At the beginning I was terribly afraid but I ended up speaking for 45 minutes.

I stayed!

Later on, I was elected national treasurer. I could hardly believe it. This was a strong recognition for me, the district, my village, and my Dalit community. A lot of people asked the president, Thiru: “So many treasurers left after six months. How will we make sure Sam will take this responsibility all the way?”

When Thiru left to work for the Asia-Pacific coordination, another president came and it was a big struggle for me. He could speak and convince others so well. I wanted to leave but I said to myself: “So many treasurers left, I promised to stay.” So I spoke to the president, we met together with the chaplain… and I stayed!

From the India YCW to the Asia-Pacific Team

Then I was elected president. We wanted to extend the movement and I went to another state. A seven hours’ journey… another language. When we arrived the first time, a priest gave us a place to stay. When I arrived the second time, he didn’t open the door. I had to sleep in a park. I felt so bad and I was mad at the Church. Is this how you treat people? But that experience also made me strong.

Today, I am a member of the International Team for the Asia Pacific region. My family would like me to live with them because I am the only boy but they are proud of me. The YCW made me realize how people are struggling. My way of thinking, of behaving has changed.