THE ABOUNDING GRACE OF SAI TO ORISSA...WILL BE CONTINUED SOON

[Guest guest]

Abodes of Happiness ... The Abounding Grace of Sai to Orissa

 

 

 

 

Part 1

 

Part 2

 

 

Divine compassion of Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba rushes to the aid of the shattered lives in the deprived east Indian state of Orissa in the aftermath of the devastating flood, which ruined nearly 2.5 million lives, in the third week of September 2008. His love not only immediately provides much-needed food, clothes and medicines, but also recreates their lives and heals their pain of generations by building for them solid and permanent homes, and enveloping their lives with a joy and peace they had never experienced before in their lives.

A Nightmare on a Dark Night

“The menacing waters rushed in at great speed; we just fled leaving everything behind. We had no other choice; we could carry nothing with us. It was such a big horror; there was water everywhere! We swam like mad through the swirling waters and some way or the other reached high land. Somehow we managed to save our lives, but all our cattle were washed away. When we returned to our village after a week, there was no trace of our house; in the same area was now a stagnant pool of mud and flotsam.â€

~ Mrs. Tara Jena, village resident, Nadiabarai, Kendrapada district, Orissa

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"Where there was our house, there was now a stagnant pool of water" - Mrs. Tara Jena

 

 

 

 

 

"We lost everything, food, clothes, cattle, savings, and suffered pitiably"- Mrs. Pushpalata Behera

 

 

"Somehow we managed to save our lives, but all our cattle were washed away. When we returned to our village after a week, there was no trace of our house; in the same area was now a stagnant pool of mud and flotsam."

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This was the least height of water when hundreds of villages were inundated

 

“It was 2 a.m. when the embankment of the river right in front of our house just collapsed! Imagine 6 feet high water gushing towards you with maddening velocity in the dead of night… everybody was in absolute panic! We ran for our lives; we could take nothing except the clothes that were on our bodies. After 3-4 days, when the water receded, we returned and what we saw just broke our hearts. The river had dug up a huge hole where our house once stood! We could not find even a single bamboo pole of our thatched dwelling!â€

~ Mr. Pramod Kumar Jena, farmer, Samsara, Kendrapada district, Orissa

"Imagine 6 feet high water gushing towards you with maddening velocity in thedead of night… everybody was in absolute panic!"

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Watch Mrs. Tara Jena recount her dreadful days with deep sorrow in Oriya

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"I not only lost my house and clothes, all my five goats were washed away" - Mr. Rishi Malik

 

Fear of a Watery Grave Kicked in the Survival Instinct

“On September 17, the volume of water was high but well within the height of the embankment. But the next day, it reached dangerous levels. We started bolstering the bank by adding sand bags and more soil. At the same time, we feared the worst, and therefore, relocated our cattle to other high land. We kept inspecting the hedge very frequently on September 18. And to our shock, we found that in one area, the heavy force of the water was slowly eroding the base of the bank. Now, we were left with only 8-10 sand bags, which was really too little. At 5.10 the next morning, all hell broke loose.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Five months on, a tent and a few necessitiesare all that is their own

 

 

 

 

 

Their faces speak volumes about the trauma of their lives

 

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Ram ChuganiKobe, Japan