Concerning Dalits

I know it has only been a week since my last blog update, but there is much I have to say after the past 7 days. Last weekend, the volunteers and I went to Kozhencherry for our October retreat, during which we focused on the situation of the Dalit (commonly known as “untouchables”) community in Kerala. During the retreat, we visited a Dalit community and worshipped with them on Sunday, so that we could understand the social and religious problems that still exist in Kerala. I can’t explain the situation of Dalit Christians in Kerala without giving a brief history of the church. I think that the story is very interesting, even for people who aren’t history majors.

The Church in Kerala traces its history back to St. (Doubting) Thomas, who made his way to Kerala over 2,000 years ago. The traditional story is that he converted the Brahmins (the highest, priestly, caste in the Hindu tradition) of Kerala to Christianity. The (supposed) descendents of these very first converts call themselves “Syrian Christians.” For a very long time, Kerala was home to a small number of Christians, and then the Europeans arrived. The Portuguese, Dutch and British colonizers brought with them their own versions of Christianity in the 17^th century, and in the 18^th century missionaries from these countries flocked to India. The Portuguese converted many people (mostly Dalits) to Catholicism, which was one of the only new churches to be established in Kerala. The Dutch and British missionaries influenced some of the Syrian Christian community to change their theology and practice, bringing them into the Reformed tradition. Reformed Churches today are the Marthoma Church, the Church of South India (CSI) and the Anglican Church (they are all in full communion with each other). Other Syrian churches were not changed; these are the Orthodox Churches in Kerala.

Here’s the kicker: the Syrian Christians are NOT Brahmins. Although there is historical evidence of Christianity in Kerala in the first few centuries C.E. (A.D.), there is no historical evidence of Brahmin influence in Kerala before the 9^th century C.E. Either the Hindu caste system had not been fully integrated into Kerala culture at the time of the first Christian conversions, or the earliest converts were from a lower caste, most likely the Dalit caste. However, no Syrian Christian is willing to accept this, they hold on to their belief that they are from the highest Hindu caste. Their unwillingness to move from a Hindu caste system to a more Western view of social status creates many problems.

Dalits make up about 25% of the population of India, and in Kerala many of the Dalits are Christians. Why? Because Christ brings a message of acceptance and love no matter what caste or class you are. God’s unconditional love, as preached by Jesus, appeals especially to the poor and the downtrodden of our world. In India, this means that many Christian converts have been from the scheduled tribes and castes (Dalits) because they are the most oppressed under the caste system. Unfortunately, many churches in India have (in my opinion) deviated from the path that Christ intended.

The Marthoma Church has always been very unwelcoming to Dalits, and so they make up a very small percentage of their membership. There are, however, many Dalit members in the CSI church. The CSI church has different churches for Dalits, different pastors, and different policies. They are usually unwilling to send a pastor who is not from a Dalit background or who requests to be at a Dalit church to a Dalit community. They do not pay these pastors very much. They do not allocate much money to Dalit church projects (like rebuilding a collapsed parsonage). The most outrageous action I have heard is the story of Bishop Moore College, Kallamulla CSI Church (where I attend) and Kallamulla LP school. The church, college and LP school all sit in the same junction. Kallamulla Church used to be a Dalit church, and the land around used to be owned by the Dalit church. When the CSI church decided to build a college (Bishop Moore), they took away the Dalit church and the land. They built Bishop Moore College and Kallamulla Church became a Syrian Christian church. The CSI church also built the Kallamulla LP school (where Dalit children go to school) as a sort of concession, before building a much nicer school for non-Dalit children just a half-mile away.

Dalit Christians also face obstacles when it comes to government protection. When India “officially” abolished the caste system, the government set up a reservation system to address caste discrimination in the government and the workplace. The Indian reservation system is very similar to our Affirmative Action system; according to population different castes have spots reserved in schools and governments. Not all of these reservations are filled, and there is not much enforcement (at least in Kerala) of this system. One of the problems with this system is that the government only recognizes caste in the context of the Hindu tradition. Christianity is supposed to be a casteless religion (in theory if not in practice) and so the government does not label Dalit Christians as part of the scheduled tribes and castes that have reservations in schools and government jobs. This means that Dalit Christians are more likely to be trapped in the cycle of poverty that poor education leads to.

Two days a week, I work at Kallamulla LP school. This is the school for Dalit children in the Kallamulla area. Like I said in my last post, Kallamulla LP school is a Malayalam medium school, which means that the students will not learn English as well as their peers in more expensive English medium schools. Grasp of the English language is crucial when it comes to exams at the end of their high school careers and when they go to college, so children from Malayalam medium schools generally do not do as well on their exams and go to lower-grade colleges. Even though I am a native English speaker, there is only so much I can do at this LP school. The children have a minimal grasp of English (some vocabulary words) and the teachers are also far from fluent in the language, although they have learned a lot from the 5 previous volunteers. There are also just 3 permanent teachers for 4 grades and a nursery program, they have hired 2 temporary teachers to help this year.

It has been very difficult for me to accept that there is only so much I can do to help this school. I cannot give them a lot of money for facilities or resources, I cannot hire more teachers, I cannot convince the CSI Church to become more invested in these children. What I can do is meet the needs I am able to. I can play with the children, teach them songs and rhymes, teach them some vocabulary and make them laugh. For the teachers, I can share in fellowship and help them teach English to the students. It never feels like enough, but I am doing what I can, and it is appreciated. This Wednesday, one of the teachers and I were standing in the courtyard as the buses from the Bishop Moore school (English medium and expensive) rolled by. All the children in the buses waved at the strange “madama” (white woman, me), and I waved back. I told Salamma that some of the Bishop Moore school students were jealous that I taught at the LP school. Salamma smiled and said, “Yes, they may have [money] but we have you.”