THE HABARANA EXPERIENCE
Jesuit
Novices Schooled by Rural Poor
Jesuit Novices, Suresh Saparamadu, Nilan Fernando and Emil
Susantha were sent by the Novice Master to Habarana to have a
first-hand experience of the life of the poor workers. The
local parish priest, Fr. K.D Joseph, made the necessary
arrangement for the experiment.
Life-Education at a Granite Quarry. Nilan Fernando, NSJ
After
spending the first night in a villager’s home in the
out-skirts of Habarana, I was led the next morning to the
granite quarry. It was a sore sight. The workers looked like a
group of slaves. The harshness of the sun, the granite dust
that covers the pit and the imminent danger of blasted stones
falling down from the top of the rock into the pit were the
eternal friends of those people. Practically all of them got
what I would call a ‘granite complexion’, dark and
weatherbeaten like the granite rock itself.
However observing these heart-breaking
conditions at the pit I expressed my desire to work with them.
After a while the father of the family with whom I was staying
gave me a big hammer. They used it to break big blocks of
granite into small ones. It was very heavy, nearly 17 kgs in
weight. Soon after that I got an iron bar, which they used for
moving the stones. Then one Mr. Rayappu taught me how to hit
the granite so that they split into the required size and
shape. However after doing some hard work with the hammer, I
found that I could not open my palm and spread out my fingers;
they were stuck together; it was painful. Besides, my legs and
hands were full of small cuts and bruises made by the sharps
flying splinters of granite stones. I was deeply saddened to
realize that what I do as an experiment for a few days is
their whole life-time destiny. Everywhere I could see hard
labour but no sign of any relief from poverty. Poverty and the
need for daily labour explained also the large-scale
illiteracy prevailing among so many parents and children.
Drilling and planting dynamites in order to
break the rock was extremely dangerous. They risk their life
to earn a few coins for themselves and a large sum of money
for the owner of the quarry. Perhaps the owner might not have
touched a single piece of granite in this quarry. But surely
the owner knows the touch of the money that it brings in, I
felt. When they blasted the dynamite Testimonies the whole
rock shook beneath my feet. And centuries old mighty rock did
let go off huge chunks of its mass. I picked up a small piece,
still warm and smelling fresh, and thought, this stone was
older than any human being living on the earth, and we had
just destroyed it. The man next to me allayed my conscience
saying, that this is the only work that sustains their life.
The quarry workers take a break on
Wednesdays. This was mainly to purchase their weekly rations
at the Wednesday fair. But their meals often consisted of rice
with Pol-Sambal or long- beans curry. Very rarely did they get
a piece of fish to go with rice. The amazing thing was - I do
not know what the nutritionists would say about a balanced
diet - their food did not go with the work they did. In spite
of my fleshy construction, physically I felt like an
undernourished tramp, amidst these working dynamos. It could
not believe they could work so hard with such little food. I
wondered whether I should learn to control my appetite and
work a little more.
By evening the darkness covered the village
and the people at that home where I lodged, had no recreation
other than watching TV., specially the teledramas. I took hold
of a boy and went out slowly and started to recite the rosary.
Then all of them one by one joined us and finally we all
prayed together. It was a great moment of grace for me.
One day a boy invited me to his home and
introduced his parents and elder sister, complaining that the
Father gets drunk and becomes boisterous. But I realized this
was a common malaise in the village. Instead of advising the
Father---who would have excused himself saying that in those
frustrating circumstances he needed a few moments of mental
peace (even if it is at the expense of others) - I preferred
to advise the boy to learn a lesson from his father’s
behavior.
Among the many things I learnt from this
people, there is one thing I am shy to narrate. I came to know
of a woman who had two small children and expecting a third
one. Her husband had died two years earlier! When I saw her
pregnant out of wedlock, I got a feeling of repugnance towards
her. But the people at the quarry and at the house I was
staying were very kind to those children and even to the
mother. They did not condemn her as a sinner but showed mercy
and compassion to her. It was a beautiful Christ-like
attitude, which I did not have and had to learn from them!
Events
After
spending the first night in a villager’s home in the
out-skirts of Habarana, I was led the next morning to the
granite quarry. It was a sore sight. The workers looked like a
group of slaves. The harshness of the sun, the granite dust
that covers the pit and the imminent danger of blasted stones
falling down from the top of the rock into the pit were the
eternal friends of those people. Practically all of them got
what I would call a ‘granite complexion’, dark and
weatherbeaten like the granite rock itself. 
One day a boy invited me to his home and
introduced his parents and elder sister, complaining that the
Father gets drunk and becomes boisterous. But I realized this
was a common malaise in the village. Instead of advising the
Father---who would have excused himself saying that in those
frustrating circumstances he needed a few moments of mental
peace (even if it is at the expense of others) - I preferred
to advise the boy to learn a lesson from his father’s
behavior.