In Andamans,unique story of courage,compassion

It was in 2001 that Lakra,posted to a sub-centre in Dugong Creek,an island in Little Andaman,first started visiting the Ongees,an indigenous Andamanese people with red eyes,dark black skin and curly black hair.

The Ongees,belonging to an ethnic stock referred to as ‘Negrito’,spoke a primitive language that Lakra did not then understand. She would trek through a dense forest and cross two rivers to reach the Ongee settlement.

“They were unlike any other people I had met,but I was not shocked by them. They are a very shy people. It took me time to learn their language,” Lakra said. “But now,if I am told to spend the whole of this life with them,I would happily do so.”

When Lakra started working with the Ongees,there were just 78 of them. Skin diseases were chronic,and Ongee men frequently suffered from respiratory tract infections picked up from chewing tobacco. Women died in childbirth,as did a very large number of newborns.

The Indian Ocean tsunami of December 2004 swallowed the Ongees’ island habitat and drove them deep into the jungles,where they survived on frogs,wild pigs and other small animals. Lakra made her home with them,but the harshness of her conditions took a heavy toll on her and her family. Her son — born while she was in the Andamans,and by then a year old — could not cope.

“I could not feed him the rice that I would fill my own stomach with. He had become totally malnourished,” recalled Lakra. “So my in-laws came and took him away. He now stays with them. He is very happy. He calls my mother-in-law ‘mamma’.”

Through the pain of separation from her son,Lakra’s greatest strength was her husband Shaji Varghese,who has a coconut- and supari-processing unit. “He stood by me,he always motivated me to reach out to the Ongees,come what may,” said Lakra.

She did miss her son terribly — but the pain was offset somewhat by the joy she felt at seeing her efforts bear fruit; like on the occasion when she was able to save an Ongee baby born early with an alarmingly low birth weight. “I asked for help from the health authorities. The baby was airlifted to hospital,and is fine today,” she said,her eyes shining.

In the five years from 2001 in which Lakra worked closely with the Ongees,their population rose to 100. Government efforts to save the tribals,however,suffered a severe setback a few years ago,when a number of them died after drinking contaminated water. There are only 72 Ongees left now.

“They are harmless people. I stayed with them for so many years,not even once did they try to harm me. One of them had a mental problem,I fed him with my hands,but I never felt he would do something bad to me. We must not allow them to get extinct,” said Lakra.

Lakra now speaks the Ongee language fluently. She no longer works directly with the Ongees; she is posted as a specialist at a government hospital,at the special ward where the Andamanese tribes are treated. But many of the Ongees have started to visit the hospital — and they recognise her and demonstrate their joy when they see her. “I feel that they miss me,” she said.