He
was admitted to the hospital three days ago as he was found lying
unconscious on his bed early morning at the CMI house in Mumbai. He was
suffering from Diabetes and Parkinson’s disease since a few years.
Incidentally he was in Mumbai for a routine check up on his way to
Bangalore to attend a meeting. Doctors said that he had a massive brain
hemorrhage during the night.
Rev. Fr George, belonging to
the CMI St. Xavier’s Province, Rajkot was born in 1940 at Karimannoor,
near Thodupuzha, Kerala, and was ordained priest in 1969. His first
appointment as Priest was in Dharmaram College, Bangalore, the major
seminary of the Carmelites of Mary Immaculate. There he was designated
to manage the huge dairy farm of the seminary. After his service in
Bangalore for nine years he was appointed Prior of the Monastery at
Vazhakulam. And it was from here that Bishop Jonas picked him up for his
future glorious service in the Diocese of Rajkot in 1981.
Father
George is a person whom the people of Kutch will never forget. He was a
great missionary who took the message of the love of God to the poor
and suffering people of the hard terrains of Kutch, geographically as
big as Kerala, as part of the social work department of the Diocese of
Rajkot. The blind, the deaf, the lame, the poor, the marginalized and
the mentally challenged in great numbers found new energy and life in
him. A winner of many, church, state and national awards, he was
considered by the locals as the uncrowned king of Kutch because of the
amount of welfare work he did and the influence he had in the society
and with the Government.
The Kutch Vikas Trust (K.V.T.) of
which he was the founding Director, which post he held until his death
is a registered Charitable Trust based in Raidhanpar, Bhuj, in the
District of Kutch 220 kilometers from Rajkot was formed by 1981 by the
late Bishop Jonas Thaliyath. Financed by the CHRISTOFFEL BLINDEN MISSION
and the ANDHERI HILFE, its aim was the integral development of the
Kutch region.
The main work of KVT is spread in the 250
acres of land belonging to the Trust. The major work are integrated
education centre and hostel for the blind children, General Dispensary,
eye specialization hospital , Rehabilitation of the blind, AIDS care,
agricultural training centre, Dairy farm, fish hatcheries, fisheries
cooperative societies, etc. From here they reach out to scores of
villages for medical camps, water shed programmes and advocacy and
awareness programmes. The devastating earthquake of 2001 brought the
true mettle in the person of Fr Kunnth. He worked hard , got the
assistance of funding agencies and built countless houses for the
victims.
He was actively involved in the following Government and Non Governmental bodies:
- Reproduction and Child Care committee of Government of Gujarat
- Committee for Child Labour Abolition
- Hariyali Project a Lead NGO in Gujarat
- Fisher Peoples Association
- National Association for the Blind, Kutch,
- Blind welfare Council , Kutch,
- Federation of the Blind, Kutch
Fr
George Kunnth/s foresight and vision for future was instrumental in the
founding of seven other mission stations in the region of Kutch which
are now doing much needed service in the social and academic sectors in
the following places:
Lakhpat
Dayapar
Mandvi
Naliya
Nadapa and
Mundra.
Since
1998 Fr George has received a dozen awards from the state and National
Governments, for his outstanding services for the rehabilitation of the
blind, marginalized and the poor.
He received the following awards:
1998 Van Pandit award from Government of Gujarat
2001 Award for outstanding service to the disabled from the Government of Gujarat.
2002 Award for remarkable service to the earthquake affected people
2003 Bharat Excellence Award for outstanding service to the marginalized and poor
2004 Best Employer of Disabled Award by Government of Gujarat
2006 National Award for Best Employer of Disabled in the year 2006
2007 Award for outstanding service for the welfare and development of
the disabled in Kutch by Kutch Blind Welfare Association.
2008 Social Apostolate Award by CMI Congregation for the outstanding
service to the needy and disabled.
2009 Gujarat State Award for the Welfare of the Blind and Disabled by
Gujarat State Branch of NAB
Dressed
always in simple attire, and keeping a smile always in his lips, Fr
George Kunnath was a boss with a difference for the over 150 staff at
KVT that included priests, sisters and lay people belonging to different
religions. He reached every spot where KVT’s work was underway, met
each staff member and worker and gave appropriate directions to one and
all.
His idea of the mission was the following:
“Let
the people feel the Good News of Jesus from our selfless activities,
rather that from our lips. They will start asking questions why we are
here. The third or fourth generation of missionaries will hopefully, see
some disciples of Jesus from this soil. In the meantime, the people
have begun to say among themselves, ‘we please our gods by feeding the
cows, but these Christians do so by serving us.’”
Fr. George
has 5 brothers and 6 sisters, one of whom is a nun in the Presentation
congregation. Indeed, Fr George Kunnath’s life is an invitation to all
of us to shed any sort of lethargy in our lives and embrace of life of
action for the suffering and the needy in whose forms Jesus appears to
us every day.
Rev. Fr. Sebastian Kalathil
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