BENGAL BOUTS AND BANGLADESH

By Fr. Ed Goedert, C.S.C.

Fr. Ed Goedert spent numerous years as a Holy Cross Missionary in Bangladesh and has also been a chaplain to the Bengal Bout boxers.

For over a hundred years Holy Cross priests, brothers and sisters have been working in Bengal, the country which is now Bangladesh. Since most of them have been alumni of Notre Dame or St. Mary’s, it was fitting that we at Notre Dame should help them in their work. It was with that in mind that Dominic Napolitano founded the Bengal Bouts, and for the past 60 years proceeds from the Bouts have assisted the missionaries in their work on maintaining schools, dispensaries, and feeding the hungry in the poorest country in the world.

This year the needs of that country are even greater. Last April a tidal wave 20 feet high, pushed by a 150 mile an hour wind, roared up the Bay of Bengal and swept through southwest Bangladesh, leaving total destruction in its wake. Whole villages were wiped out by this towering wall of water. The storm blew without respite for eight hours and few in its path could survive. We will never know how many people died, since many of the bodies were swept out to sea. Estimates run from 140,000 to half a million.

The suffering of the dead ended quickly; the suffering of the living will go on for years. Many of those lost were children. The same was true of the tidal wave which struck in 1970. Then, one sentence described the sorrow of a village in mourning. In their appeal for help they said they needed everything: food, water, clothes, medicine, building materials. Then they added, "Do not send children’s clothes; we have no children left."

The list of destruction is appalling. In eight hours 12 million people were made homeless. Their crops and livestock and all their belongings were gone. Millions were left with no food, no water and no protection against the elements. To make matters worse, relief workers could not come to their assistance. They could not reach them by road because roads and bridges were gone. They could not reach them by water because of the high waves. Thousands of rotting bodies caused a terrible stench, and increased the danger of disease. The dogs and vultures took care of some of the dead; the people did not have the strength or the tools to bury the rest.

Many more would have died from starvation and disease were it not for the unexpected fallout from the Persian Gulf War. 7,000 Marines due to return home, were diverted for three weeks to Bangladesh. Now the military machine which brought death to thousands in Iraq brought life and hope to millions in Bangladesh. The helicopters and hovercraft, intended for assaulting the enemy beaches, were just the thing needed to ferry supplies to the islands and costal areas. In a matter of days they delivered 4,000 tons of relief goods: food, medicine, water purification kits, blankets, building material and all those things an army carried, but no longer needed.

The marines are gone, but the relief work continues. The first priority was just to keep people alive until they could plant crops and get back on their feet. Now help is being given to rebuild the people’s homes. In the future they plan to build more concrete shelters where the people may take refuge when storms are on the way.

In all this relief work, the proceeds of the Bengal Bouts will be a great help.

If anyone wishes to contribute to this work, contributions can be sent to:

Holy Cross Mission Center
Moreau Seminary
P.O. Box 543
Notre Dame, Indiana 46556