Peace returns slowly in Orissa:

(March 25,2010) The situation in eastern India’s Orissa State has become almost normal, as nearly 90 percent survivors of anti-Christian violence have returned to their villages, said a Church team that visited the state “There is smile on people’s face now,” Brother Mani Mekkunnel, national secretary of the Conference of Religious India – CRI , told UCA News on Wednesday, after visiting Orissa’s Kandhamal district a third time, since it witnessed unprecedented attacks on Christians in 2008. He noted that the process of building houses and repairing damaged ones is on, and a well planned joint effort by Church agencies and the state government is visible. Brother Mekkunnel added however, that the victims in three villages are facing hostility from local Hindus, so the administration is creating alternative villages, where the houses should be ready before the monsoon starts in June.
He pointed out that the main challenge now, is to help children resume education that was disrupted by the violence. Brother Mekkunnel said that his organization is planning to offer funds for two years and added that the CRI also plans to start vocational training for jobless youth.