Florine Roche
Pics: Dayanand Kukkaje
Daijiworld Media Network - Mangalore

Mangalore, Sep 11: We have seen that in most beauty pageants contestants often make lofty promises of working with the poor, the downtrodden, the impoverished and the underprivileged in their bid to win the coveted crown. In reality very few fulfil the promise once they reach the goal of winning of reaching the final round or even winning the contest.

There are however, exceptions to every rule and Miss Slovakia 1995 Iveta Jankularova is one such. Having won the title Miss Slovakia in 1995, she got an opportunity to take part in the Miss Universe contest in 1996 held in Las Vegas in USA. Naturally, winning the pageant gave her a free ticket to the glamorous world of showbiz. Her foray into the fascinating field of beauty and subsequently into the showbiz fetched her name, international fame, exposure and also money. All these material gains however failed to make way for the inner peace and joy she was yearning. It is this craving for happiness and fulfilment landed her in Raichur district of Karnataka a few months ago and she wants her association with India to continue forever.

Dressed in simple purple leggings and a grey tunic top with a thin overlapping shawl Iveta is devoid of anything that symbolize beauty or showbiz with which she was associated with for the last two decades. She talks about Indian Ayurveda and says she is a yoga buff as it has become a regular part of her life. She is now working among the poorest of the poor children of Manvi and Jagir Pannur of Raichur district of Karnataka for the last 3 ½ months. You have to trust her when she says without batting an eyelid “All these years I was in search of true joyfulness and now I have found real happiness and meaning to my existence working amongst these marginalized sections of people”.

In Search of Inner Joy

It is not that Iveta is paying lip service when she talks about her association with the Dalits, Devadasis, the illiterate, the poor and those who are segregated because of the caste they are born with. “In Manvi and Jagir Pannur I have come across people who are totally segregated from the rest of the world. They don’t have basic facilities like education, healthcare, safe drinking water or transportation. Caste system is still paying havoc with the lives of Dalit children. I have found true happiness working for the welfare of these people who living in appalling conditions”, says this beauty mincing no words to express her joy of having found true bliss in India.

Iveta recalls that she was drawn towards the beauty pageant even at a young age motivated by the aspirations to help the needy, the poor and the sick. But in reality she found that the showbiz was completely different from what she envisioned. So she took to social work studies to learn ways and means of helping the needy. Her showbiz engagements took her to different destinations the world over. But there was emptiness within her and she did not get that fulfillment she craved for. That is when she decided to do something.

She got in touch with St Elizabeth University, College of Health and Social Sciences in Slovakia which incidentally runs more than 100 public health and social work project the world over including India. Through this University she came across Lenka Rabarova who works for the University and also runs a NGO “The Way Home” and offered her services to work as a volunteer here. Elizabeth University is associated with the Jesuit missionaries who have set up their mission in Pannur in 2002 and laid a sturdy foundation to ameliorate the marginalized sections of the society through a series of developmental measures. She came to Raichur 3 ½ months ago and is greatly moved by the plight of the people living in deplorable conditions.

“I have seen poverty in other countries but here the situation is different as people are oppressed in the name of caste system and Devadasi system in addition to poverty” she says when asked tell about her experience of working in Raichur.

Iveta is visiting villages, teaches and plays with the small children, visits the houses affected by floods and is actively involved in creating awareness among the people on the importance of education, health care, safe drinking water and importance of personal hygiene. “This experience has been like a vacation for my soul”, she sighs. “I am thankful for giving me an opportunity to be a volunteer among the poorest of the poor. I want to continue my support through the Jesuits whom I have stayed with. I would like to continue my association and work as much as possible for the children and their families whom I now consider my new family. I want to be involved forever because happiness is rare and is a precious gift. It would be foolish on my part to forgo this kind of internal happiness which I was longing for all these years.”

From 2004 onwards there was collaboration with some foreign NGO’s and organizations from UK, Spain Australia, France, Poland and Slovakia and their help resulted in the setting up of a school - “Guru Bhavan”. Volunteers rendered financial help to the Jesuits to purchase about 40 acres of land, to build schools and college, hostel constructions as well as residency for Jesuits priests and sponsored about 850 students. They were also instrumental in setting up a driving school so that the youth of this area are able to engage in gainful employment.

Iveta is also involved in fundraising campaigns in different parts of Raichur in her efforts to contribute to the various developmental projects. She will be leaving for Slovakia in a fortnight where she is planning to do some presentations to raise funds through individual donors by giving them the true picture of the problems faced by these people. “These children are like angels on earth and it would be my endeavor to invite more and more people from Slovakia to India so that they can be a part of our efforts”, she avers.

Leading by Example

Lenka is associated with the developmental works in Manvi and Jagir Pannur for the last three years through St Elizabeth College of Health and Social Science. She had come across some Jesuit priests in Slovakia and that connection brought her to Pannur with a group of friends. She stayed back in Jagir Pannur and found that many children were suffering from malnutrition and people were in need of health care facilities. “When there was a request from the mission requesting to sponsor an anti-malnutrition programme in 2012 we volunteered to take up the responsibility in about 65 villages of Raichur district”, Lenka declares. Since then the University has been sending medical and non-medical staff to Pannur and Manvi to ensure that children get nutritious food and good health care facilities. Individual donors from Slovakia have sponsored the education of about 360 children of this area.

Lenka is in Raichur from January this year along with Fr Mario Bosy of Slovakia and about 3 ½ months back Iveta joined them to render a helping hand. She is involved in myriad projects and she calls Raichur as “my second home”. A modus operandi adopted by the mission along with the volunteers is to reach out to the women of this district and involve them in the developmental process. Lenka believes that by reaching out to the women they are able to touch the entire family and therefore they have focused in involving more and more women in this task.

Fr Eric Mathias, Mukamar SJ, one of the pioneers who started and nurtured the Pannur mission since its inception in 2002 says that these volunteers are involved in many developmental programmes undertaken by the mission both in terms of voluntary work and financial help. He points out “It is really heartening to see them visit the villagers, stay with them, play with them, eat their food and mingle with them without any hassles. That makes a big difference to these people who are bogged down by the ghost of caste system and other ills like the Devadasi system. They lead by example and that is quite inspiring.”

The avidity shown by these volunteers and their altruistic spirit to bring about a change in the lives of the poor and the underprivileged is extraordinary and truly worth emulating. Miss Iveta Jankularova is a role model to today’s youngsters who has shown that beauty can be the stepping stone for doing things that might make a change to the lives of the poor.

The Pannur Mission

The Pannur Mission took shape in 1998 thanks to the zeal shown by five newly ordained Jesuit priest – Joseph D Mello, Joseph Monteiro, Johnson Pinto, Cyprian Tellis and Eric Mathias. It came into existence in 2002 and ever since the mission has been doing yeoman’s service by starting English medium schools, colleges, health care facilities, safe drinking water, transportation, women empowerment and many other programmes to ameliorate the oppressed people. There has been a marked improvement in their status since then and many of these children today are studying in various professional colleges of the state.