Critical to help second generation Malayalees cope with campus life.
By Deepak Chitnis
WASHINGTON, DC: In light of the recent spate of high-profile disappearances, as well as unfortunate deaths of young people in the Malayalee community in the US over the past few weeks, some community members joined in from across the country via telephone to address and find solutions, to stem the growing tide of tragedies.
In recent weeks, college students of Malayalee Christian origin, Pravin Varughese (Southern Illinois University) and Jasmine Joseph (New York Institute of Technology) went missing for several days, only to be found dead under tragic circumstances. Another student, Reny Jose, of Rice University, is missing in Panama City Beach, Florida, with an 11-day manhunt still coming up fruitless in searching for the young man.
A nationwide conference call – with as many as 45 participants – was held on Wednesday night, with Malayalee community organizers from many of the major metropolitan areas in the US. One of the people who was on that phone call, Vinson Palathingal, told The American Bazaar that discussion was mainly to console the affected families.
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“The main topic of discussion was to console the families who had been affected by these recent tragedies,” said Palathingal, who added that some of the related family members were in on the call, but he did not want to identify them out of respect for their privacy.
“Five or six children, ranging in age from 15 to 22, have gone missing or [have died] in the last five weeks, and we as a community need to identify why this is happening so that we can prevent these kinds of incidents from occurring again,” he said.
When asked what the prevailing theory is as to why Malayalee youth specifically seem to be in the headlines of late, Palathingal said that it had mostly to do with upbringing.
“There is a certain lack of exposure to the American way of life,” said Palathingal, explaining that Malayalee-origin youth sometimes have difficult reconciling their parents’ way of life with the lifestyle of the country they themselves grown up in.
“A lot of people in the community think that Malayalees live a very sheltered, secluded lifestyle, which becomes a problem when these children go to college and experience new things,” he said.
However, Palathingal said that many of the participants on the conference call believed these occurrences to simply be a coincidence, saying that it has nothing to do with their families being from Kerala, or being Christian.
“There’s clearly some introspection that we (as a community) have to do,” said Palathingal.
Prominent Malayalee actor and producer Thampy Antony, who lives in the San Francisco Bay area, says he has found the second generation Malayalees to be overly sensitive when it comes to relationship issues, but echoed Palathingal’s sentiments about a youth-based community outreach program to help kids who may be struggling.
Antony spoke to The American Bazaar by phone from Palakkad, in Kerala, where he is working on a film. He stressed the importance of community organizations and leaders spreading awareness on social issues and providing mentorships.
“Organizations such as FOKANA [Federation of Kerala Association in North America] and FOMAA [Federation of Malayalee Association of Americas] have youth wings. They should engage the youth and help the young Malayalee Americans navigate [their way],” he said. “The young need mentoring on setting goals in life and accomplishing them.”
Palathingal revealed that the nationwide Malayalee community is creating an awareness program in local communities and various city-based colleges, to provide counseling and support for Malayalee – and, presumably, other Indian American – youth who feel they made need it. He pointed out that other ethnic communities, particularly Jewish ones, have such a system already in place, and that it’s time for Malayalee youth to have one, as well.
“A firm plan is in place in Chicago,” he said, “but the most important thing for these programs is that they have the input of other Indian and Malayalee youth who have grown up in the US, gone to school here, and have been successful. Their input is critical so that they can warn [younger people] about the dangers of college life, and so on.”
Outside of the Gulf region, which is home to roughly two million emigrants from Kerala, the United States has the largest Malayalee diaspora in the world. The size of the Malayalee community in the US is believed to be between 150,000 and 200,000. Among regions with large community presence are New York, New Jersey, Chicago, the San Francisco Bay Area, Houston, Dallas, Washington, DC, Tampa Bay, and Miami.
To contact the author, email to deepakchitnis@americanbazaaronline.com
1 Comment
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