Jharkhand native serving as sexton in Kerala’s Mar Thoma Church

Thiruvananthapuram, Nov 8 – The days when migrant workers in Kerala were only sought for manual jobs are long gone as the example of K. Prakash from Jharkhand shows.

Prakash is a sexton at the St Paul’s Mar Thoma Church at Chathengeri near Thiruvalla in Pathanamthitta district, with the post entailing assisting the parish vicar when he conducts the mass and to be always available in the church for its needs, both inside and outside.

Talking to IANS, parish vicar Rev Fr Abraham Cherian said he has been the vicar of this church for the past 18 months and Prakash has been the sexton for the past five years.

“The primary job of a sexton is to assist the vicar during the mass and Prakash has been doing a fantastic job. Though he can speak Malayalam, he cannot write or read but that’s not a handicap for his job.

“Prakash is always in and around the church and does everything including the banking needs of the church. His wife and children are also engaged with church activities and all the members are happy with Prakash,” Cherian added.

Incidentally, Prakash’s wife, who hails from Odisha, came to Kerala as a domestic help as an young girl and it was after their wedding that Prakash also settled here.

Cherian further added that both the husband and wife have been Christians from birth in their respective states. “We have decided to get Prakash more involved in our mass activities, as we will be giving him the book of our mass published in Hindi, that’s used in our churches in North India, through which he will get to know more about and the meaning of our mass,” the vicar added.