by Fr. Jacob Peenikaparambil, CMI
My first meeting with Mr. Karl Kübel was in 1986 when he visited Rural Development Service Society (RDSS) Silwani in Madhaya Pradesh, India. I was the Executive Secretary of the organization and RDSS was implementing a major development project supported by Karl Kübel Stiftung (KKS). As per the instruction received from my higher authorities I had arranged a Contessa air conditioned car to bring Mr. Kübel from Bhopal to Silwani, about 150 k.m. from Bhopal Airport. When we reached Silwani Mr. Karl Kübel gave me a gentle scolding: "You should have arranged an ordinary car for me." The message was clear and direct. The funds of the project should be used for benefit of the poor and not for the luxury of those who implement the project."His care and concern for the people was so intense..."
During the visit we took him to a few villages where the project was being implemented and the three branches of RDDS. One branch, Pradeep Bhavan Pratapgarh, is 28 k.m. away from Silwani, situated in an interior forest village. The personnel of the project including the priest and the sisters were staying in an old village type building. He very much appreciated the willingness and readiness of the priests and sisters to live in such an interior area without the minimum facilities to work for the integral development of the tribals.
Mr. Kübel carried with him the images of his visit. When I visited him in Germany in 1997 after a gap of eleven years he asked me about some of the people of Pratapgarh whom he had met during his visit. His care and concern for the people was so intense that he wanted to know the changes that were happening in their lives even after a gap of eleven years.
