A Passage to India
It was an unusual homecoming. Brother James Kimpton landed in Madurai in 1964 after 12 years of work in the slums of Sri Lanka. “Th e minute I got there I knew I’d come home,” Brother James Kimpton is reported to have said of his Indian landing.
The founder of Reaching the Unreached (RTU), a not for profit organisation based in G. Kallupatti in the foothills of the Western Ghats in Tamil Nadu, Brother James Kimpton recently completed fi fty years of working with the poorest and most marginalised in Asia. Beginning as a modest medical clinic, RTU today provides comprehensive programmes centred on sustainable rural development.
Over the years, Reaching the Unreached has made all the diff erence to the lives of thousands of people in and around G. Kallupatti. A multi-skilled person, Brother James is an architect, artist, economist, medical worker and administrator all rolled in one. Despite his iconic status in the community, Brother James seems unaff ected by it all. For Brother James, religion is refl ected not in the work he does, but as the work he does. “To me every child I serve is Jesus,” says Brother Kimpton simply.
I recall attending a meeting where Brother James Kimpton was one of the speakers. I was struck by his childlike simplicity and infectious humour. Truly he seemed a child of joy and wonder. Th e British national has applied three times for Indian citizenship, reportedly his “dearest wish.” Yet his application has been rejected. “I’m an Indian by choice, a Tamilian by preference, but a Kallupattikaran (a person who belongs to Kallupatti) at heart,” declares Brother Kimpton of his bonding with his adopted country. Th e absence of bitterness both touches and heals.
