Renovation of the Church Building Back

With the Platinum Jubilee of Derebail Church round the corner, our Parish Priest Fr. Peter D'Souza, got real serious about the state of our Church building. The forty year old structure was in a pretty bad shape and needed urgent repairs and renovation. The first and foremost task was that of replacing the asbestos sheets on the roof with Mangalore clay tiles. The task was a mammoth one. First of all the entire roofing sheets had to be dismantled and new steel structure had to be fabricated on the existing structure. With the help of skilled fabricators this was done. However, the real task lay ahead, that of laying the tiles on the roof structure. This was a tedious job with each tile to be passed from the ground level to the tile-layers on the roof. The roofing also included a ceiling tile, hence it doubled the work. 

The only way out here was voluntary service because at any given time, at least 20 - 25 volunteers were needed. The tile had to pass at minimum 7-8 hands before it reached the top and imagine passing about 30,000 tiles!!!. The ceiling tiles had to be painted, too, to give them a uniform texture. Due to demand and the season, the ceiling tiles were in short supply with the vendor, hence some had to be procured from as far as Belthangady. However, a new problem cropped up. The tiles from Belthangady did not match the structure, so they had to be literally shorn off at the sides with tile cutting machines. For a change, ordinary parishioners became expert cutters, shearers and what not!! The result, it produced a lot of dust which made some of them to look like real `kulkars'. What an honor to be a `Kar Sevak' of the Lord. 

Fr Peter and Fr Edwin too joined in the effort and the latter showed how skilled he was in manual labour! Young children to elders above 70 years, men and women, youth and grownups all joined in turns. Some were almost regular every day. The effort took 2-3 weeks. At times, when the work pressure was too much and urgent, some even skipped their home meal for a tasty meal of `Paez and Chutney' at the Church. Finally the work was done and we now have a cool and serene place to pray and worship the Lord. This was followed with the renovation of the floor with granite and the replacement of steel windows with large wooden windows and wide covered portico in the front and interlock pavers for the entire church yard. 

Fr Peter's efforts and the contributions of generous parishioners forever changed the look of Derebail Church.