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Profile in Courage: CARE worker saves 10 people from raging cyclone

Bhubaneshwar, India - On October 29, as the second of two cyclones to hit Orissa's coast raged and waves lashed the shores, Birakishore Gochhayat repeatedly braved the swirling waters that had taken over his hometown and saved 10 lives.

The 5-foot tall Gochhayat works for the relief and development organization CARE. His own hut was devastated by the cyclones, making him homeless along with millions of others. He says of his heroic deeds last Friday, "I do not know why I did it, or what made me do it. I cannot swim, but at that time something just egged me on. I felt that nothing would happen to me. I just did it."

Gochhayat describes the night that the sea rose to consume much of the port city of Bhubaneshwar. "The ground floor of almost every house was under a few feet of water. As I left the CARE building, which is close to the shore, to go to the Central Industrial Security Force guest house, I noticed two young boys clinging to a traffic pole, screaming in fear. I took them in."

As Gochhayat turned back to his hut to try and retrieve his things, he saw another couple stuck in a hut that was about to be swept away. He rushed back against the current to save them. He then noticed two tiny children with their mother floating away in water that was at least 5 feet deep. He saved them too, struggling to keep his balance against the force of the current.

"I was not scared. I felt I had been possessed by something. My only interest at that point was to get the people out," he says. CARE India's Country Director Tom Alcedo has announced an award of 10,000 Indian Rupees, or about $230, for Gochhayat's extraordinary heroism. The per capita income in the state of Orissa is about $91 per year.

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