Hello to family, friends and Villagers and what is becomingthe Fellowship of the Ring; I mean Kallar.
40 something days since tsunami and an opportunity to sitand type a little of what I've been involved with.This letter serves a dual purpose. One is to let you knowwhat has been going on with me and second to update thosewho have been part of this grand orchestra of all that hasbeen taking place.
For the last month I have been living in a little villagecalled Periya Kallar. It has a population of about 8 000people. The Tsunami was fairly hard hitting here. 527houses were completely destroyed and were partlydestroyed. 3 schools, some of the churches and temples aswell as the hospital were damaged and some destroyed.
Another tragedy that this place suffered was to be avillage between washed-away bridges on either side of it -thus creating an island situation where no immediate aidwas reaching. Another part of its tragic destiny wasto be in the east where historically it is discriminatedagainst compared to the south. Also, it is a little villagebetween 2 bigger towns where most NGOs are locatedand where they can get their recognition, power and money;no one would notice if attention was paid and moneypoured into this little place. Also, going against it wasthat it got allocated into another district whereNGOs were working to the town 4 km south of it. Whenthe bridge was repaired, it got pushed back into itsregular district but is at the bottom of the food chain asit is furthest from the main town. However, things havetaken a twist no matter how slow and things are happening.
I really don't know how to describe what this placelooked like when we first arrived I think you would haveall seen enough on the TV.
It's really been quite an extraordinary experience;one that can only but change your life. It's kind ofa strange mix of this is a terrible tragedy versus theexcitement and thrill to see how things are just kind ofhappening and how the right people seem to land on thedoorstep of this wee village that does not even feature ona map.
When I arrived there was a French team here who spear-headed the laborious cleaning up work. (AUI team - you guys are rock stars!). It was decided to first cleanout the common places and so the hospital was number one onthe list. the building was ok but the inside of thehospital is indescribable. Like it went through a massivewashing machine; mud, debris, medicine and equipmentin every nook and cranny. Really nothing in the hospitalwas retrievable.
Today 40 something days later, the hospital is openagain. The outpatients is working and a 3rd medical teamis here in the process of opening the inpatients andmaternity section to function 24/7. Here you needto meet Britta who worked wonders in getting the first bitsof that hospital up and running.
Let me back up a little. The AUI team were first on thescene and did a fantastic job co-ordinating with thecommunity leaders as to the work that needed to be done.After they left I kind of landed that job. This is whereSteve from Dubai comes in. Steve you continue to be alegend in this place. After he arrived here he initiateddreaming of the what could best in how to organisesome of the operations that need to take place in thisvillage making the work and co-ordination with thecommunity and the NGOs more effective and efficient.Steve, its all kind of happening.
Here I must make mention of British Navy from the HMSChatham and especially Alison, from the ship, who madefirst contact with us and got the ball rolling. They weregreat giving us a huge boost on completing the hospitalwhen the morale was low and making a significant impact ongetting the bigger of the 3 schools cleaned out. Some ofthem also helped out with some kids activity. For thecommunity (and volunteers) it was a real booster and sourceof excitement. Watching the helicopter doing multiple tripsin and out of the community, having a pretty importantbunch of people helping out a community that has reallyfallen between the cracks with both government and NGOsupport. Have to mention the cricket match that the SriLankan youth were delighted to beat the royal navy in!Rick, Steve and the HMS Chatham will also go down in therecorded history of contributing to this thing that is growing here. Guys thanks for the lessons on crisis management. The village leaders are still meeting together and little sub groups working on various things are up and walking. I mean walking because things will probably never run in a wee place like this. To the captain thanks for looking out for the forgotten people!
A memory that will probably never fade is that of these bigburly tough Navy guys sleeping here at the YMCA under babyblue and pink mosquito nets. You guys were all fantastic!Your legend lives on. (PS. Steve, I blame you, Lennyhas now been adopted as house mascot and gets treated asking). For those of you who don't know - Lenny is arandom dog off the street who happens to have a cute facewhich melted the hearts of the tough burly Royal Navyfellas.
To all who contributed to date we have a group whoare working on water and sanitation. Cleaning wells(although we are still short on pumps) and doing waterdistribution. This is where another legend hits the scenea good old South African uncle John.Out of no where I get a phone call saying do you need awater purifier. I said yes. A few days later he rocks up,having travelled from Colombo to here by helicopter, withthis contraption that can purify enough water for the wholevillage! Uncle John you rock. We can only sigh warmly whenwe think of you. Karl the Oz and the local youth have beendoing a superb job of managing all of that! Karl also goesdown in history as the I'm not sure what. Just that he lead the way in the what almost became a traditionof night ocean swims.
I have to make mention of what was going on when Uncle Johnwas here. It was the week when the stomach bug (causingchaos on both ends of the human anatomy) exploded out, notin the refugee camps, but amongst the volunteers. There wasgreat mayhem as one at a time we were all hit with runningto and fro from the potty. We survived and thanks to Brittawe have a fairly organised and sanitized living conditionsfor life in the village that is.
Then there are the shelters that forever, yes forever, wehave been trying to organise. Alliance Development Trustare going to start building temporary shelters, on Thursday,on the common grounds, for all those who lost their homesand are living within 200 metres of the ocean. MSF, haveput up tents on people's own land for those who losttheir homes and are living outside the 200m line. This isMorgan has now landed as village planner and is helping getthese shelters to be built and who is designing the layoutof these 3 allocated camps. A fabulous job she is doing.
The other major work is with the children. Joy, anotherfellow South African has been co-ordinating some of thework and activities. In doing so she has given greatleadership to the local youth. They have been getting sometraining in children's work. Now they are almostfully involved in the community work. Great, great stuff.In doing her work, she allowed the young girls to do a makeover and now she is walking around with one hand of brightpurple nail polish!
For those who were here at the start, you will remember howdifficult is was to get the youth and local participationfor the immediate relief efforts. I have to tell you thatevery person coming through has added to a magic potionwhere the youth are participating and leading, where wewalk down the road and people are busy in their homescleaning and fixing. When one walks past all the kidsrunning out and getting invited to visit. Just generallythe vibe in this place is great. It's quite humblingto see and be with a people who have suffered so much andwho have lost everything being so welcoming and happy. Thedifference between then and now is extremely tangible.
There are many others things taking place but I'm notgoing to go into detail. I do want to make mention of someother Village People Heroes. First the Negombo youth clubboys. (Negombo is the town I am living in and is on thewest coast of Sri Lanka). These boys came for 1 week andended up staying for 2. although it was a mighty mission toget them going in the morning and after lunch, whenthese guys started they were machines.
The other machines were Josh and Shanti; they slaved. During their time managed all the rubble clean upthat had to be done. One of the things they got done was toremove a fallen roof, with no machines, that even the navyguys said was not possible without heavy machinery. Theyjust kept going. Even though we weren't able to getour hands onto the needed machinery they were themachinery. To the both of you, enjoy the presidentialaddress and ticker tape reception. Steve from Dubai - they took you seriously ;-)
In a community there always has to be the romantic bit. Renaud the Frenchman, living up to the French reputation,you take the cake. Lenny misses you already…).
Then there was the British team of all sorts that came outhere. They did a 4 day training with the local people intrauma councelling. Your help with the shelters and thekids and the general support and encouragement marks your bitto this grand opera that is being orchestrated. With this team came one of my most completely, I don'tknow what, and random moments. A fella I was at schoolwith, with whom I have had zero contact since, rocks upwith the team in this random village, that hardly any oneknows on the wee island of Sri Lanka; small, smallworld.
Why mention all these people? For me, this will be probablyone of my top most life-changing experiences. Everyone,including myself, who came here, came with a little fear ofwhat they might find. For me, what I saw was worse;again that is not really the right word but I don'tknow what is - than what I could have ever imagined.Despair and hopelessness hardly begins to describe and Ican't begin to describe. Perhaps what it is, is thatthe eyes are seeing are no longer / or can no longer beconnected to the heart. To have the connection wouldactually be too much. The Tsunami came and it destroyed;giving place for destruction in all human dimensions to take place. As all these people have come and infiltrated, bringing with them love and concern, we are seeing a community once again becoming a community. Signs of life are becoming hives of activity. One example is with the ocean and the fear of the ocean that exists. At the beginning when we began going to the beach it was completely deserted from what I remember before tsunami as being fairly busy. As the volunteers have been going more and more to the beach we have seen more and more of thelocal people joining with us; either coming to watchthese freaks swimming in the water or even joining in withus. I have to believe that it is doing the world of good inbringing some kind of normality back into the lives of thepeople.
My prayer for this community is that what was a tsunami ofdisaster becomes a tsunami of blessing. Thanks to everyperson, whether they have been here in person, or not, whoare living this out and bringing hope out of hopelessnessand turning a disaster into a blessing.
What a privilege to be part of the people and all that ishappening here in the metropolis of Periya Kallar.
To future of Kallar…
|
|
Presbyterian Church's Response
And He calls us to roll up our sleeves...
Cathy's Previous Letter
RELATED INTERNET LINKS:
Tearfund
DEC Fund
Save The Childen
FirstChurch.co.uk are not responsible for the content of external internet sites |
