I don’t even know how to begin to write this but I feel that this is important to share with you. For you to understand how important the Sahana Children’s Village is for the growth and nourishment of the children who have been affected by the war and the tsunami.
I was feeling a bit tired this morning it had been an emotionally charged week, long hours, hard work in the kitchen and hot sun. I decided to treat myself to an Ayurveda massage at the hotel. The last few minutes of the massage I was seated and Rita, a tiny SriLankan woman, was tenderly pulling my hair into a pony tail… something my mom would have done when I was a little girl. She asked me where I was from and why I was here. When I told her that I have been working in Akmeemana in the tsunami village she put her hands in prayer and lifted them to her heart. She touched my chest and said
so good tsunami village….
Her story unfolded...
I was there during tsunami. I was working in a hotel on the beach when tsunami came. Taking care of an elderly German man. I was serving him breakfast and then the wave came swirling around the room, again it happened everything washing away everything going out. The ocean taking everything. I don’t know what is happening.
She stands in the middle of the room and I am now taken on a journey back to that day December 26th 2004. She moves around the room as if she is reliving the entire event. Tears well up in her eyes and she grasps her hands to her heart.
Please God, please God help the people. Please God. The ocean is good but the people are very bad. Always drinking and throwing garbage into the water. Throwing everything into the water.
10 minutes and it all came and went away taking children, old, young, all valuables, all things from homes. People are crying, screaming pleading with God. Everyone running. Some can’t run some are too old. I look down from the third story of the hotel and see palm trees flat, some falling. Next door the building collapsed. Children are hanging from roofs, children hanging out of trees. The old German man is too old to run. I tell him he can come to my house. I live up in the mountain on the way to jungle beach. I help him to my home. Germans, Swedish, Australians running, hiding in the mountain. Oh oh they are hurt and crying so many people in the streets on the way to my house laying there dead or crying out. So much pain. In my house, such a small house I have 30 people all Europeans all crying. Some have no clothes I give them what I have. I give them bed sheets to lay on my floor. They are scared. I tell them God will take care of us.
She stops and again puts her warm hand to my chest and we both stand there with tears rolling down our faces.
I make them rice and curry. The day before was Christmas day and Poya day (Buddhist full moon holiday) everyone happy everyone dancing and smiling. Late into the night they are celebrating. Some go to bed at 6 in the morning. At 9am the tsunami. 10 minutes and everything is taken.
My daughter has a bad heart. She says she is fine mama but in the evening she needs the hospital. Somehow we make it to the hospital. Oh no so many lying in the halls. Big bellies swollen bellies. Sri Lankans and foreigners all there on the floor in the halls so many dead- thousands dead. So much water in their bellies.
Why God? I go to the water and pray. Why? Ocean so good gives us laughter for children, swimming, helps our gardens and feeds us. Beautiful flowers and gardens it gives. Gives life. People so bad we have been punished for not taking care of the ocean always throwing and not caring. After tsunami people helping other people. People tying up garbage nicely, people giving everything taking care of the ocean. Now people forgetting again throwing in the ocean. Please no more punishment people will not learn.
4 days after tsunami I go to my mother’s house. Oh such a bad smell. Big door laying on the ground. I lift it up and find my mother. Oh so bad so bad. She is there crushed by the tsunami. 4 days she has been there.
There are so many bodies more than 500 bodies thrown into a pit. There are so many they are treated like dead animals. Must get rid of the smell. Like animals they are thrown into the pit.
After tsunami so many Europeans come. All who love us. They give and give. They have lost much but they work hard and build houses, build hotels, clean the beach. We are so thankful. Thank you for helping. The government bad government takes the money and puts it in their pockets. But Europeans so good they give money all the money. But government keeps money and only 10 rupees here and there they keep 100 rupees for themselves and only give 10 rupees. What to do? We have lost everything.
I know so many children and families that are dead. So many. We don’t know till later that the whole of Sri Lanka there has been tsunami. But Unwatuna so bad so bad. Oh please God no more tsunami. You can take all, all the valuables all the things take it but no more tsunami.
Everyone wants to go up to the mountains far from the ocean. But the old German man can’t go too old and it’s too far. He tells me to go. I can’t leave him. He is old not young, young people are running. I stay with him. We pray that God will take care of us. God is good and will take care of us. We don’t know why this happened, punishment from the ocean maybe but God is good. So many innocent people so many.
She turns to me crying.
I don’t like to think about tsunami. 10 minutes and everything taken. People so scared. I still look at the ocean and pray.
She hugs me and I feel silly for being the one comforted now.
What to do. This is life. We must enjoy and take care of the ocean. The Europeans most are so good taking care of us asking for nothing. They love us.
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As I walk down to the beach I remember my own experiences in Sri Lanka after the tsunami. I had never seen such sadness and loss of hope. Seeing mothers weeping by the side of the beach holding a child's doll, highchairs hanging from the roofs of buildings, men sitting amongst the ruins of their homes staring out at the see with vacant eyes.
There is nothing sadder that looking into the eyes of someone who has lost all hope.
The land that stole my heart in October 2004, 2 months before it all happened, called me back in the months after the tragedy to somehow help. Seeing first hand the devastation that can happen in 10 minutes - the lives taken, homes and families torn apart. Nothing profound came from that except for a deep need to treasure life and the time that we do have with our loved ones.
This beautiful paradise with such generous and kind people has been through so much: 3 decades of war that stole children from their families to become soldiers, a tsunami that killed 30,000 and over 1,000,000 lost their homes and now this year floods came and took more homes and lives.
This is not the only story that I have heard in the past 6 years… it is only one of many. These are the stories that keep me going when work gets tough and funding falls short. Our Sahana Children’s Village is one thing that we can do to help heal the lives of children who have suffered in the wake of the tsunami and the war. These children deserve a place where they can feel safe where they can be children and play and learn and grow. You can imagine what might happen to a generation that has lived through such tragedy. There is a lot of healing that needs to take place. We cannot control the ocean but we can provide healing and nourishment for the lives of the future leaders of this country so that one day there will be a generation here that does not know the fear of war.
There are so many causes in this world that need attention. We all just need to keep doing what we can and enjoy all of our 10 minutes taking care of this earth, ocean, it's creatures and its people.
Thank you for reading and supporting us!
Eden
(please see post below for another update with photos of our progress this past week!)
