Not Knox

Updating this Web Log

I am sorry about the lack of posts for more than a month. My normal life consumed me since I have been back and I have not had the time to post. Sam and I have more stories to post before we can wrap our work up.

It is hard to give up the work we started. We both want to keep going and going till we can say we are done.

It is hard to keep reading on about the lack of progress of the Sri-Lankan government, the political squabbling, the waste of resources so generously given, after having been there.

Leaving Sri-Lanka

We are leaving Sri-Lanka in a few hours. I will post when I get to Oakland. It is hard to leave and it will be hard to forget those who are living in temporary shelters as I write this.

Helping Azeez

Disasters seem to dodge Sha Azeez (51) every decade. In 1978 his home was destroyed because of a cyclone. In the 1980s his property was confiscated by the Tamil Tiger terrorists. After living in a camp he rebuilt with the 2,500 rupees re-location costs given to him by the government.

Azeez gave us a picture of his home today in Kathankandi, Batticaloa. He used to live here with his wife M. A. Rajeena (48) and this four grown children - three daughters and one son.

The waves destroyed his home and the three small houses he had built as dowries for his three daughters.

Now Azeez lives in a camp in Pollanuwa with his family. He receives  275 rupees (approx. $3) a week for dry rations. An additional sum of 5,000 rupees (about $51) has been promised but they have they have not received this yet.

My comprehension of tamil is deplorable but from what I was able to piece together with my mother acting as my interpreter, the living conditions in the camp were hard especially because of the heat during the day. Sri Lanka is currently heading towards drought conditions.

We met Azeez when he visited our neighbours. Azeez earns a living by teaching in a neighbourhood mosque.

Rajeena is traumatized by the ocean. Azeez told us that a friend had offered some land inland in Polgahawela to build a small home. Azeez said that he would be fine living in the foothills and that the area had a thriving muslim community so he could continue to teach.

We were able to give him 98,000 Sri-Lankan rupees to help towards his house.

Two more days in Sri-Lanka

I have been ignoring our fast approaching departure date. But inevitably it is here. It is hard to imagine going back to Oakland and living my usual life.

The saddest part is to wind down our to-do list. If we can stay on (and on) our list would end only when all the re-building is done.

Updated to-do list:

-Meet the parish priest in Palliyawatte along with Arjuna Hurugalle who is re-building 10 houses in a community based program.

-Shop for a few remaining items for Cynthia's and Indika's homes (chairs, tables, bed linen etc).

-Inspect Bertila's home which is getting a new roof as I write this.

-Write a few more checks for folk we seem to meet almost daily.

-Close the tsunami account we opened.

Moving in

Yesterday Thisiling and Anthony moved into their new home in Weliamuna. Their excitement and joy was palpable and infectious. Thisiling moved around the house with confidence and ease busily getting ready for the ceremony. She was so happy to be in her new home.

First the new clay pot of milk had to be boiled till the pot overflowed.

The milk overflowed the pot into the makeshift hearth.

The monk blessed the house and everyone present with 'seth pirith'.

Thisiling and Anthony pray with the buddhist monk. The monk never sat down on the white sheet draped chair placed for him.

Later we ate traditional sweets and milk rice with everyone present and left reluctantly promising to return when we come back to Sri-Lanka again.

This is their new home. We wished them a long, healthy and peaceful life here.

Before we left Thisiling and Anthony placed their hands on our heads and blessed everyone who had contributed to their new home. The blessings extended not only to all of our present lives but also to the lives of our future generations. They said that the 'pin' (kindness) extended to them will reverberate throughout the universe and make our lives better.

Winding down?

Yesterday Sam and I ran around many mini errands. Our to-do list looked something like this-

-shop for two small kitchens for Cynthia and Thisiling  (items to include: kerosene oil cooker, coconut scraper, bucket, knives, scrubber, kettle, plates, spoons, cups, cooking spoons)

- drop these items off at their homes

-drop off three steel cupboards for Indika, Thisiling and Cynthia (this was to be delivered to them)

-purchase building materials and supervise the re-construction of Bertila' s home

We did most of this errands via a three-wheeled scooter taxi that careened madly about our little town. The driver was very enthusiastic about our work, and even climbed into Thisiling's home (they were not in and the windows were open) to place the kitchen supplies in.

We also stopped by the St. Mary's Nayakakanda parish church to see if they had any tsunami related projects. We found Father Gregory in full preparation for Ash Wednesday.

He wanted 100 school bags and 60 drawing instrument boxes for the Peraliya Sri Jinaratne Maha Vidyalaya. (Peraliya was the location of the train accident and was especially hard hit.) The cost for this was $280. The church had already donated 350 school bags for the children. Father Gregory was very happy with this gift because it meant that the church was able to help this school completely.

Waiting for their new home

I dropped by Weliamuna to see the progress of Thisiling and Anthony's new home.

The structure was up and painted white. Volunteers were working on the tin roof. 

Thisiling and Anthony come here every morning and stay there until sun down. I watched them help out by filling out pans of sand for mixing the cement or by bringing a few bricks at a time. Thisiling wears white because she is a 'sil amma' - a buddhist who meditates and helps out at the temple.

A chance meeting

Sam and I travel to Payagala in a hired van. The last time we went there the driver- Bandara was reluctant to even charge us our fare because of the work we were doing.

The second time we went to Payagala Sanjay Gunaratne was our driver.

While chatting to him we found out that Sanjay is from Galle. Reluctantly he told us his family's story. Sanjay had not been home on December 26th, but his two aunts and parents had got caught in the flood. His parents had fled to the last room in the house and as the flood waters almost reached the ceiling his father had managed to grab his mother and make her cling to the ceiling beams. He had also had to 'fish' for her a couple of times when she could not hold on anymore. They both survived. One of his aunts perished when a wall collapsed on her.

Sanjay explained that it was hard for him to ask for any help because he seemed so much better off than his neighbours. When we told him that we understood his dilemma. We then asked if he needed anything he could not come up with a 'list' and seemed reluctant to do so anyway.

In the past few weeks we have realized that the tsunami victims we met are not used to handouts and that it is extremely difficult for them to accept them.

Sanjay's family lives off of his mother's pension as a school teacher. Since we felt that he and his family were caught in the middle-class category where they probably would receive no help at all we ended helping him out.

He promised to send us pictures of his re-built home.

Shiromi's Neighbours

Janet Rani Perera (47) lives with her 24-year old son Jeevaka Nirosh Roshan next to Shiromi in Kudapayagala. Nirosh works in a Free-Trade Zone garment factory. They live just outside the 100-m zone. Rani holds the check we gave her. Nirosh holds his nephew.

Rani's sister K. T. Mary Jacintha Silva (44) lives on the other side of Shiromi's house. She is widowed and has two sons Janaka Nonis (23) and Dilupa Nonis (19). Janaka works in a paint company in a suburb of Colombo while Dilupa lives with her.

The last time we were here (January 22) Dilupa was working diligently on a temporary structure to live in.

This is where they live now.

Hopefully the $1,000 we gave them will allow them to re-build at least a portion of their house.

How we chose to help in Payagala

You must be wondering with the flurry of posts how we chose the people to help.

Meeting Roshan was godsend. When we went to see him a couple of weeks ago we found ourselves in the middle of his ravaged neighbourhood.

After speaking to Roshan for a bit we pried information about his sister and brother who both lost either their entire house or portions of it. When we visited them we were able to speak to some of their curious neighbours and also to people who we could see were salvaging what was left of their homes. This was the method in which we judged if the folks we were helping actually lived there.

When we went back on February 2nd we walked in unannounced. And again we went up to a few of the same people we had met before and after speaking to them about their situation we gave them the money.  The average amount to get started seemed to be about $1,000.

We filled out the forms we made with their details, asked for their photographs and got signed receipts for the money we gave. It was hard to ignore the tens of houses we passed along the way. But we have limited funds and time and there is no other easier way.

What we are certain of is that the way we have helped provides the best impetus to re-build their lives - a chance to get a house back.

Roshan and his brother accompanied us as we went around. Roshan has promised to be our contact person if any question or problems arise.

Sam is looking forward to visiting the people we helped if she gets to Sri-Lanka next year.

I am hoping that I could possibly get a temporary assignment to help re-build/re-engineer a portion of the coastal highway. Then I could be back here again.