Joy in the children's faces: Tucker's Report for Jan 25th

January 25, 2005

Today was perhaps the most difficult day of the journey in many respects. Despite the challenges placed before us, however, the team pulled together under adverse circumstances and performed admirably under pressure with very few amenities at their disposal. We as the relief team of Serendib Sri Lanka learned many valuable lessons about how to effectively conduct our program, and we hope to incorporate these into our last trip to Matara and Hambantota on the 28th and 29th of January.

We departed from Batticaloa at 8:30 in the morning and reached Ampara just before noon, when we had the misfortune to choose a small back road leading to the ocean in order that we might survey the damage done by the tsunami. It turns out that the road was clogged with tractors and traffic hauling debris from the shoreline, and our bus soon became trapped in a four way jam with Caterpillars and lorries on all sides, and no way to reverse or turn into a side lane.

We descended from the bus and moved toward the beach in a group, accompanied by a friend of one of the teachers who was himself from the local area. The devastation was utter and complete, and like none that we had seen at any other location. Two story buildings had been reduced to rubble, and the proximity of houses to the water resulted in an almost uniform leveling of all structures within about ½ kilometer of the shoreline. The blue UNICEF tents along the road reminded us that there were indeed thousands of people who had survived but were in need of assistance.

The word unfortunately leaked out that we had come from Ratnapura as a team to distribute schoolbags, and soon we had many more uninvited guests than we could aptly handle, some sincere and others with disingenuous motivations to persuade us to donate what we had brought to their relatives and friends – some of whom were not affected by the tsunami. We decided to leave the area completely, then, and embark on a fact finding mission of our own. For the next two hours Jesu, Samantha, Jayawardhena and I toured the city by three wheeler, visiting some half dozen camps and several government offices before coming to a conclusion.

Unfortunately for us at that time the hour was well advanced, and we had to begin our program, conclude, and head back to Ratnapura that night. Many of the volunteer teachers in tow could not afford to miss another day, and indeed their participation in the upcoming Matara – Hambantota trip was contingent upon their returning to school on the morning of the 26th. Time pressing against us, then, we acted in unison and moved to abbreviate our program and work with the children for the later half of the afternoon. Their joy was apparent in the children’s faces, and it was apparent to all that no one had really taken the time to appreciate them or work with them building their confidence, creative capacities and uplifting their spirits – since the tsunami struck. It would seem, then, that the priorities of those in charge of the relief effort lay elsewhere.

We departed Ampara at approximately 6 p.m. in the evening and reached Ratnapura at 4:00 a.m. the next morning, exhausted both mentally and physically. After unpacking the boxes and supplies to take to the office headquarters, some headed to their homes in Ratnapura, while others continued on with the bus toward its final destination of Awissawella. All the teachers reported for duty at their schools the next morning at 8 am.

Tucker

[Webmaster's Note: The following photos relate to this report]