Dateline ACT

Sri Lanka 1205

In Sri Lanka many face difficulties after the tsunami, but not without some hope

By Jan-Åke Thorell, ACT International

Sri Lanka, November 25, 2005—As the months go by since the tsunami struck nearly a year ago on December 26, one of the biggest challenges still facing many of Sri Lanka's communities that survived the disaster is the lack of permanent housing.

For 175 families, living in Angulana camp south of Sri Lanka's capital Colombo, it is a difficult reality of their daily lives. The camp has been their home since June this year. 45 of the families are from the same village. Until recently, they had sought shelter in a temple school in Panadura, assisted by the Young Women's Christian Association (YWCA), a member of the National Christian Council of Churches of Sri Lanka (NCCSL).

Priyantha Peiris, his wife Suwarnalatha and their daughter Sadini, now three-and-a-half years old, survived the tsunami, but lost everything they had ever owned. Worse for Suwarnalatha was the fact that she lost the sight in one of her eyes when she was hurt when the water of the tsunami swept her way. A doctor tried in vain to save her eye. Her teeth were also damaged.

"I can’t read anymore," Suwarnalatha says, "but sometimes I use the spectacles of my mother-in-law."

"Somehow I feel sad for my life," adds the 31-year-old woman. But, she also says that she does not want to complain, even though life has been hard on her and the family.

"Life is a bit difficult, but we are alive," she says.

In the camp, Suwarnalatha and her family have been allocated one room of their own. It is less than ten square meters, with a "kitchen" tucked into one corner. A bed, two plastic chairs and a table are the only pieces of furniture the family have. Recently, electricity was installed in the camp and the family was able to buy a fan on an installment plan.

One of the biggest problems, however, is the build-up of heat during the day in the temporary houses, which makes it impossible to stay in during the day, and difficult to sleep at night. The tank for drinking water in the camp is also leaking, and five families share a toilet each. But conditions are clean and there has been no outbreak of disease in the camp.

Suwarnalatha is not sure how long they will have to stay in the camp, but expressed thanks to YWCA's response (through ACT ) for having stood by the family.

"We have been suffering a bit and now we really want to move somewhere else, so we can live our own life again," she says.

But the truth is that life will never be the same again. All their belongings are gone. Even their way of earning their livelihood has changed. Suwarnalatha’s husband was a fisherman, but now she will not let him go to sea again, as she is afraid of another tsunami. In the mean time, her husband buys fish in Colombo and then sells it in the villages. Suwarnalatha tries to earn a bit of money by buying and selling used clothes.

Theirs is, however, not a life entirely without hope.

"We are still down, but we are coming up step by step," Suwarnalatha says as she takes visitors on a tour of the camp. Before everyone says good-bye, she rushes to show the ACT delegation some of the so-called tsunami-babies—the children who were born at the time of the tsunami. Their first birthdays are coming up soon—their entire lives spent in a camp for displaced people.

Making hope possible

The YWCA has for several years worked in Panadura, south of Colombo, assisting impoverished and marginalized families—people who have been living along the beach in small homes known for their palm thatched roofs, struggling to survive and often not meeting their own basic daily needs.

When the tsunami struck and wiped out this small settlement, sweeping away all 117 homes with everything inside, the questions was what would happen to YWCA's ongoing work. The question was simple … the work continues, of course.

Many mothers and children have been part of the original nutrition program, which included training on how to make sure that children were being given nutritious meals, as one entry point into an overall program to reduce poverty.

"We called the project 'Hope for the Hopeless'", says Mrs. Tennekoon.

Now, YWCA has identified 48 pregnant women who will benefit from this program, as they will be given nutritious food to supplement their diet and facilitate breastfeeding. The families have also received mosquito nets and kitchen utensils to help them set up home again.

"They had no proper way of living and bad nutrition had put their health in danger", Mrs. Tennekoon says. "For pregnant mothers it is a disaster to only eat rice, therefore we have provided them with fresh vegetables too."

Many women in Anguluna camp have also been mobilized to get involved in micro enterprises, which operates on the principle of a revolving fund. The women are given loan of about $20-30 US to start a small business—not much, but enough to establish themselves in selling tea in the market place, running small shops, or buying and selling vegetables. And the women have been able to start paying back their loans.

"They pay their loans so well," Mrs. Tennekoon says, explaining that those who have paid off their loan are entitled to a second one to improve their businesses.

Under the ACT appeal, YWCA is also running a Fun Kids Drama Club, which involves 30 children between the ages of eight and 20 from this beach community. The group performs plays on social issues as nutrition development, family life, drug prevention, and child abuse.

Jan-Åke Thorell is on assignment in Sri Lanka for the Church Of Sweden, which is a member of ACT International.