[sustran] Post-Tsunami help to Samaritan Children's Home in Sri Lanka

EcoPlan, Paris eric.britton at ecoplan.org
Tue Jan 11 01:46:56 JST 2005


Monday, January 10, 2005, Paris, France, Europe

 

Dear Sustran Friends,

 

I would be most grateful if you could help us do a quick "Due Diligence" of
the following organization with whom we have entered into contact, with the
idea of seeing what might be done to offer them some kind of support in the
post-Tsunami rebuilding efforts.  It is of course very difficult for us to
be sure of their complete bona fide since we do not have any colleagues
directly in place or experienced in working with them.  My hope is that one
or more of you may be able to help us carry out even a rapid check, before
we begin to put a lot of time, effort and eventually money into this.

 

Background:  I attach below some extracts from a newspaper article covering
the story.  There is a website for the Samaritan Children's Home at
http://samaritanchildrenshome.org <http://samaritanchildrenshome.org/> , and
here is what they have to say about themselves and their terrible plight: 

 

The Samaritan Children's Home was founded in 1994 by Dayalan Sanders in
Navalady, a small village on Sri Lanka's eastern peninsula. The orphanage
was built through money from the sale of his Maryland home and donations he
has managed to collect over the years.

 

With no insurance to rebuild the orphanage and a need greater than ever
before, the family of Dayalan is trying to raise $400,000 needed to meet
immediate needs, such as interim accommodations for the orphanage and the
purchase of a 4 wheel drive vehicle for transportation; as well to rebuild
and re-equip the orphanage and the children. 

 

Samaritan Children's Home was not only providing a home for the orphaned
children, but was also involved in community development projects for the
impoverished community in Navalady where the children's home is located. As
a result of the current devastation, the needs of the community will be even
more, and more children will need shelter at the orphanage.

 

We have taken first contact with them and at this end have initiated some
first discussions of possible direct assistance measures, but it would be
wonderful if you could work your networks to help us be sure that this
information is accurate.  For my part, I am ready to move ahead, but given
that there are many others who may be involved I feel it is only prudent to
carry out some kind of check.

 

Kind thanks dear friends if you can help in this.  Also, should you be
interested in following developments from this end, please let me know and I
will try to keep you efficiently informed.  Who knows? You may as well have
some good ideas for us in this. 

 

------------------------------

 

Extracts from article dated Wednesday, December 29, 2004. By John Lancaster
/ The Washington Post

 

With little warning, director saves 28 orphans from tsunami

 

Navalady, Sri Lanka -  On Sunday morning the 26th, two hundred yards away
from the beach in the Samaritan Children's Home in Navalady, a small fishing
village that occupies a narrow peninsula on Sri Lanka's economically
depressed east coast, most of the 28 children were still in their rooms,
getting ready for services. 

The orphanage director and found, Dayalan Sanders heard the pounding of feet
in the corridor outside his room, and his wife burst through the door, a
frantic look on her face. "The sea is coming!" she said. "Come! Come! Look
at the sea!"  There on the horizon was a "30-foot wall of water," racing
toward the wispy casuarina pines that marked the landward side of the beach.

With barely any time to think, let alone act, he ran toward the lagoon,
where the orphanage's boat chafed at a pier. By then, many of the children
had come run outside, some of them half-dressed. Sanders shouted as loud as
he could, urging them all toward the boat. 

Thanks to quick thinking, blind luck and an outboard motor that somehow
started on the first pull, the orphans and their caretakers joined the ranks
of countless survivors of the epic disaster that so far has claimed tens of
thousands of lives in Sri Lanka and 10 other countries. 

Desperate, he asked if anyone had seen his daughter, and a moment later one
of the older girls thrust the toddler into his arms. Sanders heaved her into
the boat, along with the other small children, as the older ones, joined by
his wife and the orphanage staff, clambered aboard. 

One of his employees yanked on the starter cord, and the engine sputtered
instantly to life -- something that Sanders swears never happened before.
"Usually, you have to pull it four or five times," he said. 

Crammed with more than 30 people, the dangerously overloaded launch roared
into the lagoon at almost precisely the same moment that the wall of water
overwhelmed the orphanage, swamping its one-story buildings to the rafters. 

As the compound receded behind the boat, Sanders said, he watched in
amazement as the surging current smashed a garage and ejected a brand-new
Toyota pickup. "The roof came flying off -- it just splintered in every
direction," he recalled. "I saw the Toyota just pop out of the garage." 

The orphans' ordeal did not end when their boat pulled away from the shore.
Not only was water cascading over the lagoon side of the peninsula, but it
also was pouring in directly from the mouth of the estuary about 2 miles
away. Sanders feared the converging currents would swamp the small craft. 

As it made for the mouth of the lagoon, the boat was broadsided and nearly
capsized by the torrent pouring over the peninsula. "The children were very
frightened," Kohila Sanders recalled. "We were praying, 'God help us, God
help us.' " 

Eventually, the boat made it to the opposite shore, to the city of
Batticaloa about a mile and a half distant. The Sanderses, their daughter
and about a dozen of the orphaned and now displaced children have found
temporary refuge in a tiny church; the rest have been sent elsewhere. 

The scene at the orphanage was one of utter devastation. The grounds were
covered by up to three feet of sand. Several buildings, including the staff
quarters, were entirely gone, and the others were damaged beyond repair. 

Surveying the wreckage, Sanders broke down and cried. But at other moments,
he was philosophical about his loss. "If there was anyone who should have
got swept away by this tidal wave, it should have been us," he said. "We
were eyeball to eyeball with the wave." 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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