Earthquake Relief Pakistan-2005
THE REFUGEE CAMP
ORGANIZED BY KHIDMAT FOUNDATION
NESCOM HOSPITAL- 1/4 MILE FROM THE CAMP
SADLY -UNALLOWED FOR THE REFUGEES
Thanks to all the donations!!
Supplies for the refugees
SriLanka Tsunami Reconstruction Project - Day 1
Woke up today...completely refreshed and unbeleivably un-Jet lagged...I guess the trip yesterday from Colombo to Galle had tired me so much that my body was able to rest and sleep completely. Its definitely making it easier to adjust to the time difference...Am totally amazed at the guest house...can appreciate it a lot more in daylight and it is way more than what I expected...
Infront of the Guest House-Distracted by the monkeys in the trees
Sarah, myself, Warren, Nicci and Immy-Left to Right
Infront of the guest house with our private TUK TUK :-)Met with the Global Crossroad reps this morning...They briefed our team and took us on a site tour around the Galle area to show us the affected areas from the Tsunami...Sadly, you don't have to look too hard as damage from the water was everywhere... As we were walking around, we saw water line marks on tops of many houses...The locals told us that the water depth rose to 40 feet, basically submurging all buildings upto 2 -3 km inland and subsided to 10 feet within half an hour...This was evident from the boats that were strewn about inland from the coast......
Ships that ran aground because of the wavesWalking about we met a lot of families that were just coping with life as best as possible...Some of us were overcome with emotion as we walked around the maze of tents and holes and shacks... I was humbled as all I saw was destruction but the human spirit of these people seemed to rise above it all. Amongst all the pain and suffering that was evident, it was amazing to see how these people were trying to cope with the new set of rules that nature had setup. The cards were reshuffled but the social and psycological structure of the communities had already evolved to this new reality of life..Kids were running around barely clothed, some young adults were sitting in their now de-walled verandah and house, playing Carem board. A testament to the fact that despite all the mayhem, life goes on... A somber feeling came over me and I decided to not directly interact with the locals...This was not due to any feeling of disgust or apprehension as some may have perceived but rather from a lack of emotional capacity to comprehend these people's suffering and more due to respect for them...If felt it was in appropriate to mingle without knowing the so many painful stories that each of them held in their hearts..I simply felt inadequate...In addition, I did not want to raise anybody's hope for my task here was to do as much as I can and I did not want to disappoint anyone..
The reality of life for the locals
Litter and destruction from the aftermath of the TsunamiOn the way back we stopped at the Galle Fort which lies near the Ocean..A throwback to the Danish rule over the Island, the black walls stood high as if in defiance to the Ocean...Indeed, the Tsunami waves had thrashed around the Fort walls and had gone around into the main area of Galle....The faint line on the top of the Fort walls was a reminder of how high the water had come and how close it was to nearly destroying and submerging the Fort as well... While driving back to the guest house, I reflected on what this all meant and how I would face the coming 2 weeks of hard labor...
SriLanka Tsunami Reconstruction Project - Arrival & Trip to Galle
Well arrival at Colombo airport was uneventful but refreshing...The walk out of the airplane on the open tarmac in third world countries with its fresh air filled with fumes of fuel may offend some, but I say the feeling is something to be cherished. Warm wind is rather refreshing after breathing the same air for
12 hours in the plane cabin.
Clearing immigration was easy but my backpack didn't show until an hour later... For a second I felt rather elevated when the immigrations officer didn't even ask for the VISA..Ahh!!! The SAARC countries don't need one!!!...For the first time ever, I benefited from traveling on my Pakistani Passport to a foreign country....After sweating bullets from the heat and waiting for my bag...customs was a breeze and to my surprise, our pickup (THE GREAT RAVI) was waiting with a sign at the entrance... Having prepared myself for even the possibility of a long trek by foot or bicycle, I was pleased to see a motorized means of transport...and Thank God too, cause as it turned out, the trip to Galle area took us almost
9 hours...
Warren, Ajay, Luc and myself at Colombo airport-from right to leftBut this was a trip to be remebered...As our bodies slowly got accustomed to the sweltering heat of
87 F and
90% humidity, we realized that flying into Colombo would be a lot easier than getting out of it. With rush hour quickly approaching, and as we drover deeper into the city, the traffic changed from chaotic to manic to absolute mayhem...There was no rhyme or reason to how Ravi manouvered the van while avoiding bicycles, Tuk Tuks, pedestrians, cars and other moving items including animals ... However, it seemed to just ebb and flow on a consistent basis..A brief jam would be quickly dislodged with the symphony of several dozen horns blaring... On our way we made numerous stops to pick up other volunteers that later became the backbone of our team with a bond that I trust will remain strong for our lives...
This included in order of how we picked them up and also sort of the order in how welcoming we were of these later arrivals in our van :-). The trip was getting longer by the minute as was evident on everybody's faces due to the agony we were feeling from the heat at the behest of the late hotel pickups.
Nicci & SaraInka & LisaImmogenand Ajay, Warren and myselft made up the jolly bunch in our van. For hours we drove around picking other people from different hotels in the other Van...and finally around
7 p.m., 7 hours after our initial arrival at Colombo, it seemed as if we were driving out of the city...
During this trip we all shared stories of where we had been, why we came, what we did etc... At one point, the hunger and heat turned us so silly that we would laugh at anything...We started sharing growing up injury stories and just plain silly stuff...Realizing we were starting to make no sense Ravi stopped a little outside of Galle to allow us to get some food...Everybody afraid of strange bodily reactions, sufficed with water while some of us dared to eat some bread...
After dropping most of the people at the first hotel (Tiny House) , Immy, Warren, Sara, Nicci and myself ended up at the Janaka guest house around midnight... Having woken the caretaker and owner, we were quickly hustled into rooms which we later found out to be servant quarters...Well that's what you get when arrive at an inopportune time...However, neither of us complained as we all crashed like we hadn't slept in a week...
THE REFUGEE CAMP
