The first village they entered in tsunami-devastated Sri Lanka was Paramaliya.
There was Bruce French, a man seemingly born for the outdoors who had sailed around the world and lived in the snow capped mountains of Colorado. Then you had the Australian-born Alison Thompson of New York. A former teacher and Red Cross worker, Thompson came over unattached and a veteran of such disasters as the Bam, Iran earthquake and ground zero in New York.
Oscar Gubernati of New York was the mind of the entire operation and was constantly moving around at 400 miles per hour. I never found out what job he held back in New York but he wore a lot of fireman’s shirts. Finally, there was Donny Paterson, a retired Australian Army engineer with an infectious personality and work ethic.
The four of them came from diverse backgrounds and had a multitude of skills. What the four lacked in resources, they made up for in hard work and determination. In a matter of seven days the four single-handedly cleared the city’s main roads, repaired the Buddhist temple so the people could pray, immunized the survivor’s against a plethora of diseases and corralled resources from relief organizations operating in surrounding areas.
The morale of the town went from a state of total shock to one of unrelenting determination. Villagers began working on projects by themselves and within one week, the city was completely transformed. Children were beginning to smile and play cricket again while the adults were starting to make plans for the future. Thanks to Paterson, Paramaliya was one of the first towns that could start rebuilding because he had ventured to Colombo to talk directly to government officials about the 100-meter rule. This rule states that no new homes could be constructed within 100 meters of the coast. This was a huge step for the people of Paramaliya.
Despite being unaffiliated with any major relief organization, the four single-handedly made the biggest impact of any village I visited in Sri Lanka. The people of this village have a future now, and if the four had based their decisions to go on whether or not the Red Cross would send them over as workers, then the fate of this village would be decidedly different.
In a way, the tsunami served as a blessing of sorts for the people of Sri Lanka. With a large tract of the country’s coast in ruins, Sri Lanka will be forced to rebuild everything from scratch. The 100-meter rule will force the demolition of entire villages and the construction of new ones. With the construction of new towns, the government has already taken steps to speed up planning for the creation of a national highway system.
If everything goes to plan, the people of Sri Lanka can expect the standard of living to improve through new and improved housing. A new national highway system will not only benefit the ability of people to move around within Sri Lanka, it will serve as a huge boost to the economy by facilitating the movement of goods from city to city. All of this is dependent on whether or not the international community actually delivers on the promise of billions of dollars in aid.
What we have here is hope and opportunity amidst total devastation. While it’s great to see relief organizations hard at work in Sri Lanka and other tsunami-devastated countries, there is ample room for improvement. If you want to make an immediate and guaranteed impact, jump on a plane and go over there right now. However, that is easier said than done. If anything, contribute something, because donations to non-governmental organizations have a much better chance of making an impact than the promise of a government to pledge any number of dollars. And if relief work is not for you, visit the country as a tourist. It’s easily one of the most beautiful countries in the world and this is supposed to be peak tourist season for them.
Just contribute something.
Derek Montgomery ([email protected]) is a senior majoring in journalism and political science. He visited Sri Lanka in the beginning of January as a photographer and relief worker.
