An appeal from a former missionary to Sri Lanka
Having lived through ten years of war in Jaffna, while teaching at Jaffna College and Uduvil Girls College for the UCBWM, now Global Ministries, I thought I had seen the worst. Indeed, the destruction wrought by the government upon the Tamil people of the north was heart-rending. The tsunami left me emotionally paralyzed, the scope of it being so huge. I kept asking myself what I could do. I have sent money, more than I have ever sent for any previous disaster, manmade or natural.
Having lived through ten years of war in Jaffna, while teaching at Jaffna College and Uduvil Girls College for the UCBWM, now Global Ministries, I thought I had seen the worst. Indeed, the destruction wrought by the government upon the Tamil people of the north was heart-rending. The tsunami left me emotionally paralyzed, the scope of it being so huge. I kept asking myself what I could do. I have sent money, more than I have ever sent for any previous disaster, manmade or natural.But I began to wake up emotionally when I saw pictures of medical personnel comforting children in Indonesia. And thought how much comforting they will need! I was transported back to the night about ten years ago, when I was providing prayers and entertainment for the boys’ home in Vaddukoddai, home of Jaffna College. It was a dark and rainy night and one of the elder boys, a fine leader, athlete, and chorister, contracted severe stomach cramps. At this time we had no gasoline in the North and the only transportation we had was a motorcycle fueled by kerosene. The boy was rushed to our Manipay Hospital, on the back of a motorcycle, in the pouring rain. When they found they could do nothing for him there, they sent them on again to the Civil Hospital in Jaffna. There he collapsed and never recovered—a weakened heart coupled with his own neglect of the prescribed medicine.
When the news reached us in Vaddukoddai, we were devastated—crying together like a bunch of spiders in a black hole. I have never felt so sorrowful as I did that day, until now. Yet two e-mail communications give me hope and a measure of pride in my former colleagues and friends. From Batticaloa, perhaps the worst hit city on the east coast of Sri Lanka, I received word from Pastor Jeyanesan at the St.John’s CSI Church, where the Diocese also has a boys home and a girls home. Not harmed themselves, they have started to work in the area and are grateful they have so many willing hands on the spot. Only after 17 hours were they able to reach one isolated village nearby. One of the young pastors, Selvanthan, lost both wife and child when the tidal wave swept them away.
And from Bishop Jebanesan (of the Jaffna Diocese of the Church of South India) I have a shorter letter. “In some villages all the children under the age of 12 have been swallowed up by the sea,” he writes. “I would urge the women’s fellowships to organize a counseling ministry for the victims.” Toilet facilities are a crying need—at the Vidyalam Camp there is ONE toilet for 1000 refugees, male and female. New clothes, clean water, proteins, are among the other highlighted needs.
I appeal to the UCC congregations throughout the Pacific Northwest to be more generous than they have ever been before. Send messages of love and hope as well.
Robert Porter, Seattle