Slam members recount their experiences in tsunami-hit Sri Lanka |05 March 2005

They have been sending regular updates of their activities by telephone or email.
Following are excerpts of what they have been saying:
Jules Hoareau and I, Rose-Anne Founier, walked for more than two hour recently on a return trip to Navalady, the worst affected village in the region.

There were about 2,000 people living there and more than 1,500 have been killed.
The area is like a desert - the worst we've seen yet. 

 We were fortunate to meet a man who is in marketing and sales with Pepsi Cola who was visiting the remnants of his house and speaks perfect English.

We interviewed him and his story is one of such joy because he managed to save his wife, 18-month-old son and his four sisters in law.

He lives close to the lagoon but about 350 metres from the ocean.  When he heard all the screaming, he raced out of his house and saw a 25 foot wave, not a surge but an actual wave, heading towards them.

He shouted to everyone in the house to run out the back and out the gate to the neighbour's house where he jumped onto a stone gazebo in front of the front door and onto the house, pulling his entire family to safety.

When we saw the height of the gazebo, we asked how he made it up there and he said he has no idea.
Since then, he has tried to do it again but cannot repeat the manoeuvre.

I told him I think God gave him a push up and he laughed in agreement.
He shared so much with us and showed us the 10 foot deep crater that the 25foot wave had dug in the sand next to his neighbour's house, just 50 feet or so from his house.

“After that the surge of water was over 15 feet,” he told us.
He also talked of people frantically running towards the lagoon, stuck between the tsunami and the lagoon.
He explained how many died because of this and how he stayed perched on his neighbour's house for more than two hours until the authorities rescued them.

The grief

We later met one old man who had gone to town, his wife, daughters and grandchildren where killed in the tsunami.  The bodies were never found and he comes back each day to where the home was and sits there under a tree, crying only. We walked with him and then he stopped and sat by the side of the road so we said goodbye. Then we saw him later walking towards us in the distance and he came to rest where we were with the team having something to eat.

Only Jules and I were awake - the others had laid on the ground sleeping.  So we shared food and water with him and it was obvious he had not eaten in a while.

The entire time since we met him, I continued praying for God to fill his heart with peace and stop this great sadness he feels. The man doesn't speak any English and kept telling us that there was only one left - meaning him. He had tears in his eyes as he told us his story in Tamil and we just listened intently although we did not understand.
Another man had told us his story.
 
Overcrowding

On another day, we visited one of the colleges that have been turned into a refugee camp where we witnessed harsh conditions.
67 persons are sleeping in one small classroom and living there day in and day out. 

Some NGO's are at work - thank God or there would be no water or sanitation facilities for people. In only the districts of Batticaloa and Ampare where we are currently, there are 800,000 families without homes. 

To feed one family is costing $1 per day, but what we are seeing here is just the tip of the iceberg but at least here we have an opportunity to do something personal – to help people we have met face to face and that is important. 

On Monday February 28 we cleared the entire site belonging to a woman who has lost absolutely everything.  It would cost her a fortune to have had someone to do this so she's still living in a tent with her daughters until she can figure out how to rebuild.  She was so shocked at our offer to help her.  We just stopped along the road and asked if she needed help. 

She was stunned by the amount of work we did since we finished the site in one day.  Our backs are killing us but we're delighted to help her.

Jules and I met with the leader of the LTT (Liberation Tamil Tigers) to hear what's happening in the areas they control just a couple of kilometres from where we are working.

Prince Charles was here visiting just outside of Navalady where Jules and I went on Saturday recently.