Well well well...

Jonny from Norway, and Alon from Israel (down the well) helping with the well cleaning while I was over in Colombo attending a relief & development seminar.

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Five Irish lads (and a fridge)

We had the good fortune of a visit from 5 Northern Irish lads from a little town called Ballynahinch, who brought a great deal of energy, commitment and laughter to our neck of the woods for an unfortunately too short a time. As a bit of a final night thankyou along with our bonfire on the beach, I wrote this little ditty as a tribute, which I then "sung", or more accurately presented as "performance art" as Justin from Canada so aptly described my singing ability. This unfortunate act has also been filimed by Nigel, one of the "Irish five", and will be available for download on the Internet very soon, along with Paris Hilton's latest release.

- Five Irish lads (and a fridge) -

Five lads rode in
from Ballynahinch
With a squint in their eyes
and one with a limp

They came with skills
and tools of their trade
To make their mark
though preferably in the shade

Theer was Alan the sparkie
in charge of the lights
With a heart just as big
as his legs were white

And Brian... engineer
could build anything at all
No rewards did he seek
just a swim was all

There's big Jackie the lad
on the phone to his wife
Grandad to all the kids
and brought joy to their life

Then there was Nigel the chemist
though a councellor by heart
Building bridges of love
is what set him apart

And finally there was Davey
a little shakey of leg
Who worked his butt off
'til his skin turned bright red

They came, they saw
they spread many smiles
But most important of all...
THEY BROUGHT A BLOODY FRIDGE!!

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A tree by any other name...

...is still a tree, though in the case of the trees that have washed up on the Kallar beach recently, not as we know it. According to the locals, these trees are like nothing found in Sri Lanka, and are believed to have washed up here all the way from Indonesia. More likely is that they have come from one of the numerous small islands that lie between Sri Lanka and the origin of the December 26 tsunami.

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Shelters

Most of the areas provided for the IDP (Internally Displaced People) camps are pretty bleak and desolate. We will be doing our best to make them as comfortable as possible with whatever ideas we can come up with (and feel free to post any and all ideas you might have!), but it is a reason why the focus is now on getting as many people as possible back to their own land, with providing them with shelters there.





The materials for the shelters arrive by truck from Colombo, and are stored by the YMCA. All hands on deck when the truck arrives...





...though some "hands" are a little more intoxicated than others, and needing to be escorted from the premises for their own safety despite their drunken enthusiam to contribute.



Apparantly there was quite a drug and alcohol problem in the community immediately preceeding the tsunami. I guess not so hard to understand, when your world's been washed away. However, things have been improving, due in no small part to time itself, but hopefully also some of the community work and programs the YMCA and other NGOs are implementing... and perhaps even to our day to day interactions with the locals, who knows?

...continued

Home sweet home

Our home at the "Y"...



Room with a view... (though locked when we're out, a few things have gone walkies over the weeks).



Justin from Canada playing a few tunes on our deck...



...and Dave from Australia relaxing with a couple of mates.



Some of the hundreds of bottles fresh water we have for the volunteers. Seems like my water filter wasn't needed, at least in this area. From some reports, though, other areas are still not so fortunate.

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Late night in the office

Well, seems like even working in a disaster relief effort there is still late night office work to be done...

I have just finished drawing up about the forth or fifth draft of the layouts for the three shelter camps in Kallar, for where each of 250 shelters along with toilets, washing facilities and access roads are positioned. Why so many drafts?

Well, firstly it's the fact that I'm the third person to have been given the task, with the previous two people having been on the job for just a short duration and not long enough to have completed fully or properly. Then there's the fact that the locals putting up the shelters are not always adept at reading the plans - such as today where they had the plan around the wrong way, even though the lagoon was clearly marked on it - and so rather than have them undo the construction they have done, I am redesigning the plans around what they have done. And then there's the local Divisional Secretary's office, who change their minds almost daily on exactly how many shelters they require. And considering we have to coordinate with three different NGOs for the shelters, the toilets and washing facilities, and the water distribution, this changes both the plan and what we need built each time.

Anyway, finally done, and this time making allowances for unforseen (ie. presumed local government) changes.

I guess the final question for some might be, why is some guy with absolutely no experience at disaster relief and/or relief camp construction drawing up the plans and coordinating the NGOs for deliverables?

Well, maybe the best explanation to give is a little story that Justin, a Canadian also helping out around here, told me from when he took a few days off and headed down south to Arugam Bay. Apparantly the Swiss, French and German Red Cross teams were having serious issues with each other, and just could not cooperate at all. So much so in fact that they were doing such things as cutting the electricity to the others hotel, re-poluting wells that the other/s had cleaned out, and similar. It got so bad apparantly that the local hotel owners and the residents made them leave town, they were such a negative influence.

Now, I don't think all - or even most - NGOs are as bad as that, however by having the local community coordinating what the larger NGOs are delivering it does avoid a lot of this potential conflict. And hence, I'm doing what I'm doing.

Yes, so water one week, shelter camps another. Nothing if not a varied existence I guess. Anyway, must get to bed now. Have to up at dawn tomorrow to take these redrawn plans down to the sites.

...continued

AUI (Action d'Urgence Internationale)

Actually, this French team (AUI) are an amazing story in themselves: 4 engineers in this area with no equipment (all the larger NGOs are concentrating in the larger population areas) apart from a couple of sledgehammers, a rope and a ladder made from wooden debris, who walk around looking for dangerous structures that need to be pulled down – by hand! So yes, we give them all the help we can.

More information about them (and about the training program I've been invited to!) here: www.aui-ong.org





Something else I heard a couple of days ago, that there's a small community about 4 or 5 villages south of where we are, and apparently they have had no NGO or government help since the tsunami, and the area is basically as it was the day after the 26th. I am going to try to head down there next week and check out how accurate this report is, and if so then try to get them some help from somewhere. Anyway, I'll wait and see…

...continued

Tent cities

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Instant expert

Five days since my first glimpse of the devastation first-hand, I have found out just how valuable one person can be. My role is to take over the water filtration and sanitation for the local community from another Aussie guy, Karl, who is leaving in 2 days, and who was also as unknowledgeable about this area as I am. We are using a self-contained filter system supplied by an NGO (Samaritan's Purse) who fortunately did deliver the system and train up Karl on how to use it, but unfortunately do not have the personnel to man the system. So a half day of training and a step-by-step manual, and first Karl and now myself have to become water filtration experts: pumping out the water from each of the public wells, filtering out as much of the dirt and particles as possible through the carbon-based filtration system, and treating with chlorine to kill as many of the water-borne diseases as possible. Over salination of some wells is another problem, and unfortunately the system we have at our disposal does not fix that, hence some wells cannot be utilised at all at this time.

Karl and I are not the only unskilled volunteers who have arrived and had to become instant experts. Amongst a number of others, a Canadian couple backpacking in Thailand arrived here 3 weeks ago and are now in charge of clearing sites and construction of longer-term temporary shelters. They are being hurriedly trained up on how the shelters are constructed by the NGO supplying them, but then it's up to them to get them built over three sites within the local area, with the help of various local trades people.

Anyway, gotta go now. Off to be involved with a couple of other tasks required around here. First to go and do some activities with the local kids, as it is a very important part of the overall healing process for them. And then after that a few of us are off to help the 4-man French engineering team pull down a large wall that is very unstable and a harzard.

...continued

First sight...

Arrived 5 days ago in Kallar, a small community on the east coast of Sri Lanka. Nearing our destination, we travelled along a road running parallel to the coast, about a kilometre or so in from the sea, thronging with people and traffic, buildings packed along both sides. There was little evidence to suggest what had happened, aside from thousands of white ribbons tied onto wire zig-zagging across the road from the telephone wires overhead. Every now and then, though, you would glimpse a rough hand written sign in English saying "refugee camp" and pointing up a narrow road towards the sea. Eleven hours after leaving the west coast, we finally turned into one of these narrow roads and headed towards the coast.

Still, no sign of any damage, as we bumped along the narrow, pot-holed road. We reached the local YMCA without seeing anything. After dropping off our gear and saying hellos to the various people already here, we head off further down the road, towards a small rise that hides our view to the ocean beyond. As we reach this rise, for the first time I see the devastation that occurred on Boxing Day.

The sand is bone dry underfoot, the sun is shining, and there is sound of children's laughter carried on the gentle sea breeze. To the right is a small hospital building, which at first glance seems untouched. Closer inspection though, reveals a faint but clearly discernable water mark, and a number of wooden door frames ajar from the main brickwork. Now looking past the hospital, towards the seas some 150m away, the devastation is both apparent and almost complete. Bricks, rubble, broken trees and debris cover open ground once packed tightly, so I am told, with people's homes. The odd house still standing here and there, and the few more with a remaining wall or two, only emphasise the complete devastation that occurred to the majority of the community within this 150m wide stretch of land.

Looking up and down the coastline, it is like a bulldozer had driven through, flattening everything in its path. I've heard that the wave travelled overland at over 100km per hour. I shudder to think of those in the buildings who would have had no warning and no chance to run.

The sun is baking overhead as I move further towards the sea. The roads and pathways here have generally been cleared of debris now, something that has only happened in the last couple of weeks according to those who were here 3 weeks ago. Many of the plots are piled high with the remains of each building – or at least the remains that were washed onto each plot from elsewhere – pushed off the surrounding paths and roadways by a local political party as part of their election campaign. Who says political campaigns are a complete waste of money? Some of the plots now have tents on them, erected by those families with no other family to stay with and who have not been frightened off by the now threatening sea.

...continued

"Young man... are you listening to me..."

Well, three days and no news from that organisation I had arranged my entire placement with, so... am currently in the offices of the YMCA, waiting to undergo a day's training before heading out with them over to the east coast. Yep, I'm gonna be working for the YMCA!!



Everybody... "Y... M... C... A..."

They're actually one of the few groups in Colombo who seem to have their act together regarding what they need on the other side of the country. The Red Cross head office told me they didn't need any more volunteers, even though those two English guys I'd met earlier in the week had said that on the ground over there they were crying out for more help. Anyway, at least now I've organised something and feel like I'm moving forward. The last few days have been a little frustrating... Colombo isn't the most fascinating city in the world, plus I had come here for a reason and felt a little helpless sitting around waiting. Just getting over to the east coast and being able to help out whichever aid organisation needs it will be positive.

Did go out yesterday afternoon to the Galle Face Hotel, this beautiful old colonial style hotel, set around a green lawn fringed with palm trees, to have a couple of drinks on the wide veranda and watch the sun set. That was pretty cool, and then after that went to this place called "The Cricket Club Cafe" which was a bit of a trip, walking into a bar/restaurant with cricket memorbilia covering all the walls - and I mean ALL the walls. Was like being in the SCG bar or similar.

Oh, and earlier in the day I'd made a quick trip past the Pagoda Tea Room, which is where Duran Duran filmed their "Hungry like the worlf" video clip.

Anyway, that's it from Colombo for now, next you'll hear from me will be from over on the east coast, and then I'll probably have a little more news on the actual devastation areas.

...continued

"Chaos" is the operative word

Well, less than 24 hours on the ground over here, and I'm already getting a sense of the chaos that the relief efforts all over Sri Lanka are. Met a few people at the guest house I'm at, who have been both across to the east coast, as well as down south towards Galle and beyond.

Apparantly down south, rebuilding is already well under way, as it is a big tourist area hence it's worth investment from the government in funds and personell. A little like Phuket in Thailand I guess, within a few months most of the areas will be nice and sanitory again for the tourists.

Over on the east coast it's a little different. They still have rubble and debri to remove, which is basically just happening with the help of many a general volunteer who is simply ready to work their arse off. Unfortunately the locals seem hesitant to help, and have not really organised anything very well. Firstly there appears (from my discussions with these other volunteers, so no first hand knowledge to confirm yet) to be an attitude that ''if it didn't happen to me, I'm not going to help out''. Then there's another emotion which is a little darker which the following story indicates...

A week or so ago, there was another tremor near Indonesia, and the rumour went around over on the east coast that another tsunami would hit within three hours. Well, apparantly hundreds of people, the ones who had lost everything - their home, family...etc - went down to the beach to just sit and wait, thinking that they may as well join their family members in the afterlife...

So hard to comprehend what that sort of feeling must be like, to be feeling there is just nothing to live for... From the sounds of this I'll probably be heading over that side rather than down south. Apart from these more accurate first person updates I'm getting, I was also not met at the airport by the organisation I had arranged to work with, and can not get through on their numbers. I'll give it a day or so, but I'm not going to sit here doing nothing for too long. Besides, after hearing these first hand stories, I'm begining to think that maybe I'll be of more use where the government and large AID agencies are not.

Another couple of guys from the guest house are heading right up north, into the Tamil area, to help erect shelters in a relief camp up there. That's another option I'm considering...

Anyway, enough web stuff, time to make some calls and sort something out ASAP.

...continued