Looking Towards a Hopeful Future: Ten Years After the Tsunami

32 year-old Yalini’s neatly-tiled home in Kayankerny, Sri Lanka, is a safe haven and comfort for her family ten years after the devastating Tsunami of 2004.

“On that fateful day a decade ago, my mother and my aunt had gone to the sea shore for sand quarrying work. Around 8 am I heard people screaming and running away from the sea; very soon the water rushed forth and I saw my mother being swept away by the swirling water…” says Yalini.

Her mother’s dead body was found after 17 days. Her fisherman father had been away at sea. He returned only after the funeral was over and then left his children to start a different life.

“We were first taken to a temporary shelter,” recalls Yalini. “Later SOS gave us this house, started a Tsunami social center with classes and free meals. Even though we lost our property in the Tsunami, we were able to make a recovery. Today my brothers are all grown up and doing well and our little sister studies hard and looks with hope towards the future”.

Yalini’s baby sister Dinithi was just four years old when their mother died, and has no recollections of the Tsunami or of her mother.

Dinithi was a ‘miracle baby’ according to Yalini, burnt and deformed when she was barely a month old. She was later operated upon post-Tsunami and today does well in school, with ambitions of wanting to become a teacher some day.

A few blocks away, another 14 year-old, Sandun, has only a hazy recollection of events a decade ago.

“I would usually accompany my parents to the sea shore to collect limestone each morning. That day, we all went to the sea and my father noticed huge waves approaching. I escaped with my father but the Tsunami claimed my mother”.

Sandun and his younger brother Janith, 13 years old, both get excellent grades in school and are confident about their future career goals.

Their 55-year-old father Murugappan feels he can never repay SOS for everything that the organization has done for his family and his village.

“SOS gave us financial support to be self-sufficient. They also provided meals, books, stationery and shoes for children. They conducted therapeutic programs for coping with loss. Due to SOS educational programs and evening tuition classes, my children are very interested in their studies. More importantly, they have the confidence that they will become successful persons in the future” says Murugappam earnestly.