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As of 6:00 p.m., PDT, we have raised a total of $12,194 for Sri Lankan refugee relief.
We have just 6 hours left to raise the remaining $2,806 that we need to meet our goal of $15,000.
All funds will be wired to Rev. Dr. Jeyanesan tomorrow morning, so please donate on-line right now to "Where Needed Most" in whatever amount you can.
Thank you for your generous support! Please keep it coming. We're almost there.
Thanks to a tremendous outpouring of support we've raised a total of $11,744, as of 2:30 p.m. (PDT) for our displaced brothers and sisters in Sri Lanka.
That means we need to raise just $3,256 more to reach our goal of $15,000 by 11:59 p.m. tonight. We are so close!
If you have friends, family members, co-workers, etc., who you think might be willing to help, please contact them and let them know of this opportunity. With their help we can make such a difference to people who need us now.
Thank you again for your support! We'll keep you posted.
The goal is close.
As of 10:00 a.m., PDT, donations for Sri Lankan refugee relief, posted through the web site have shot past the $10,000-mark and now stand at $10,165.
This means that we need just $4,835 more to achieve our goal of $15,000 by 11:59 tonight.
To those who have donated already, thank you very much for your generosity. We wish we could adequately convey how much your contributions will mean to our needy Sri Lankan brothers and sisters living each day trapped in a nightmarish existence of fear and uncertainty. Nobody would want to switch places with them right now. Though powerless to escape from the crossfire they've found themselves in, the food, water, clothing and temporary shelter that your donations will provide will bring smiles to their faces and will give them a greatly-needed infusion of hope. They will know that, somehow, people half-way around the world have offered them a hand of loving kindness. Thank you again. On behalf of the distraught mothers and fathers crying out for justice and for the safety and well-being of their children, thank you.
To those who have not yet donated, please consider doing so right now. There is no better place to invest your wealth than in the stomachs of hungry, needy brothers and sisters. An investment in the well-being of others will always yield so much more in your heart. We are a nation that has so much. Is there no better or higher purpose to our lives than to be entertained or to consume things that we really don't need?
For those of you whose religion encourages you to fast (i.e., to go without meals), please ask yourself why? Could it be, among other things, to develop empathy for others who fast involuntarily every day? Could it be to encourage you to remember them and to share some of what you have with those who have nothing?
We are not asking you to engage in some idealistic exercise. Every penny that is donated "Where Needed Most" between now and 11:59 p.m. tonight will go directly to Sri Lankan refugee relief. This is a reality. You can make a positive difference right now, so please act and please encourage others to do the same.
All funds will be wired to Rev. Dr. Jeyanesan tomorrow morning, so please donate on-line right now to "Where Needed Most" in whatever amount you can.
VeAhavta has no agenda other than to provide emergency humanitarian aid to those who need it most regardless of ethnicity or religion. We are not in any way aligned with any of the warring factions and we do not support the use of violence; we seek only to offer loving kindness to fellow human beings in need.
Thank you again for your generous support! Please keep it coming.
By Eric Parkinson
"We were scared, and that scared everyone else around us because we were crying to go home. Our family's first duty is to send us back safely and then worry about themselves."
These are the words of a 17-year-old high school student from Toronto, named Renu, who was evacuated from Jaffna two days ago due to intense fighting in the region (see Reuters article). The student, an ethnic Tamil, had come to Sri Lanka to pay her first visit to her parents' native Jaffna. "I never knew that it was this bad here," she said. My mum came after 18 years to visit her family. We were here for two weeks and it was OK. Then after that we were stuck in the curfew."
As the ferry carrying Renu and her family arrived in Trincomalee harbor en route to their home in Canada, they were greeted by artillery and mortar fire.
Like all children, Renu did not get to choose where she would be born, what color her skin and hair would be, or whether she would be an ethnic Tamil, Sinhalese, European or African. But Renu is one of the lucky ones. She can leave Sri Lanka to return to her safe home in Canada. Hundreds of thousands of other children are not so fortunate. Through no fault of their own, they are stuck in the middle of a war and are now struggling to meet their most basic needs.
So what is our duty to our family of fellow human beings caught in the crossfire of the war in Sri Lanka?
In the Abrahamic faith traditions, the duty to help others is of paramount concern. In fact, it goes hand-in-hand with loving God; one cannot love God without also caring for others. Indeed, according to the Jewish Sages, one who is truly in love with God does not view helping others as a "duty" or something done out of the "fear of God." For these "lovers of God" spoken of by the Sages, helping and loving others is viewed as an opportunity -- even a privilege -- that is performed out of a sense of awe toward the creator and creation.*
But we can't send the over 200,000 Sri Lankan refugees -- most of whom are parents and children -- "back safely" to some other country. So what can we do to help?
Plenty. Each of us now has an opportunity to act. We can do everything in our power to make the place they are living safer. We can help feed and clothe them; we can stand with them and advocate for them within the world community; and we can offer them our words of encouragement and our prayers.
But all of this starts with acknowledging them as human beings whose needs are as important as our own. Once we see them as our brother or sister or child, we have to act. As 17-year-old Renu said, a family's "first duty" is to act selflessly for the safety of its youngest members.
Actually, it's a family's first privilege.
______________________________
*In Orchot Tzaddikim, a text written in the 1500's, there is a chapter on "Yirat Shamayim," which is probably best translated as fear or awe of Heaven -- the word "Heaven" being a circumlocution for God. In it, the author suggests that there are three kinds, or levels of yirah (i.e., awe):
* In the first kind, people do good deeds, not out of reverence for God, but out of fear of people. They worry that if certain things are not done, others will scorn and distrust them. Although this behavior may appear to be yirah, in fact it is missing the true essence of yirah.
* The second kind of yirah is related to fearing God but focuses on the individual. At this level, people are doing good deeds, primarily out of concern that God may punish them if they don't.
* The third kind of yirah is the highest level. It is when one's whole being is filled with an awareness and an appreciation of God's greatness.
Love of God (ahavah) and fear/awe of God (yirah) are two emotions that the Torah lists as basic to the worship of God. Maimonides, one of the greatest Jewish philosophers, described the obligation of loving and fearing God as follows: "One is commanded to love God and fear God, as it says, 'You shall love Adonai, your God', and 'You shall fear Adonai, your God." (Mishneh Torah)
Refugee child in Trincomalee
Since we posted our last report about five hours ago seeking help for the growing number of displaced persons in Sri Lanka, donations through the web site have almost quadrupled. We have now raised a total of $4,240. Our special thanks to everyone for your generosity!
But we can't stop there. We've now made a goal to raise $15,000 by 11:59 p.m. on Aug. 31, which we'll then wire to Sri Lanka on Sept. 1 along with a letter from our donors expressing their love and concern for our Sri Lankan brothers and sisters that will be read to the refugees while the supplies are being delivered.
It will only take a little from each person to reach our goal, so won't you please help? We may not be able to assist everyone, but $15,000 will go a long way in Sri Lanka and will provide much needed relief for hundreds of families.
These are families just like yours and mine. They want nothing to do with war. They weren't consulted about where they would be born, or what color their skin would be, or whether they would be born into poverty or into wealth. They are just trying to get through life, have their basic needs met and provide for their children. Please ask your family, friends and co-workers to help us tell them that that their lives are important and that the world has not forgotten them.
All donations to VeAhavta are tax-deductible and 100% of each dollar donated "Where Needed Most" between now and 11:59 p.m. on Aug. 31 will go directly to Sri Lankan refugee relief.
We will wire relief funds to Rev. Jeyanesan on September 1, 2006, so please donate on-line RIGHT NOW to "Where Needed Most" in whatever amount you can.
Thank you again for your generous support!
Rice for refugees being off-loaded from a truck by members of Rev. Dr. Jeyeansan's team
The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has revised its earlier report regarding the number of displaced persons in Sri Lanka and is now reporting that 204,602 people have been displaced since April of this year. Most of these people are from the Trincomalee District and are struggling to survive in camps in Kantale, not far from the Grace Care Centre. Many others are in Batticaloa.
New fighting is also being reported today in Trincomalee as the military launches a new offensive to force the LTTE out of the crucial eastern port area.
The displaced people in Trincomalee and Batticaloa need our help and we can make an immediate difference by providing food, water, clothing and temporary shelter. Supplies of food and water have fallen to alarmingly low levels in many locations.
To date, we have raised a total of $1,065, but much more is needed. If every VeAhavta donor makes a contribution of just $25, we'll be able to wire close to $75,000! We can double this amount if each donor gets just 1 other person to contribute.
Help us show our Sri Lankan brothers and sisters that we care about what happens to them. Please give what you can. All donations to VeAhavta are tax-deductible and 100% of each dollar donated "Where Needed Most" between now and Aug. 31 will go directly to refugee relief.
We will wire relief funds to Rev. Jeyanesan on September 1, 2006 -- just 3 days from now -- so please help. Please donate on-line RIGHT NOW to "Where Needed Most" in whatever amount you can. Alternatively, please wire your contributions directly to Rev. Jeyanesan at St. John's Centre by using the following account information:
St. John's Church
Uranee, Batticaloa, Sri Lanka
Hatton National Bank, Ltd.
Batticaloa, Sri Lanka
Acct. #01-0196601-8
Cable Address: HATNABANK
Swift: Bic Code -- HBLILKLX
Thank you for your generous support!
By Tom McLaughlin, PT, VeAhavta Volunteer
Having just visited Sri Lanka for the second time to help train health workers in the Mercy Home elder care facility, I was asked by another VeAhavta volunteer and journalist to write down some of my impressions of the resilient character of the Sri Lankan people during the recent escalation of civil war. That collection, partially presented below, became my own personal journal by which I will remember my trip. It contains the thoughts that are not conveyed by my photographs.
In Sri Lanka, everyone hopes for peace. The resiliency of the Grace Care Centre residents and staff, as well as that of their Mercy Home counterparts, seems rooted in the fundamental message of the blues: things are bad, but there is hope that they are going to get better. The sources of this strength are elusive, as there are few heroes and almost no reliable administrative or physical infrastructure to provide a margin of comfort or safety in the north and east of Sri Lanka. In my recent visit, I saw resilience manifest in various ways:
An older teenager, whose brother was soldiering in the recent Muttur conflict, persists in her daily tasks, including diligent studying, while visibly disturbed at times by the lack of information as to her brother's safety. She sequesters herself from the group one evening, but Diane, manager of the Grace Care Centre, demands she participate with her sisters in talent show night. Sometimes one's resiliency is helped along by others.
A busload of Grace Home girls and younger adults embarks on a three-day (seven-hour one-way bus ride) outing to a youth rally in Batticoloa in the sweltering heat. Their hope is to take first place in singing, dance, art, and spoken word recitation. They expect no less. They are decked out to the nines in a mix of traditional saris and wraps, colorful hand-me-downs, and designer-faded jeans with their best travel shoes. Every ounce of energy goes into the whole affair. As the bus departs, you must continue waving enthusiastically until they are absolutely out of sight, and the singing begins. They return home with a major haul of top prizes.
The bus loaded with the same girls departs five days a week for school in disciplined silence. During the trip each way, they will be stopped no less than four times for check point officials to pick through their book packs as rifles dangle at eye level. The girls, armed only with pencils and college-ruled exercise books, bravely wait in silence. What kind of esteem for self, the homeland, and authority does this foster in their minds? Once you have spent time with these kids in their home, you cannot help but cry.
Diane (seasoned resident and capable manager of our compound) and Cheryl (Mercy Home Medical Director and physician extraordinaire) continue the tradition of building good relationships with other local humanitarian aid groups. The escalation of civil war in the north and east of Sri Lanka in the last six months prompts Non-Governmental Organizations (NGO's) like ours to become more acquainted in order to share resources and provide safety for one another. Another elder care facility down the highway sends their nursing aides to attend physical therapy and nursing training sessions at Mercy Home during my two week stay, and one of the training sessions is held at their facility. We drive to a church-run English language school near the harbor to discuss mutual concerns and reaffirm our support for one another. Surplus donated equipment and medical supplies are shared. A German paramedic takes occasional breaks from the endless stream of war casualties and informs us about the severity of the local firefights. Traveling freely about the region, he is an invaluable source of information, and serves as an unofficial but effective coordinator of health services in the Trincomalee District.
One of the older (70's, 80's?) Mercy home residents crouches in the sun at least seven hours daily, pulling out weeds by their deepest roots using a small trowel. She maintains a flat-footed squat posture that few people in the western hemisphere can tolerate for ten seconds. She is a 65 pound human Roto-tiller, mincing at least 25 square yards of earth into a homogeneous sand/dirt composite during my stay there. Her stated purpose (translated by one of the GCC teachers): to personally "make sure Jesus has no thorns under His feet when He returns."
Hiram, one of the co-directors of Mercy Home, institutes a daily duty program for the elderly Mercy Home residents over the last few months. It is an instant hit. The residents find endless purpose in carrying out their landscaping and cleaning duties, and many have to be coerced away from the chores to tend to other basic routines. Arguments, even small fights, break out over which tools belong to whom, and who works hardest. No exercise program designed by the western physical therapist can exceed the benefits of the new work program.
Daisy announces that the fisherman out front have started a morning beach-net haul. I go to take a look, and like a good tourist I jump in to pull a little. A fisherman hands me a rope rig and shows me how to use it as a hip sling to spare my hands and arms. The "fun" is intoxicating, my leg muscles are howling, and I hang in for the whole hour or two. I am careful to avoid delusions that they need my help, and they graciously tolerate my novice pulling technique. It's a fairly good catch according to the boss. For my part, he pays me with the cuttlefish from the catch. I insist that I was just thankful they let me participate and learn, expecting no wage. I am sure the local fishermen each got a few coins or fish for their work. The Grace Care Centre cook serves cuttlefish curry with rice that night to the western visitors.
Attention spans for the last ten minutes of Mercy Home physical therapy training session #4 are hopelessly lost due to a happy disturbance outside. Angela, the other Mercy Home co-director, has returned from maternity leave with her new baby, proud father in tow. Four generations of Sri Lankans are present for the spectacle, competing for a chance to hold the newborn. The smiles and love are overwhelming. The undisputed tacit assumption of everyone at this impromptu event is that love and human life are the most important things. I wonder how this idea has been lost by the leaders of each political camp in this island paradise. In all fairness, I wonder how it has been lost by the leaders of each political camp in my own country. Angela and family consider spending the night in a tiled treatment room at Mercy Home with the escalation of rifle fire in town and bombing in the distance. The irony is mind-numbing.
On our last full day at the compound, someone takes a pot shot at one of the Mercy Home health workers as he rides his motorbike to work. Safe at the compound, he jumps into the day's tasks. On the central coast of California, that would be good for two weeks of paid time off for emotional stress. In Trinco town, if you don't work you and your family don't eat. It's business as usual.
A respected elder resident of Mercy home is taken across the country to the hospital in Colombo, where he spends several days for care of his end-stage heart condition. His status is critical at times, being resuscitated back to life at least once during his stay. Upon discharge with bed rest orders, he boards the night mail train back to Trinco town without escort. The twelve-hour trip would be physically and mentally grueling by anyone's standards, but our intrepid friend admits that he has already lived a hard life. He disembarks, and finds his way back to Mercy Home alone on a day of hartal (curfew imposed by local military and police). Unfazed, he greets his friends and neighbors, and pens a greeting card of thanks to his sponsors in California. Those who have known him a while are not surprised at his resourcefulness and accomplishments of the last 24 hours.
Five days of round-the-clock bombing, shelling, and missile launches three to twenty miles in the distance set the background din for the Uppuveli zone. There is no break in the usual routines at Grace Care Centre and Mercy Home, except for some missed school days. There is a particularly concussive blast in closer range which evokes that "I wonder what's next" feeling among all present, and a young teenager asks me if I am OK with the ruckus. I believe she is half concerned for my comfort, and half embarrassed that her foreign visitor has to endure the unrest. She feels she is an integral part of the current events in her country, even responsible for them as my host. I will soon leave these friends, back to relative comfort and safety. She will remain to be a part of Sri Lanka's destiny. May her dreams of peace be fulfilled soon.
Special thanks to Sport, Spine and Orthopedic Rehabilitation Center in San Luis Obispo, CA, and Sammons Preston Roylan for their kind donations to the work in Sri Lanka.
Tom helping with the net in front of Grace
Below are some additional photographs of the refugee relief efforts being undertaken by Rev. Dr. S. Jeyanesan and his team in eastern Sri Lanka.
View image 1 View image 2 View image 3 View image 4 View image 5 View image 6
Once again, on behalf of Rev. Jeyanesan and his team, VeAhavta is asking for your help. Your tax-deductible donations can make an immediate difference to thousands of people who have been displaced as a result of the recent violence in Sri Lanka.
We will wire relief funds directly to Rev. Jeyanesan on August 31, 2006, so please make your donations now. Please donate on-line to "Where Needed Most" in whatever amount you can, or wire your contributions directly to Rev. Jeyanesan at St. John's by using the following account information:
St. John's Church
Uranee, Batticaloa, Sri Lanka
Hatton National Bank, Ltd.
Batticaloa, Sri Lanka
Acct. #01-0196601-8
Cable Address: HATNABANK
Swift: Bic Code -- HBLILKLX
We will post the latest news from Rev. Jeyanesan and his team's relief efforts as they are received.
Thank you for your generous support!
As our donors and readers are aware, the situation in the north and east of Sri Lanka has deteriorated rapidly. Members of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) posted in the Trincomalee District left for Colombo on Thursday due to increasing violence, and news reports indicate that between 100,000 and 125,000 civilians have been displaced by the fighting in northern and eastern Sri Lanka.
Yet in the midst of this bad news there is still room for hope.
Despite the violence and fear that have again gripped our beloved island of Sri Lanka, Rev. Dr. S. Jeyanesan, VeAhavta's Overseas Agent, has refused to despair but instead has quietly but persistently continued to provide aid to those in need -- whether Singhalese, Tamil or Muslim -- as he has been doing since 1983. What follows is Rev. Jeyanesan's report provided to Eric Parkinson this morning:
My Dearest Brother Eric,
Greetings from St. John's and Grace Care Center and the field of battle.
Thank you very much for your prompt calls and actions and prayers.
Here in Sri Lanka the situation is very bad now. Daily fighting is going on between the LTTE and the Government forces. From this ongoing battle, many families have become refugees and many civilians including children are killed, and we all are very busy and engaged in providing relief supplies to the refugees and taking care of the injured.
Yesterday our team of Pastors and other workers headed by Rev. Earl P. Solomons left St. John's with 19 lorries of relief items to the Vaharai area (which is an un-cleared area) where many of the refugees from Muttur, Sampur, Kaddaparichan, Kiliveddy, Mavilaru, Verukal and the surrounding areas are displaced and sheltered.
On the 10th of this month, we went to Vaharai with the approval of Government agent of Batticaloa with relief items. We were stopped at the Mankerny military checkpoint, waited till the evening, and returned back without distributing our relief items to the affected, as we did not get the clearance to continue our mission.
This time we met the GA (Government Agent) of Batticaloa and insisted him to get the necessary clearance documents and to give us a copy of those documents. We also met the higher-ups in the defense and got the permission to transport the relief items. Also the article, which was published in the Tamil net, BBC and local radio news broadcast about turning us back with the relief items, gave some pressure to the defense and the higher-ups to consider allowing relief items, rehabilitation and humanitarian workers to the affected field. It took us two days to get the clearance.
We made all the arrangements, waited till 11:00 a.m., and preceded to Vaharai after getting the clearance. In all the checkpoints, we were stopped questioned and thoroughly checked. While checking we were asked to unload half of the items from each lorry for checking and, after checking, we had to re-load all of them. It took us about 4 hours for this formality. Our Pastors and volunteers did this exercise as there was no labour in those places and this further delayed our convoy.
At Vaharai, there are more than 8,800 refugee families being sheltered. Most of the families are afraid to stay in schools or under any buildings as most of the time Government plans are aerial bombarding the buildings in the un-cleared areas as such most of the refugees are sheltered under trees or in jungles. In past battles, refugees who were sheltered in schools and in other buildings were frequently killed in the shelling and bombing.
When we reached Vaharai people and infants came running to get something from us to eat. We were told that after 2 weeks of starving we are the first people to have reached them with relief items. We saw them cooking immediately after receiving our food packs. We saw smiles on the faces of kids and the people, which has given us satisfaction, and a sense of fulfillment with regard to our mission. This is the success of our mission and this is why our Almighty God has called us.
Today also, attacks are going on in many places of North and East. In aerial bombardments, around 63 children in an orphanage in Mullaithivu were killed; another 142 have been seriously injured. From morning -- 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. -- there was shelling from army camp, which is 4 km away from St. John's to un-cleared areas. So far, we do not know about the causalities.
17 workers working with the French NGO Action Faim including a French lady were killed in Muttur. All most all the NGO's have pulled out from the North and East.
Many people including women and children who are injured in the ongoing battle are admitted in Batticaloa teaching hospital. Today our women's guild and junior Pastors headed by Mrs. Shantha Jeyanesan went and distributed food and other necessary items to the injured in the hospital.
The Government and the other NGO's are helping the refugees in Government control areas. But the un-cleared areas are our concern. When we need further support, I will ask you.
In the meantime, please do pray for peace in our country.
With Peace and prayers.
Your ever loving brother,
Jey
On behalf of Rev. Jeyanesan and his team and our needy brothers, sisters and children in Sri Lanka, VeAhavta is asking for your help. Your tax-deductible donations can make a tremendous and immediate difference. Rev. Jeyanesan and his team will purchase relief supplies as soon as possible and -- because of their persistence -- will ensure that the supplies get to the people who need the most help.
VeAhavta has no agenda other than to provide emergency humanitarian aid to those who need it most regardless of ethnicity or religion. We are not in any way aligned with any of the warring factions and we do not support the use of violence; we seek only to offer loving kindness to fellow human beings in need.
We will wire relief funds directly to Rev. Jeyanesan two weeks from now -- on August 31, 2006 -- so please help. Please donate on-line RIGHT NOW to "Where Needed Most" in whatever amount you can. If, for whatever reason, you don't feel comfortable donating through VeAhavta then please wire your contributions directly to Rev. Jeyanesan at St. John's by using the following account information:
St. John's Church
Uranee, Batticaloa, Sri Lanka
Hatton National Bank, Ltd.
Batticaloa, Sri Lanka
Acct. #01-0196601-8
Cable Address: HATNABANK
Swift: Bic Code -- HBLILKLX
We will post the latest news from Rev. Jeyanesan and his team's relief efforts as they are received.
Thank you for your generous support!
Rev. Jeyanesan's team arrives with aid
A refugee child happy to receive help
By James A. Mitchell, VeAhavta Press Officer
It's a matter of numbers, for some people. Military analysts are trying to tally those killed by the war, a morbid game of keeping score in the renewed war between the Government of Sri Lanka and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).
Others question the numerical age of the dozens killed Monday when military air strikes targeted either (depending upon whom you ask) a children's home near Jaffna or a Tamil Tiger training ground. Those killed -- mostly girls between the ages of 16 and 19 -- were either students taking Red Cross first-aid courses, or Tamils being groomed for the 20-plus-year-old civil war.
The Associated Press on Wednesday reported that a Nordic monitoring mission "lost count" of the casualties from recent weeks. Near-daily incidents have taken place in Sri Lanka's north and east since a late July dispute began over a water supply point near Trincomalee; after four weeks of violence, observers said that more than 1,000 people have died in 2006 from the hostilities.
While the officers of both the GoSL and LTTE debate the purpose of the targeted compound hit by air strikes Monday, Grace Care Center Manager Diane McLaughlin lost interest in counting bodies as if they were hypothetical statistics.
"Either way, who gives a green light to bomb an orphanage," McLaughlin wondered. "For God's sake: They're children."
McLaughlin's thoughts, and those of VeAhavta volunteers both in Sri Lanka and America, are focused on the children of Grace Care Center, the elders of Mercy Home and the greater Trincomalee community. The fighting in nearby Muttur sent thousands of innocent villagers fleeing for their lives. By Tuesday, United Nations officials tried to keep pace with the displaced persons in northern Sri Lanka: More than 50,000 are estimated to have been left homeless just in August; well over 100,000 are left without food, water and medical resources in 2006.
The relief crisis being created by man rivals nature's worst. Northern Sri Lanka is still recovering from the 500,000 displaced people left destitute by the Dec. 26, 2004 tsunami.
Michigan Dr. Cheryl Huckins, who helped plan and launch Mercy Home, was at Grace Care Center earlier this month, said the humanitarian challenge is on the same scale of the historic disaster. VeAhavta staff continues working with an informal network of relief organizations, as churches, schools and other properties in the region have become improvised camps for those left homeless.
VeAhavta's overseas agent, Dr. Rev. S. Jeyanesan, said that his Batticaloa-based St. John's Church is supplying what it can to refugees, "Including children and women who are starving and without food," Jeyanesan said. Items being supplied so far include dry-ration milk, water, medicine, bed supplies and other immediate-need items.
Tom McLaughlin, a VeAhavta volunteer and physical therapist from California (no immediate relation to Diane), said that the resiliency of the Grace Girls and Mercy Home residents can be seen in a number of ways, reflective of a nation's spirit: "Things are bad," McLaughlin understood their message, "but there is hope that they are going to get better."
McLaughlin watched the elders, each having assumed a daily chore; press on each day to assume there will be a tomorrow. He watched one Mercy resident spend up to seven hours a day crouched before an endless field of weeds waiting to be pulled. The elderly woman, whom McLaughlin called, "A 65-pound human Roto-tiller," took pride in the humble accomplishment, reflective of the resolve to live.
If hope remains in a hopeless situation, it can be found in the spirit and resiliency of the people being helped, the human beings behind the numbers.
"This is their everyday life," Huckins said of the Grace children and elders of Mercy Home. Throughout periods of seemingly non-stop explosions earlier this month -- each echo representing additional fatalities -- Huckins said the orphan girls celebrated a birthday and elders went about their daily routine.
"This is the background they live in," Huckins said. "Every day you just do what you can."
(Our thanks to Jim "Grasshopper" Mitchell for this report.)
By James A. Mitchell, VeAhavta Press Officer
Fighting over a water supply point between the Government of Sri Lanka and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) continues in Muttur; both sides of the conflict claimed credit for reopening the water gates while thousands of displaced civilians struggled to find shelter, food and medical attention.
The seeming return to civil war ignited in late July, and lead to more than a week of military conflict, with most of the activity in Muttur. The attacks spread -- and could be heard -- for miles around. The orphan children, elders and staff of Grace Care Center and Mercy Home patiently waited out the days of war and dared to hope for peace.
Rev. Dr. S. Jeyanesan, VeAhavta's overseas agent, said the situation was tense last week throughout the Eastern Province of Sri Lanka. Jeyanesan cited the number of fatalities reported, and said, "These are all lives, not numbers," and that those who were able to help were trying to approach the Muttur area with food and medicine. "We really do not know the numbers of injured and the refugee population," Jeyanesan said.
By Wednesday, Aug. 9, those numbers were still being counted; each, as Jeyanesan said, a human life and not simply a statistic. In nearby Kantale, aid workers estimated that more than 30,000 refugees had sought assistance, and were being sheltered wherever possible. One school designed for a student population of 300 was housing more than 6,000 people forced to evacuate from Muttur.
Others have gone to Trincomalee. Two local schools told the staff at Grace Care Center that they are housing refugeess -- a thousand families each. Arrangements were being made to make use of the Mercy Home mobile clinic to help injured survivors needing medical attention, and an offer was made through Grace Pastor, Rev. Joseph Gnanapragasam from the former Internally Displaced Persons camp families adjacent to the orphanage -- now living in Korean-built homes on a nearby hill -- to provide portions of the day's fish catch to refugees from Muttur.
While survivors in the troubled region -- scarred by two decades of civil war and further beaten by the Dec. 26, 2004 tsunami -- struggled, again, to rebuild their lives, political fallout from the conflict between the warring parties remains to be seen. Accusations Wednesday by the LTTE that the GoSL killed five civilians and wounded another 18 followed the weekend discovery of 17 slain relief workers serving the French-based agency, Action Against Hunger; among the victims, all but one Muslim were Tamil. They were reportedly killed by close-range gunfire, and agencies from throughout the world have called for an investigation.
At Grace Care Center, the routine was, again, interrupted, and weekend projects included the repainting of flower pots in the Children's Park, dedicated in the ideal that, "True peace allows children the freedom to be children."
Erin Whaley, a schoolteacher from Michigan and VeAhavta volunteer, supervised the party, and reported that the activity truly brought out the nature of the girls, given a chance to play as children.
"They started out beautifully and ended up getting paint on several things that weren't supposed to be painted," Whaley said, "just like real kids! The next painting party began with 'un-painting' a few things."
By Monday, school had cautiously reopened, again, and until Wednesday, the balance of war seemed to be favoring peace, at least briefly. The LTTE claimed to have reopened the water gate; the GoSL said they had reclaimed control of the supply. Under either interpretation, water was again made available to those living near Muttur. Still, fighting over the gates continued Thursday, the GoSL military reportedly determined to regain physical control over the water supply. More than 50 civilians were killed, another 200 injured, and thousands more left struggling to fins shelter, food and medical attention.
At Grace Care Center, the birthday of one of the girls was celebrated, a rare night of silence in a noisy month. The children listened to music, took a sea bath, and by evening enjoyed outside prayers under a still, quiet moon. Brief, rare moments of hope in the lives of human beings who pray they don't become statistics.
(We wish to thank Jim "Grasshopper" Mitchell, VeAhavta's Press Officer, for this report. Since visiting the Grace Care Center for the first time in early 2005, Jim has been a relentless advocate for the residents and staff and has devoted hundreds of hours of his time writing stories that capture the heart of Grace. In addition to his "regular job" as a professional journalist for a community newspaper in Michigan and his volunteer job as the VeAhavta Press Officer, Jim is the author of the forthcoming (2007) "It Was All Right: Mitch Ryder's Life in Music," a career biography of the Detroit Wheels singer, the voice behind "Devil With a Blue Dress On.")
Jim posing for a photo in February 2006 with two Grace residents
By James A. Mitchell, VeAhavta Press Officer
During the early days of August, Grace Care Center manager Diane McLaughlin took the orphan children into the water as often as possible.
"They can't hear the bombings because of the waves," McLaughlin said of the Indian Ocean's roar. Even a few minutes' break from the sounds of war was a welcome period during a restless week.
Renewed hostilities between the Government of Sri Lanka and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (Tamil Tigers) reportedly began in late July, when the military moved into Mutur to reopen a sluice gate -- a controlling system for water supply -- that had been taken over by the Tigers. The days that followed witnessed the first major military clash since the 2002 ceasefire.
Early reports vary as to details, but more than 120 casualties resulted from a two-way confrontation: The LTTE moved into the government-held town of Mutur -- about six miles across the harbor from Trincomalee; the Sri Lankan military targeted Tiger compounds just to the north with artillery, multi-barreled rockets and fighter jets.
The view from Grace Care may have seen the relative peace of Trincomalee, but the soundtrack was decidedly that of war. McLaughlin said that the duration and magnitude of the conflict feels different than during previous periods of tension or acts of war. In January, five Tamil boys were shot in Trincomalee, apparently by GoSL troops; in April a series of claymore attacks added to the escalating casualties. More than 850 conflict-created deaths have been reported in the small island nation for 2006.
"This one is different," McLaughlin said. "It's big time. It's not just claymores."
Since July 30, McLaughlin has been joined at Grace by a team of four other VeAhavta volunteers: Dr. Cheryl Huckins and teacher Erin Whaley from Michigan; and Tom McLaughlin and Greg Hill from California. Whaley -- making her third trip to Grace Care Center since August 2005 -- joined the others in trying to keep the orphan children occupied while restricted to the campus.
For the time being, at Grace, Whaley said they don't feel that they are in immediate danger. "Everyone still feels protected, and safe."
After two days of near constant aerial activity overhead, ground-based attacks continued. On Thursday, Aug. 3, an artillery shell struck a school compound in Mutur, killing more than a dozen civilians -- including a 10-year-old boy -- who were among an estimated 600 who had sought refuge there. The government said it is prepared to discuss a truce with the Tigers -- who had not responded by Friday -- and that its military operations would stop if the water supply were reopened.
On the whole, Trincomalee itself was spared the direct hits taken in Mutur and, north of the orphanage, near Nilaveli Beach. McLaughlin said that, as with other periods in recent months when the troubled nation appeared ready to return to what the wire services refer to as, "All-out war," there are mixed opinions as to what the immediate future holds.
"They claim it's not war," McLaughlin said of statements made by government officials. "Other people think the war is back on."
(Our thanks to Jim "Grasshopper" Mitchell for this report.)
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