Visions of hope

Once, the future seemed full of potential. Then, a tsunami left behind despair. Now, Sri Lankan and Canadian Kiwanians work together to restore tomorrow’s promise

“One day I planned to visit a neighboring community, and some of the children wanted to go with me. But the shortest route was along the shore. They begged me not to go. It’s been more than a year since the tsunami, but they still are afraid of the sea.”—Ben DeVries, who teaches guitar chords to a curious Kiwanis Visions of Hope child. Nava Shakti Web site

Kiwanis Visions of Hope children line up for a trip outside.

A Colombo City Kiwanian meets Kiwanis Visions of Hope children.

By local standards, Joseph Sathyaseelan and his family led the busy but comfortable lifestyle of the middle class. From the front lawn outside their two-story home in Pandiruppu, Sri Lanka, one could hear the Indian Ocean surf bump against the nearby shore and watch soft, billowy clouds waft inland across the island’s brilliant blue sky.Life presented its challenges. What concerned the Sathyaseelans and other neighboring parents most was the future. If their children were to be properly prepared for adulthood in modern society, the parents needed to augment the local school’s educational offerings.

They did. They formed a self-help group, which they titled the Nava Shakti Welfare Organization. As the name suggests in the Sanskrit language, the families found “new strength” in numbers. In addition to English and computer lessons, the organization fostered the kids’ interests in other areas such as music and dance.

But that was before December 26, 2004. That day, the middle class families of Pandiruppu lost virtually every material possession. They nearly lost their “new strength.”

For Sathyaseelan, the day’s chaos began with a roaring tumult from the beach, followed by a rush of people running through the labyrinth streets of his neighborhood. Fearing a tidal wave, he knew he couldn’t outrun the water; so, he grabbed his pregnant wife and child and ran upstairs. From the second floor, he watched the approaching destruction. A wave hit and wiped out nearly everything in its path. Successive waves inundated the ground floor of his house. The electricity shorted out. Doors and windows tore from their frames.

Higher and higher, the waves pounded the home, reaching toward their second-floor refuge. Another wave, higher. Another, higher—just beneath their feet. Another, smaller. Then another, smaller.

The storm’s fury ebbed, but it left behind death, destruction, orphaned children, and a plague of problems for Sathyaseelan and his neighbors.

Without houses, Nava Shakti families moved into temporary shelters, sweltering hot squares wrapped by four tarp walls and covered by metal roofs. Land prices and construction costs escalated. With so many problems occupying their minds and energy, the families’ Nava Shakti seemed destined to fold.

On the other side of the island—a two-day drive from Pandiruppu—the Kiwanis Club of Colombo City sought to assist the tsunami’s youngest victims. On the other side of the world, Kiwanians in Division 18 of the Eastern Canada and the Caribbean District felt a need to help Sri Lankan children too.

Drawn together by Kiwanis, the Sri Lankans and Canadians corresponded by e-mail and forged a plan to open an orphanage for boys and girls whose parents were killed by the tsunami. But new laws, enacted in the disaster’s aftermath, restricted the opening of new orphanages. Undaunted, Colombo City Kiwanians kept up a search for a way to help.

“I searched the Internet for the word ashanti, which means “orphan,” says Colombo City Kiwanian Daya Ratnayake, “and I came across a Web site at www.navashakti.org.”

“Since the tsunami,” the Web site reports, “these children … are living in refugee camps. … Most have lost one or both parents, and in many cases, the surviving fathers have abandoned their families and fled. One year after the tsunami, these children laugh and play again like normal children, but the nightmares still return to haunt them, and even by day, some may burst into tears for no obvious reason.”

Repeated trips between Colombo City and Pandiruppu forged a plan. The Colombo City Kiwanis club, supported by Division 18 Canadian Kiwanians, agreed to support the Nava Shakti through the difficult recovery process. Together, they would build the Kiwanis Visions of Hope Child Care Centre, where children could meet after school to study, play, socialize, survive, and thrive.

“Each child represents a vision of hope for Sri Lanka,” explains Moncton, New Brunswick, Kiwanian Paul Jennings, who visited Pandiruppu early this year. “We wanted to restore that hope.”

Many aid organizations came and left, he reports, addressing immediate emergencies but leaving behind a need for long-term help.

The two Kiwanis clubs, assisted by a Germany District donation, helped the Nava Shakti set up temporary operations in the Sathyaseelans’ home. There, the children are fed, clothed, and taught. Ontario volunteer Ben DeVries postponed graduate studies to serve as the project coordinator and teach the children English, music, and basic computer operations. Canadian Kiwanians also initiated a program by which donors (CAD$400 annually) sponsor Nava Shakti children.

This past March, Colombo City Kiwanians, with assistance from DeVries and the Australian Foundation for the Peoples of Asia and the Pacific, negotiated the purchase of land and began construction of a community center. That’s good news for Nava Shakti children, who soon will have a permanent place dedicated to their future. Once again, they have a vision of hope.