Her
face was blank. She looked deep in to my eyes and I asked her
name. She said “Thilini Sarah”.
I asked her age. She said “eleven”. That was all.
She could say no more.
She had tearful eyes. But, the tears were not falling, as she
struggled to express her feelings. She couldn't.
Her five-year-old sister, Madushika, held Thilini's hand. She
knew Thilini Sarah was there for her. Little Madushika flashed
a little loving smile, a smile that said "give me some
love, care for me". My heart sank.
Thilini and Madushika are nobody's children today, their parents
swept away by the killer waves. Thilini knows her parents are
gone, not little Madushika.
Nimanthi is another little flower. The seven-year-old tells
how her parents went to the Sunday fair and never came back.
Today she lives with her grandmother, still hoping her mother
and father will return. I asked her if she had any friends?
She said "yes" but she did not know where they were.
Nimanthi told me that she could sing, but she would not sing.
I asked if she could draw. She selected a blood red crayon and
drew the sky in red; and the sun, trees and flowers, all red.
She did not draw the matchstick parents like most kids would
normally.
A Buddhist monk says that some children are so angry with the
sea and they want to attack it. He said how he heard of a child
challenging the sea to come for a fight.
This is the plight of some of the little children at a Sri Lanka
Red Cross counselling centre in Hambantota.
Most of them want to say something. Some try to, some cannot.
They are scared of the sea, water and the dark. The counsellor
explains that most of them are suffering from separation disorders
and post-traumatic disorders. She is trying her best to help
them.
But, there is a long way to go. Two members of the Danish Red
Cross are here to see what they can do to help Hambantota with
psychosocial support. Discussions are held to provide the counsellors
with tents and rooms for privacy to help them engage with the
children and spend the long hours of talking with them that
they need.
In Hambantota many children lost their parents when the Sunday
fair in the heart of the city was swept away by the sea.
One courageous child told me how he held his sister and ran
to safety. The children and parents escaped, but his grandmother
who’d gone to buy incense sticks did not.
Many children don't want to go back to schools if they are located
near the sea. Dr. Margriet Blaauw, from the Danish Red Cross
who has toured the country extensively said even if that fear
is overcome, there are many other obstacles.
“They will not have proper clothes. All the school books
they have treasured have been washed away. Teachers must not
be strict with them. They must understand, and give them time.
There must be a lot of love,” she said.
Psychosocial programmes are being established by the Sri Lanka
Red Cross, and the American and Danish Red Cross. The Turkish
Red Crescent has also offered resources.
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Seven-year-old
Nimanthi, whose parents were lost in the tsunami, tries
to express her feelings through drawing (p12547)
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Children
at the Sri Lanka Red Cross counselling centre in Hambantota,
where they are getting much needed psychosocial support
(p-LKA0084)
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Many
children can only stare, finding it difficult to talk
about their experiences (p12549)
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News
