PAIN, PRAYER, AND PROGRESS IN SRI LANKA The challenges of rebuilding tsunami-devastated homes and hearts BY DEBORAH MEROFF
For most of us, the killer wave that swept the world on December 26, 2004, is a tale already relegated to history. But the tragic specter of the tsunami still visits the hundreds of thousands of families who were so abruptly torn apart. It is also an ever-present reality for the several million others who were stripped of homes, livelihoods, possessions, even a purpose for living. The teardrop-shaped island of Sri Lanka has weathered more than one wave of sorrow. Over 60,000 lives were sacrificed to a bitter 20-year civil war. Although a ceasefire was signed in 2002 between the majority Sinhalese and minority Tamil peoples, the violence has never completely ended. But the tsunami was an unexpected form of terror.What islander could ever dream that the sea—the same benign waters that had always nourished and supported them—would rear up and slam into their coast with the power of an atomic blast? The wave crumbled concrete houses, flipped buses, boats and trains, and even twisted steel railroad tracks.The 31,000plus men, women, and children who tried to outrun it didn’t have a chance. Some bodies were flung two miles inland; many disappeared forever. Today, although government reports like to give the cheery impression that things are almost back to normal, the vast majority of NGOs agree that reconstruction—especially of permanent homes for survivors—is sadly behind schedule. Over a year after the disaster, thousands of people are still living in inadequate conditions in camps, displaced from their
original homes.Those given “transitional shelters” often find themselves in shacks with tin roofs or walls that, in Sri Lanka’s tropical climate, turn the interiors into ovens. Contractors have even used asbestos roofing. Many lack running water. The sad truth is that these “temporary” homes may well have to last the next two or three years. According to tsunami survivor interviews, the government promise of a monthly $50 family food subsidy for the first six months only materialized for two to four months. A Homeowner-Driven Housing Reconstruction Plan is supposed to award homeowners grants of up to $2,500 in four installments for rebuilding beyond the buffer zone dictated by the government. Payments have been slow in coming and only a few hundred people have received all four installments. In addition, most families cannot relocate because the government has not allocated land. The insistence of a 100-meter or, in some places, 200meter buffer zone between the sea and new housing has been a source of great contention. Perhaps 80 percent of the population are dependent on fishing and need to live close to their work. And experts agree that a buffer zone of even 200 meters would provide little protection against a tsunami, compared to an early warning system. The fact is that land in Sri Lanka is in extremely short supply. Many coastal homeowners have given up waiting for new lots promised by the government and are simply rebuilding as best they can on existing foundations.
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Adding to the headache is a 50-percent escalation in con- the tsunami did was take the church to the people.The people struction costs since the beginning of last year. NGOs have didn’t really know what Christians were. Now in many places also been hindered by the reintroduction of import taxes on they say, ‘It’s the Christians who helped us.’” relief-related goods (suspended for the first four months after Sadly, however, both LEADS and the NCEASL are now the tsunami), an income tax on charities, and refusal of VAT facing critical financial shortfalls. There is very much a sense exemption. Oxfam alone paid $1 million in import duties (a of the world forgetting about Sri Lanka, says Mendis. “The 300-percent tax) for vehicles used in tsunami reconstruc- number of disasters in the past year has created donor fatigue. tion. Such obstacles in the face of generosity have earned the But there’s so much more to do! We’re just beginning with world’s indignation. permanent housing, and two of our donors have now pulled Progress has been particularly slow in the north and east back. I cannot understand this. It pulls the rug from under of the island, which suffered the greatest damage. The fact our feet.” that this is considered Tamil territory has everything to do Godfrey Yogarajah, general secretary of the NCEASL, with the speed of reconstruction. Roads were cleared much admits they’ve also been hurt: “Some of the pledges we faster, and permanent house received didn’t convert to reconstruction is obviously cash. In the U.S., particularly, more advanced in the Sinhalese, money was redirected to Buddhist-dominated south, conHurricane Katrina victims.” trolled by the government. In spite of this disappointSigns everywhere proment, the alliance felt it had claim the contributions of to respond to the Pakistan various international aid earthquake emergency last agencies—new schools, hosOctober. The agency put pitals, housing projects, boats, together a container load of wells, purification systems. blankets, tents, and other relief But national agencies, includsupplies and shipped it along ing those run by Christians, with money collected from have also been hard at work churches. during the past year. The Sri Lanka’s sorrow is not Alliance Development Trust likely to go away for a long, of the National Christian long time. Back to the Bible, Evangelical Alliance of Sri an international radio minA family poses in front of a permanent house being built Lanka (NCEASL) and Lanka istry, plans to maintain the for them by the Alliance Development Trust of the Evangelical Alliance (LEADS) special broadcasts it began National Christian Evangelical Alliance of Sri Lanka. have both been major players for Sri Lankan listeners in in tsunami relief and develtsunami-destroyed areas. They opment, thanks to gifts from have also replaced libraries local and worldwide believers. And in a country where for pastors and partnered with the Ceylon Bible Society Christians are a tiny, often persecuted minority, their strategy to distribute over 20,000 Bibles in Tamil and Sinhalese, as of using local pastors to distribute some of the aid has paid well as countless booklets, with titles such as Making Sense big dividends. of the Tsunami. “So many people have been touched by God’s love,” The walking wounded include many Christians. Pastor observes a pastor who has seen an increase of 200 coming Kubendrarajah of Batticaloa lost his wife, two small daughters, to his church from other faiths. “I never preach the gospel 11 members of his congregation, and his just-completed church when I give relief, but they understand the love.” Other building. Pastor A. Jesuthasan of the Maranatha Evangelical pastors also testify of church growth and changed attitudes. Mission has also struggled with personal grief while trying One wrote to LEADS Director Roshan Mendis, “For once to serve his congregation. “Our church was only 50 meters we just shut up and did what we had to do. The people that from the sea,” he explains. “We lost eight adults and 26 chilonce stoned us are now embracing us.” dren. Some of my relatives also died. Forty-five families were Dr. Ajith Fernando, international speaker, author, and affected and 23 lost everything. But a father is expected to director of Youth for Christ in Sri Lanka, comments, “What Continued on page 39. PRISM 2006
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same way, instrumental music can speak directly to our hearts in dramatic ways. Rather than music for music’s sake, perhaps this is music for its Maker’s sake. If music, in whatever form it takes, causes us to praise God, then it has revealed something about God to us. This is a sort of microcosmic general revelation: When we recognize what a gift it is to receive beauty through the language of music, we can experience in a sensory way the goodness of the Giver. Even when those who create the sounds we hear are not Christians, we can still be blessed by what they make, because any beauty that they have access to is ultimately part of the general revelation of God’s character. They may be glorifying God without even knowing it. In hear-
ing it, our forever enjoyment of God can be enhanced. After all, every good and perfect gift is from above. Surely that includes every good and perfect sound, too.
Godspeed You Black Emperor! Yanqui U.X.O. (Symphonic Rock)
Matt Weed is a visual arts major at the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, where he also runs a small recording studio with people from his band, Rosetta.
Pain, Prayer, and Progress in Sri Lanka continued from page 27.
As Ajith Fernando has remarked, “The church is the one place that has both races,Tamils and Sinhalese. It should serve as a source of reconciliation. Pray that God will purify the church. The tsunami revealed the weaknesses as well as the strengths. Pray that we will be ready for whatever God has for us!” ■
Deborah Meroff’s most recent book, True Grit: Women Taking on the World, for God’s Sake (Authentic Media, 2004) recounts the true adventures of nine ordinary women who are making an extraordinary difference in such places as Tajikistan, India, Egypt, and Lebanon. Meroff lives in London, England.
help his children, and so is a pastor. God gives me strength.” Added to financial and emotional challenges from the tsunami are escalating religious and political tensions. Extremists among the country’s Buddhist majority have been pressing hard for an anti-conversion bill that calls for prison sentences of up to five years and/or a stiff fine for anyone found guilty of converting others “by force or by allurement or by any fraudulent means.” Members of the public would be encouraged to report cases of suspected “forced conversion.” The wording leaves the door open for abuses in interpretation and would inevitably have a major quenching effect on proclaiming the gospel. Also, on the political scene, the Tamil-Sinhalese peace agreement continues to unravel. Many fear this alreadywounded country will be ripped apart by another civil war.
Suggested listening: Mono Walking Cloud and Deep Red Sky, Flag Fluttered and Sun Shone (Japanese Post-Rock) Explosions in the Sky The Earth Is not a Cold Dead Place (Rock)
Stars of the Lid The Tired Sounds of Stars of the Lid (Soft Ambient) Boards of Canada The Campfire Headphase (Electronic) Pelican The Fire in Our Throats Will Beckon the Thaw (Hard Rock) Arovane Atol Scrap (Experimental Electronic)
For Prayer & Action: • Recently elected President Mahinda Rajapakse is under intense pressure from the Buddhist Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU or National Heritage Party) to pass an anti-conversion bill. Pray that the concerns expressed by other governments about growing religious intolerance in Sri Lanka, including the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, will prevent this bill from passing. • Pray that fair action by President Rajapakse will defuse present tensions between the Tamil Tigers (LTTE) and government (Sinhalese) forces and prevent another war. • Pray that God will continue to protect his church in Sri Lanka and use it to bring hope to tsunami survivors. • Empower Christian relief and development by the NCEASL. Go to www.nceaslanka.com/donate.htm to donate online or dial their donation hotline at 94-11-551-1359.
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