Tsunami Appeal Update -
        Letter from Fr Joseph Mary S.J.

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Welcome ... 1

To all the children, everywhere, who are helping the children of Sri Lanka and the other places where the Tsunami caused so much death and destruction: WELCOME!

Here we have letter from Father Joseph Mary (Britain is one of the few countries in the world where you can tell that somebody is a boy or a girl just by reading their name). You can tell from his style of writing, his spelling and the phrases he uses, that English is not his first language but even so, he has done very well in describing something which would be difficult to describe in any language.

He is writing to us from a place called Dutch Bar on the east coast of Sri Lanka; a coastal area which was directly in the path of the Tsunami. You can find the places on the maps below.

You will not know the meanings of some of the words he uses: the Burghers - these are descendants of Portuguese settlers and here, the village residents are predominantly Burghers. Take your time reading the letter and find out what a Tamil is and what a mason does! Read again the Story of Nadeen and discover as much as you can about Sri Lanka and the work of your mission, Mission Tomorrow, around the world.

Father Joseph Mary has already sent us some pictures  and once you have read his letter you can have a look and see the type of work that needs to be done in his second set of photographs.

Welcome ... 2

To all Mums, Dads, Parish Catechist, people with big feet and long legs and especially those who are interested in the work of Mission around the world. You have probably joined us from the Tsunami link on the Mission Societies' web site: WELCOME!

Each year the children on Mission Together (The Holy Childhood Association - one of the four Pontifical Mission Societies) adopt a particular project. Last September the efforts of children in the schools of England and Wales were directed towards the work of mission in Sri Lanka.

At the beginning of the Autumn Term they were introduced to Nadeen and her life on the island of Sri Lanka. Their activities were to have centred on the plight of children suffering in the aftermath of war on the Island. If you would like to know more - read the story of Nadeen and then have a look at the Teachers' Notes.

Following the Tsunami Disaster, Mission Together joined with CAFOD in a joint appeal to assist those affected.

Here you will find an index to the appeal and the updates we have received from the island. Much of the Church's work is still to be done and will continue for many years.

Below, you will find a letter from Fr Joseph Mary S.J. Follow the other links or refer to the index and you will be able to see some of the photographs that he has sent to us.

TSUNAMI DISASTER – KALLADY – DUTCH BAR - DCE.26.2004

It was the Sunday of Christmas Season. December, 26th. The Holy Mass was at 6.15 a.m. By 8.00 a.m. Mass was over. People had gone home. It was now 9.00 a.m. I sat to have my breakfast. Hardly was I taking the first bite, I heard Suresh, the boy with me yelling and screaming "water. water. water is coming". I ran out of the refectory, looked out and lo and behold the sea spread out its fangs and rushing to devour us ‑ frightening indeed! That was my feeling as I saw the sight. I yelled out "run into the church ‑ everyone run" I had around 6 children and two ladies staying with me.

I heard the neighbours Catholics and Hindus, Burghers and Tamils screaming and weeping and calling the Almighty to save them, to save the village. I too ran hither and thither calling on the Lord to calm the ferocious waters! the water was rising, I was in die residence. I was on my knees now, on my feet next, hands stretched out now, beating my breast next crying aloud, calling on the Father, pleading, begging to hold back the ferocious waters at bay!

It was a payer of sheer desperation and distrust? May be.

What an ordeal indeed! All was over in a matter of minutes - just twenty to thirty! and tile havoc it has wreaked!

We are discovering bodies, decomposed in the debris and burning them. Of the material loss, to properties and homes, What can I say! The people of these areas count very few government servants. Most of them are fisher folks. The others are dally wage earners, like Carpenters and Masons or mechanics. Several of them had their own houses. They are people who came up in life through dint of hard work, Some went to Middle East earned and built their homes. Everything went up in smoke in the waters and demolished to the foundation!

With their lives in their hands clothes on their bodies, they fled to the mainland for safety and shelter. What ever was left in their “homes” the scavenging robbers, looted. Indeed amazing things have happened in the after math of the Tsunami devestation.

In Dutch Bar, the Burgher community the immediate members of the parish of St Ignatius lost around 130 members – several of them children, young boys and girls in their teens and elderly folks. The Tamils too have suffered the same plight – girls, young boys elderly people.

Live have been miraculously saved as well. Unbelievable! Two little boys of 10 years of age and two women and a young man washed away into the lagoon. Each separately just held onto a plank and carrier away for four to six miles and were saved at Kattankudy and Kangkayanodai in the Muslim areas. Similarly two mothers were saved in the same way and a man as well. I believe there will be several such stories. Equally there are stories of several missing persons, and every day for a week or more and on the 13^th and 14^th day as well. Bodies are discovered and burnt.

Precious lives of babes, children, youth, mothers, fathers and elders! Around 2000 homes razed to the ground. The villages devastated beyond recognition! All gone with the waters! It was a harrowing night-marish experience in broad day light! Two weeks after the harrowing experience people have not got out of the trauma still. It is still a haunting experience for them. They don’t want to go back to Dutch Bar any more! To come back to 26^th December. Then began the evacuation of the dead! The mortuary in the hospital was full. The bodies were laid out on the verandas and on the floor of the wards. On identification, the kith and kin took away the bodies for burial, Un-identified bodies were buried together six, eight or ten in a grave. The evacuation continued for three to four days.

In latter days, again, daily for three days the bodies were burnt then and there as they were discovered. On the 12^th and 13^th day too there have been bodies washed by the Lagoon shore or found under the debrie.

The people are not at all out of the trauma as yet. It is going to take them a long while before they come out of it. Especially the Dutch Bar Burgher Community who count about 130 of their dear ones dead and whose houses are all simply no more – they swear they won’t return. Sound of water and even vehicles are haunting them – the grown ups – sturdy strong Burgher men and women as well. It is much more so with the youth and the young ones.

Relocating them to their former place has been totally rejected by them despite the personal appeal of the Bishop, Director of EHED, the Superior of the Jesuits and the JRS Director, South Asia and their Pastor, myself, Fr. Joseph Mary S.J.

I pray God heal their wounds and remove the fear and help them to relocate as one Community.

Fr. J. Joseph Mary S.J.
Pastor,
St. Ignatius Church,
Kallady – Dutch Bar,
Batticaloa,
Sri Lanka.