The First Two Camps I Visit.

Friday 8th July.
Up at 6am, breakfast, then taxi to Colombo to meet my contact who I've never met before, only emailed twice. Took just under 2 hours. Traffic was horrendous. Arrived at hotel and was met by Sadeesh who then took me to their office around the corner. Had a meeting. Great group of people. Very focused ,very committed and pasionate about what they are doing. Met the following people; Lalinda,[Lali], national co ordinator, Johaan, project manager/admin. Saddeesh, IT manager/projects. Shiromi,finance manager, Sharmala, project co ordinator, Sandy, project co ordinator, Helen, the secretary & Uncle the driver. Went to two camps. One housing 180 families and the other 120 families. Well I've been to some poor places in Africa and the like but the back streets of Colombo are as bad as the worst I've seen. The tourists would never see it, you just would not find it. Its worse than I imagined, I wasn't aware that there was a need for camps in the capitol. In the first camp the project have built temp accomodation, rows & rows of wooden rooms approx. 10ft x 8ft. All these people are supposed to get meal tickets from the government for things like rice, lentils, spices and other things. The only thing they are getting at this time is flour, nothing else is available. They are very limited to what they can do with it.To cook flour dishes takes a lot more gas. Some Mothers and Children appear under nourished. Some children are being kept off school because they are lethargic & tired, unable to concentrate due to lack of the right food. Some of them are still cooking on open fires with logs because they have run out of gas or have yet to be issued with a camping stove. Remember, all of the equipment, utensils, housing etc has come from donations, has been built & is being run by volunteers. None of this is Government or Tsunami Aid money! These People (TAB) are doing a fantastic job. We start a feed programme on Monday to help the Mums and Kids.The idea is to give milk to the under 3's and extra food for the Mum's. There was a problem while I was there because they have had no electricity during the day only at night. Apparently the electricity bills are too high so they have been cut off. Not sure who by or for how long? This is a problem as the accommodation they are living in heats up like an oven & they become too hot for the Mothers and their babies as the fans don't operate without power. So the insects, caterpillars and other bugs then crawl into the house because its hot and the kids are eating them & they are getting into the bedding etc! The second camp was even worse. They are all living in tents. Some made out of plastic sheets etc. The Tsunami happened some seven months ago, you wouldn't think so if you could see the living conditions. A lady came up to me and showed me her husbands medical records & copies of paid hospital bills. He has been diagnosed with very serious throat cancer and cannot afford to have the operation or purchase drugs required to slow it down. What can you say to someone in this situation, "don't worry I'm sure everything will be ok"-, theres nothing you can say, but it leaves a lump in your throat knowing what the end result is most likely to be and all the guy needs is some money for an operation. Non of them speak English so communication is a problem, however when you smile and shake their hands their faces light up and this huge white smile appears. I think they are pleased to see me. I think they hope that maybe as a westerner i can make a difference, but I fear they have a long road ahead. Met a young lad about nine years old, cheeky little chap especially considering he is deaf & dumb. His brothers the same. They are hoping for a hearing aid each, so they can go to school. Its just a question of money. He just wanted his photo taken, several times and to hold my hand while we walked around the camp, pretty basic stuff really.
The people housed in the camps in Colombo are displaced as a result of the Tsunami. I was not aware that they were effected as far up as that. Fortunately, nobody died in this region. I fear things will get much worse when I move down the coast towards Galle & Hikkaduwa..