So much has been happening in the post tsunami phase, that it’s not possible now to combine this MarCom and technology blog with my effort in Sri Lanka.
If you’re a returning visitor to this site based on the tsunami coverage and fund raising, please leave a contact address and I will send you a link to the new site when it comes up. Meanwhile, see visit Wave of Hope for updates.
The white smoke rose from the Sistine chapel a little while ago, and we now have a new Pope in the Vatican!
Pope Benedict XV, a Bavarian, is 78 years young! See story here.
Within minutes, BBC has this profile. Need to visit? Check this link for an online tour.
My mind goes back nearly 26 years ago, when I had the luck to shake hands with John Paul II. He was barely one year at the Vatican then, and was so young and dynamic.
It was a very windy day, and I recall so vividly his robes flying around him, as he strode across Vatican square, genuinely anxious meet those who had come to see this enigmatic Pole. For want of something intelligent to say at that moment, I asked him to put Sri Lanka on his itinerary. Something John Paul did many years later, as he became the most travelled Pope in history, reaching out to all religions and nationalities.
Our prayers are with him tonight.
Joey Caspersz sends in this update today on the ‘wave of hope’ project that has been providing shoes and socks to the children in Trincomalee area.
Click on the picture to enlarge. Joey notes:
Accordingly, through a friend in the area, Mr. Bala Wimaladas, various schools in and around the Trincomalee town area were contacted (it was thought that coordination with schools away from the town would not be practical) with a request to submit details of children in need of shoes. The Principals of the schools responded with written individual details of children in need of footwear. An appeal was then sent via email to various parties in Sri Lanka and overseas requesting assistance to which a positive response was obtained.
He also says that some 1,065 school children have already benefited (563 girls and 502 boys) in the Trincolmalee area. They also supplied 2 pairs of socks to each of the 1,065 children.
He provides some background on the schools, for those of you interested:
St. Mary’s College was founded in 1862 by an Irish lady and was subsequently taken over in 1922 by the Carmelite nuns before been nationalized in 1970s. It is exclusively for girls and there are currently 1,626 students with 67 teachers. Three children are said to have lost their lives due to the Tsunami.
Sri Komneswara Hindu College was founded in 1897 and was subsequently taken over by the Ramakrishna Mission in 1925. This is a boys’ school with 1,965 students and 78 teachers. During the Tsunami disaster two boys, who was studying in the year 1 and 3, lost their lives.
Shamnuga Hindu Ladies College
Established in 20th of June 1923. This school is also a girls’ school with 2,013 students and 65 teachers. Orr’s Hill Vivekanda College Established in 10th of February 1978. This is a mixed school with 1,276 students (737 boys and 539 girls) and 65 teachers. Three students (girls) lost their lives in the tsunami.
Sinhala Maha Vidyalaya
Founded in 1957. This is a mixed school with 1,153 students (581 boys and 572 girls) and 48 teachers
T/AL-Minhaj MMV.
The school was established in 3rd of September 1979 in an area where low income families (fisher folks and labourers) live. This is a mixed school with 553 students (280 boys and 273 girls) and 27 teachers.
St. Joseph’s College.
Founded in 1867 and was originally run by the Jesuits. The school has 1,200 students and 58 teachers.
If anyone wants to folow up on this project, please contact Joey Caspersz at joeyc@finlays.lk
Many people ask me what are the specific areas that still need to be addressed. I defer to actual requests coming from people we are in contact with, who tell us how many urgent needs are being overlooked.
Yesterday Wave of Hope coorrdinator Robert Selliah had an email from the nuns of Holy Family Convent in Sri Lanka who are in need of help. The Mother General wrote to say that there was severe overcrowding in one orphanage they run, where 55 children live in a building capable of housing 40– and there were need for a library, recreation facilities etc. This is in the Vadamarachi area.
See also a tragic story here about another convent-run orphanage that was badly affected, with about 250 casualties.
If you arrived at this page from the www.waveofhope.us link, and would like to be involved, please contact us here.
Welcome to visitors from WaveOfHope.Us
The ‘Wave of Hope’ web site forwards to this address from today. A big thank you everyone who is supporting this cause. I will be updating the waveofhope.us site shortly, with specific information on the project.
Until then, please check these Sri Lanka Tsunami relief updates at this blog.
For more information, please email me at this link.
Or call Tanu and Angelo Fernando at 602-750-3476.
As I reported a few days ago, Professor Joe Fernando (harendra) of ASU, is in Sri Lanka to study a model that would allow us to develop a tsunmi warning system.
“We want to know what the size and distribution of the wave impact was during the tsunami,” Fernando said. “By knowing that we can see if currently available wave models are correct. If the model works, then the science behind it is correct, and if the wave model is correct, then we will have a good idea of how to develop a tsunami warning system for the region.”
See the full article here on the ASU site.
India has already set a time frame (within 3 years) and a cost ($27 million) for a warning system. See BBC report here.
i was in galle yesterday and the devastation along the coast is heartbreaking and unbelievable. thousands of houses and buildings have been smashed to their foundations by the force of the waves.
yet, i saw signs of hope. people were returning to their non houses, sitting among the ruins, chatting, cleaning up and so on. in some places a single light bulb hung from a pole in the ground shedding light on the ruins.
just past abalangoda lie the remains of the death train and the army has moved in heavy equipment and tanks to lift it up. children were playing cricket on the beaches and on land laid bear by the waters. i had grit in my eyes.
actually people are pretty amazing in more ways than one.
Andrew Samuel, also travelling travelling south from Colombo –Jan 4th
Andrew, is volunteering with an NGO called Community Development Services. He can be reached at 94-777-341110 (mobile)
We will be assessing areas in Wadduwa, Bentota, Hikkaduwa, Galle, Matara, Tangalle and Hambantota and areas in between.
I’m more keen in developing a long term framework for capacity building, trauma management and mental rehabilitation work. Whilst physical needs are still important, in the months to come capacity building will be the priority.
I began this blog, Hoi Polloi, as a MarCom and PR exercise nearly 8 months ago. I write for 2 magazines here in the U.S. and have been writing for LMD for the past 10 years, so it was a useful way to connect with my readers.
The tsunami of December 26th changed all that. It suddenly became not so important to cover topics such as Wi-Fi, and viral marketing, when tens of thousands of people in some eleven countries are dead, injured, orphaned and have lost everything they had, with no hope for the future. Their needs are fresh water, medicines, and a comforting hand of a loved one –not the latest mega-pixel camera, or that 40-gig iPod.
I very quickly realized that I had to turn this web site into something more useful –perhaps a fund-raising tool and information post. A radio station called, wanting to know if I could get an interview with someone on the ground. My wife, Tanu, being a Montessori teacher, spread the word to a few friends that she would like donations of children’s items to be sent over to Sri Lanka. This small gesture snowballed into a huge affair, with people descending on our home and dropping off so many bags of clothes, infant formula, feeding bottles, and canned food, we had to park our cars outside the garage. The FOAF –friend of a friend– network was suddenly in motion
I am in touch with people from several companies in Sri Lanka doing relief work, working almost like NGOs! These people have begun writing back with stories that I have started posting as well. Blogging for Sri Lanka has suddenly made an online experiment one of the most rewarding communication projects I have ever got myself into. Maybe it is rewarding, too, because it makes up for the sense of helplessness we feel. Those of us who live several time zones away –that’s 23-hours flying time for me– from Sri Lanka, will understand this better than others. Cell phones, text messaging, and IM bring home the immediacy of the nightmare out there. A blog takes each of our personal experiences of hope and pain and wraps us into a community.
HoiPolloi, has now taken on a new meaning. It is the voice of ordinary people, doing extraordinary things. If you’ve read this far, please try to make a difference, not just for Sri Lanka, but for someone out there. We all have day jobs. We all have other things we rather be doing. But it would be irresponsible to go on as if December 26th didn’t happen.
You’d think there is no silver lining, watching Nightline and the ABC special. Viran Constantine writes this from Colombo:
A village which was not accessible until last evening and over 3000 people feared dead was reached this morning to find that all had survived. This is good for the moral of the rescue workers.
Definitely good for everyone. Here too in Arizona, with so many people dropping off things at our doorstep. People we hardly know. Colleagues, neighbours, friends are pledging money and food items, clothes and one family even says they can give us their truck to transport goods to California, to the port.
Hoipolloireport 
