May 25th afforded us our first real picture of the destruction worked by the tsunami. Hambantota, the town furtherst to the south in Sri Lanka, was totally destroyed. Small temporary shelters still housed survivors a full six months after the great wave swept away their bustling town.

Entries: Jason, Keith

Even after 9 hours of sleep, I still awoke both tired and shockingly still wanting to sleep. Yet, the show must go on, so I stumbled out of bed and packed up so that we could check out. We had breakfast and proceeded to drive to Hambantota, which is the southern most point in Sri Lanka; one of the hardest hit cities on December 26th. Words and pictures simply cannot begin to describe the condition we found the hapless city in.

What is to be done? If another tsunami were to hit Hambantota, or any recovering city for that matter, there will surely be an almost complete death toll, and no warning systems are good enough to reach the populous at risk in these developing countries.

I had a great conversation with Mevan about NGO’s and their failure to work with governments to try and implement change for the better… Oh well, maybe when I have the resources and ability I can use what affliction and destitute I witnessed here to motivate me to push for change in the way things are done. In other words, help cut the bureaucratic tape that keeps aid from getting to the right people and the right places at the right time.

Later in the day, we visited the preschool that we will attend the opening of on the 27th and we also visited the largest housing project in Sri Lanka, of which AFLAC is building a bunch of the houses, which seemed to be of the best made houses in the project.

In the late afternoon, we ventured on an awesome Safari. If felt as though we were suddenly transported to an African savanna. We saw elephants, oxen, crocodiles, mongooses, birds, and other neat animals; and we also saw some of the damage the tsunami inflicted even upon the nature and wildlife residing near the coast. It’s simply amazing to see forests that are decimated, the remains of a seemingly sturdy bungalow, and the lack of animal life near the coast.

Afterwards, we returned to our hotel, ate a dinner with the group, and ended the evening by discussing activities to do with the orphans tomorrow.

-Jason

So here is my chance to write. 2 days ago we went to Tangelle. The first thing that we did was go to the College of Fishing and Nautical Engineering for a ceremony where AFLAC gave 4 fishing boats to local fishermen. The JBP, the communist party, watched over the ceremony. Ish had to give a speech at the ceremony, as well as several political leaders. After the ceremony we got to take the first ride on the boats, which in Sri Lankan culture is very special. The water was beautiful so I decided to swim in from the boat rather than take it all the way in.

After our boat ride, we went to the house of one of the recipients of a boat and had a big meal (though, I was still a little scared of the food). We then checked into our hotel, the Tangella Bay Hotel. The hotel’s view was absolutely amazing. It was situated right between a bay and an ocean so we spend the afternoon at both the beach and the bay and played some beach rugby. Tom and I also had a little swim.

The ceremony itself was really interesting even though I couldn’t understand it. Even though AFLAC is doing a great thing by giving the boats, some other fishermen resent that they weren’t chosen. Also, one of the fishermen asked for repairs on the boat that he received. He did not show that much gratitude after being given that chance. Lunch was also interesting because we were able to ask questions about how individuals coped with the disaster. They didn’t have any jobs so they just had to make do the best they could.

Today we changed hotels again, but before we checked into our new one we visited a preschool. The kids were very cute and sang for us (even head shoulders knees and toes). We then went to Monoragua, which was a really badly hit city. All of the houses there were either leveled or badly damaged. As soon as I got off the bus, people started begging for money from me, which was annoying. But we saw one really cool thing – a group of about 6 people were there building houses on their own. They didn’t affiliate themselves with any group, but decided to start building houses on their own. About 2 miles from that town is another site where AFLAC is building homes. They build 20 houses in this new village that is basically moving the ruined city. The government designated a site of 3,000 acres for the village, but only AFLAC and another group of about 50 houses are actually near completion. Most other groups haven’t even started construction, which is frustrating to see. The houses, although small, are actually well designed and seem bigger than they are.

In the afternoon, we checked into the hotel and took an awesome animal safari. We went to the yalla animal reserve and saw a lot of cool animals. The coolest animals were the elephants, one of which was eating like 5 feet from our SUV. I loved seeing all the wildlife, it sure is different from the Six Flags Safari.

-Keith