The following text
has been provided by Brother Dominck Pujia from Bureau of
International Solidarity (BIS) in Rome.
Twenty-eight kilometers
south of Colombo, Sri Lanka, is the small coastal fishing
village of Kalutara. The Marist Brothers came to Kalutara
twenty-seven years ago to do what they do best: educate children.
The tsunami that hit Sri Lanka and many other countries in
the region killed tens of thousands of people, left millions
homeless and destroyed hundreds of small villages like Kalutara.
Holy Cross College
was established by the Marist Brothers to meet the educational
needs of the children of Kalutara. The school serves 1300
students, all boys, ages six to nineteen. Last year, a small
extension school, a few kilometers away from the main campus,
was built to serve the ever-increasing number of students
who wanted to attend Holy Cross College. When the tsunami
hit shore, the small extension school suffered significant
structural damage. The power of the waves crushed walls, destroyed
the roof, and moved the building from its foundation. It is
no longer usable.
Surveying the
damage, Brother Sales, a teacher at Holy Cross said, “The
extension school had ninety students attending, ages six through
nine. Water flooded the school in seconds. Walls collapsed,
the roof gave way and everything inside -- desks, schools
supplies, books -- everything was destroyed. Luckily the tsunami
hit on a day when the school was closed or most of our students
would have died here as well.” It is estimated that
of all those who died in Sri Lanka as a result of the tsunami,
40 percent were children.
Brother Mervyn
, a member of the Provincial Council of the Province of Sri
Lanka and Pakistan, reports that a few days after the immediate
crisis began, Brother Michael DeWass, provincial of the province,
and a number of brothers traveled to Kalutara to get a better
idea of what happened and to give support to the small community
of four brothers who live and teach there. Some days after
the tsunami hit, the brothers in Kalutara gathered the students
and teachers of the school to meet with them and to see if
they were all right. Only forty of the ninety students who
attended the extension school were able to be located. “We
don’t know much more about those we did not see. Some
may have moved inland with their family, some may still be
trying to find relatives.”
Brother Mervyn
goes on to report that while meeting with the students, the
brothers and teachers distributed uniforms and supplies. When
the meeting ended, the students and the teachers spent some
time helping the people of the area with recovery and cleaning
up debris left by the high water. “We need to open the
school and begin teaching as soon as possible. The sooner
we and our students can get back into a routine, the faster
we can feel a sense of normalcy and begin to overcome the
fear that many of us experience these days. Nothing like this
has ever happened in Sri Lanka. It is all new for us.”
The brothers and
lay teachers will hold classes beginning on the 10th of January.
Brother Mervyn says, “We are still not sure where the
students in the extension school will meet…maybe in
the church just near the school or outside under the trees,
or under a tent, but we will begin classes on the 10th.”
Recently, after
a two-day tour of flood soaked Sri Lanka, UNICEF Executive
Director Carol Bellamy identified four priorities for recovery
as far as children are concerned. Keeping children alive,
caring for separated children, ensuring that children are
protected from exploitation, and getting children back to
school as quickly as possible and training teachers and health
workers to deal with them, are needed “to give this
devastated tsunami generation a fighting chance” says
Bellamy. About the role schools play in recovery, she goes
on to say, “Nothing will signal hope more clearly than
rebuilding and reopening schools. Being in a learning environment
gives children something positive to focus on, and enables
the adults around them to go about the business of rebuilding
with greater confidence.”
Based on latest
reports coming from the area, about 200 schools were severely
damaged in Sri Lanka. The Holy Cross College Extension branch
was one of them. The brothers are determined to begin classes
on the 10th of January. Besides rebuilding of the extension
school and finding an alternative place for classes to be
held in the coming days, Brother Mervyn states that much is
needed. “Text books, exercise books, pencils, desks,
chairs, writing boards and markers, uniforms and training
for teachers who will need to help the students cope with
what has happened…we will need much help, but we must
begin to bring our students together and do what we do best:
educate them for a better tomorrow.”
Story
by: Brother Dominck Pujia, Marist Bureau of
International Solidarity, Rome.
Resources: Interviews with Br. Mervyn
and press releases from UNICEF and the Asian Human Rights
Commission.
