Forgotten Tsunami Kids - Merry Christmas?

This is the account of one of my more generous friends, who took it upon herself to help out some kids affected by the tsunami, but are still living in scant conditioins at the moment without any schooling and in most cases without any parents, strangely this is in the ratmalana or Moratuwa area which is even more shocking given what a great christmas i had just a couple of km's away. Anyway, this is her account (my friend) of a little christmas party she arranged for them on the 26th,

- Well ironically it took place exactly 4 years after the tsunami.. I wanted to have it before Christmas but due to various reasons it ended up on that day itself. Guess that made the party even more special.

Well both the camps joined together and there’re 81 kids ranging from about 3 yrs to 15 – girls and boys alike. Some have parents but not all of them are fortunate in that sense.
They have one lady teacher who educates them on all subjects (have attached a pic of her).. I think her service is amazing.. I mean just imagine to teach all those kids by herself and she’s quite young too!!! Apparently after the tsunami they had been like wild animals and very tough to control but now they actually listen to her and know how to behave.. she even speaks to them in English as much as possible.. she’s one woman who’s making a true difference.

Well the evening started off with the kids bringing us bouquets with flowers picked from god knows where – but it was so damn pretty that it was way more meaningful than any bouquet I’ve received in my life. Then the teacher went on to give a speech and so did one of my friends (he works for the salvation army) who helped me on this.. made me cry (so sue me I got emotional) Then all the kids gave a few performances… it’s amazing how talented they are and what a lot they have to smile about when they have absolutely nothing!!! All the songs and dances were so heartfelt and they had practiced in such a short time.. the little girl with long hair just stole my heart!!!

Once all the performances were done Santa came and gave them sweets and stuff which they almost murdered each other for-it was hilarious!!!! So excited over a 1/= toffee – amazing no? after that we gave away the gifts…oh my god it was priceless to see the happiness on their faces just by receiving a small thing like a school bag and a bottle.. how often do we take that for granted?? We would even sneer at a gift like that, but for them it was a precious little chunk of gold that they literally didn’t let go of it because they feared that leaving it aside for even a couple of minutes would end up in them losing it or misplacing it.

One of the most precious moments was when this little boy who was less than about 5 yrs old just sat in his little corner and was just obsessed with his bottle of water which had a fancy straw popping out of it. He kept on opening it sucking the straw pretending that there was actual liquid in it then closed it and kept on doing the same thing over and over and over… how many 5 yr olds that you and I know would ever be fascinated or thrilled with a puny water bottle????

We wound up by serving them a piece of butter cake, a cordial drink and fruit and nut ice cream.. that’s all I had funds for, but that made them happy so it was fine.. OMG the smile on their faces when they received that cone of ice cream – I felt like a total cow remembering how I stuff myself with ice cream on Sunday afternoons! (oh by the way this little shed that the party took place is actually where they have their classes – it’s boiling hot and there are no tables and chairs – and we complain at office when the ac goes off – what a joke!) Anyhow I’m planning to do bigger stuff for these kids this year cause there doesn’t seem to be any other funding for these kids and their families – considering their pathetic living conditions! I want to have a huge party for them this year during Christmas with much more funding and wanna start a funding organization to at least make a small difference in their lives.. we take way too many things for granted and this year I shall change that to some extent!