  |
|
|
| |
GBGM > UMCOR > UMCOR News > UMCOR News 2005
Standing in the Rubble of Sri Lanka: Reflections of a United Methodist Missionary
by Paul JeffreyPosted: January 4, 2005 The Rev. Paul Jeffrey is a GBGM missionary and senior correspondent for Response magazine. A member of the rapid response team of Action by Churches Together (ACT), he flew to Sri Lanka in the wake of the December 26 tsunami. While there, he is documenting the emergency for the ACT alliance, which includes the United Methodist Committee on Relief, as well as helping the National Christian Council of Sri Lanka develop effective communications strategies for the relief and rehabilitation period ahead. Two Photos Convey Tragedy's MagnitudeShortly after getting off the plane in Sri Lanka, I walked through the rubble left behind by the tsunami in Moratuwa, a town along the coast south of the capital city of Colombo. Amidst the smell of death and the architecture of rubble, I found two photographs, faded and waterlogged, in old frames, the glass moldy but unbroken, propped against a dense wad of rubble composed of a bicycle, some sections of a simple wall, the tattered unidentifiable remnants of what was once a family's possessions. One showed a young couple on what was likely their marriage day, a whole future of hope ahead. Another showed a little girl, perhaps two years old, standing on the nearby coastal railroad tracks in a fancy dress I'm sure her mother fussed over just before the photo was taken. To work in the wake of a disaster entails a certain amount of emotional distance. I often hide behind my lense, thinking of f-stops and camera angles rather than the suffering I'm observing. It's the only way to get through the day, though sometimes at night the smells and sounds come back to haunt me. Yet on this day, as much of the world watched the televised images of suffering and the inexorable arithmetic of death tolls crept higher and higher, the pain of this tragedy struck me as I looked at those photos. According to the neighbors, who were picking through the rubble of their own homes in a post-trauma daze, these three people were gone. Disappeared. Taken away by a monstrous wall of water that laid waste to 700 miles of Sri Lanka's coast. Not just their home was gone, so was their future. All the promise incarnate in the photos was washed away. The magnitude of this tragedy cannot be appreciated, it's so immense. Yet as I stopped and looked at those photos, I realized that despite all we do -- and, please, do all you can -- it won't be enough. Faith Communities Key to Relief EffortNearby the rubble where I found the photos, I visited a Methodist church that had been converted into a warehouse where dozens of volunteers sorted emergency supplies which were then dispatched to 22 different shelters in the area, including temples, churches, and schools. The churches and other faith communities here are a key part of the relief effort. In many areas they are organized much better than the government, and interreligious tensions that have been brewing in recent months, particularly between Buddhists and Christians, have been set aside to meet the enormity of the crisis. Food and other emergency supplies from Action by Churches Together (ACT), which is supported by UMCOR, are being used in both Christian sanctuaries and Buddhist temples throughout the island. Both are filled with families left homeless by the ocean's attack, and Sri Lankans are enjoying some rare moments of unity as they work together to feed and clothe and shelter the victims. By generously supporting UMCOR's appeal to help rebuild in the tsunami's wake, we'll help people in places like Moratuwa to rebuild some of their homes, maybe to build a new fishing boat or two. What we can do doesn't include all the answers, however. A man in the southern port city of Galle starting yelling at me as I photographed him in the ruins of his house. "I'm a good Buddhist, I don't smoke or drink," he said. "Why did this happen to me? Why?" I didn't have an answer for him. The Tears of the PeopleI met a doctor in a shelter in a Catholic church in Moratuwa. He'd just finished talking with a woman who'd lost her daughter and who kept crying inconsolably. "We can prescribe medicines for medical problems, but we can't find a solution for the tears of these people," the doctor told me. That's how I felt as I looked at the photos. Sometimes I think we are called not just to do something, but to stand there. There are things that happen that we can't solve, we can only remain beside those who suffer, listening, hearing, holding hands, wiping away tears, helping bury the dead, saying nothing because there's nothing to say. Words break down. We share love in the form of water and rice. We share shelter and medicines. We share ourselves. But words fail.
_______________ The Rev. Paul Jeffrey is a GBGM missionary, and senior correspondent for Response magazine. He lives in Eugene, Oregon. |
 A December 26 tsunami left tens of thousands dead and disappeared on the island nation of Sri Lanka, yet mementos of those people have been found amidst the debris. In Moratuwa, south of Colombo, United Methodist missionary Paul Jeffrey found these two photographs. One shows a young couple on what was likely their marriage day. Another shows a little girl, perhaps two years old, standing on the nearby coastal railroad tracks in a fancy dress. Credit: Paul Jeffrey/ACT International, January 1, 2005. In the Uyana Methodist Church south of Colombo, Sri Lanka, Jayangany Silva and other volunteers sort through clothes donated for victims of the December 26 tsunami. Churches and other faith communities throughout the island nation have responded quickly and generously to the massive needs of the victims. Credit: Paul Jeffrey/ACT International, January 1, 2005. How to Participate in This ResponsePlease give to Advance #274305 and designate "South Asia Emergency" on the memo line of your check written to UMCOR. Give through your local United Methodist church or mail contributions to: UMCOR, 475 Riverside Dr., Room 330, New York, NY 10115. Call 1-800-554-8583 to make a credit card donation. One hundred percent of every donation to this appeal goes to support relief and recovery efforts in the disaster-stricken regions. UMCOR also needs donations of health kits, school kits, and Medicine Boxes for this response. See Also
|
