Morgan Shortt

 

"Well I suppose I can begin from the start.  I was in north Thailand when the tsunami hit!  A devastation, though one I knew I needed to place my energies into!  Vicky from WorkingAbroad, was an amazing help to me as I worked through the Internet in a search for a place to be in Sri Lanka.  She gave me a fantastic contact that hooked me up with an organization called SCI (Social Civil International). SCI picked us up in the Colombo airport, and brought us to a town on the east coast called Periya Kallar where we stayed in the YMCA and were fed, and given clean water.

 

Kallar was destroyed!  Walking through the beaches of destruction, slowly strolling over broken houses, washed out photographs, clothes, shoes and the heart renching mangled toy dolls.

 

There was no movement, I wandered this new place and realized it was silent!  I saw few people and the few I did see sat at their foundations remains.  I could feel the overwhelming power of a hopeless village!  All was lost, and what remained was but a sad story of a new beginning that hadn't yet been found.  This is exactly what we had walked into. The YMCA was incredible!  A place where youth programs have always been held had turned into a disaster relief hotel for the east coast!  Mr Patrick as the leader and Cathy who was very intensely running the show!  Within a few days of our stay the royal navy was bunking with us to build the washed out bridges,  a small YMCA team of 15, and the SCI crew existing at about 30 volunteers.  Though, SCI became corrupt very quickly and disappointingly became a place that we could no longer agree with at all.  As the team moved out, myself and my partner Pottz decided to stay and be independent volunteers!

 

I quickly became in charge of the beginning of the temporary shelters project.  Amuch larger job when you're working with a corrupt government every day!  And one would expect an easier job coming from small tin roof's.  Though it is not the work that I believe should be shared.  I believe it is the experience! When we arrived in Kallar as I said, there was no  hope to be found!  As a team of volunteers we were clearing schools, hospitals, and clearing land for the shelters.  With no machinery we moved each brick and each piece of glass with our hands, and with the excited help of the small children, who circled us in their bare feet we began to see progress.

 

How scary is it to see so many children shoeless in such dangerous conditions?  I tell you, my heart stopped more times then I could ever express.  Though they would listen and I had to keep in mind that they have been living in this for 2 weeks now. Every day we would go to work, having any adult just watching!  In a state of shock how could one possibly believe that what we were doing would one day pay off!  In their mind set, all is lost!  Why bother trying to pick up the remains, as there is just too much damage done!
We tried to understand this and with encouragement we would pass the watching eyes a shovel and coax them to work along our side!  Without pushing it, our offer slowly started to show!!

 

I will always remember the day of the 3rd week anniversary of the tsunami.  The village we had been getting to know just wasn't the same this morning!  As we walked to work, we realized in a state of shock, that not just a few people, but EVERY person in the village was working!  It was amazing!  It felt as though they had a town meeting without us and just decided to get up!  Every person we passed had already piles of bricks at the road, creating a wall on each side of the road!  Women, men, youth, everyone was working!  It was amazing!  And nothing I could say would ever express the intensity of emotion this gave us!  Something made these people see a small fraction of hope and determination!!!  It was magic!!  I don't believe I have ever been so proud of anything in my life!  These people were shining!  From this, every change in the people and their healing process seemed to happen all at once!  All simultaneously as though it were a whole new wave of ambition!!!

 

Now we as volunteers were pushing a few things.  Our greatest push as I see it was going to the beach!  Realizing that this was absolutely horrifying for the locals to see, we continued to do this.  We saw it as important to let the locals see that it was safe now!  We wanted them all to know that we were still going to be at work the next day, no matter how upset this made them... they needed to see!  And again, the one month mark to the day was another miracle!!!  From bare beaches, from beaches where we were the only ones in sight to be stepping on, to dozens!!! This one month mark was incredible!!! People came to the beach with us!!!  People not only came with us but they were already there when we arrived!!! Mind you none of them were swimming, but that would come with due time!  The exciting thing was that these youth and some adults were facing a massive traumatic fear!  A fear that to this day is stopping people to even look at the water!  A fear that will take these villages and swamp them with phobia!  And yet, a small number will still shine through the rest and begin to once again enjoy the sea!

 

5 weeks from the tsunami, there was washup on the beach from Indonesia!  Bottles, giant jungle trees, clothes, shoes, fishing nets, brooms, house hold products.  It is like I never would have imagined it to be!  The beach was literally covered in stories from the Indonesian tsunami!  It was breath taking, and another massive realization of how strong the sea really is!  I never thought it possible to have garbage travel so far by sea, but I suppose when it was travelling in a swarm it some how made it to our beach!  It was disappointing though at the same time I believe all things happen for a reason, and this was something that I believe took place to help a healing process along its way!  As this event created so much attention, that it grabbed hundreds of terrified locals and distracted their fear for the large bunt of entertainment and curiosity!  Never would I have thought this was possible!  Now the work, was hard labour in intense heat through the day, and was paper work through the nights.

 

Though it was the work that was the easy part!  Being there, made you someone for the village to know!  And someone for the village to trust!  I was there for only 3 months but I was there long enough for a trust to be gained!  And i Loved this!  Though this as well was a difficult stance!  The town people were healing, and in order to do this one has to go through their stages!  First it was silence, then it was everyone wanting to tell you just what there status is now.  The best thing I saw broke my heart and it was the healing process that brought tears, this brought long stories of detailed experiences. It brought the pain of loss and  washed out photographs.

 

This is the part that was so needed, and yet so difficult!  Learning myself how the best way to contain yourself, to seem strong for these people and to be positive!  This is the part we all found difficult and to be numb is what we had been doing to get the job done, up until this point!  Though this was also the part that one feels honoured to be there for!  It is the part that will change a volunteers life forever creating a path to a career.  This is the part that only makes you stronger as you go each evening to the locals homes for dinner (be it a diced tomatoe or a sri lankan meal).  When people come to your work with photo albums and the last of their children, to share their story and tears with you will make you feel grateful for every breath you will ever take!

 

There are still people who have no shelter in Sri Lanka!  There are still people who have no clean water or food!  And these are the inspirations of strength that will carry me through life!  Because these are the people that you will still see smiling!  These are the people that will wake up every day and go to sleep every night, and that can still bring joy into their lives!  The Kallar people will forever be my inspiration!  I will never forget the massive smiles on the youths faces and the ectactic screams of excitement as they dove into the waves as though it were the first time ever!!  I will never forget how alive the  water made them after experiencing the tsunami!  The rejoyce to be in the sea again and the relief that the water has not damaged them this time!  And the 25 smiling faces swimming beside me is something that all present at that time will never forget!  Ii will never go through life to forget the grateful thanks, and they will never understand how that thanks is coming from myself, towards them!

 

Vicky set me up with the most extreme experience that has emotions of a roller coaster!  She set me up with something that I only hope to return to!   As I am currently in India, I am only missing Kallar more and more with each day!  Each morning I am waking up to visions of these wonderful peoples faces, both smiling and crying! They were the most intense 3 months of my life!  They were the most inspiring people I have ever met!  And above all, it has been the one thing that will always direct me towards the proper path of where I am supposed to be!  I owe that thanks and appreciation to this woman along side of the Kallar people! Thanks Vicky!
Sincerely, Morgan Shortt