"They need our attention, they need our love."

"Given what these people have been through, they need us....they need our attention, they need our love," says Dr. Mitchell Schuster, of the tsunami survivors in Thirukovil. Dr. Schuster is there for two weeks to alleviate their discomfort to the degree he can while the people recover their spirit. He was able to convince some of his well-to-do patients in Boca to help him. "One wrote a check for $10,000, two others for $5,000, and others contributed as well," he said. With that money, Schuster purchased medicines and other medical supplies in the U.S. Once in Sri Lanka, he bought books, notebooks and pens, which he has passed out to schoolchildren in refugee camps and in surrounding towns, students who lost everything in the tsunami. He has found universal vitamin and protein deficiencies in camp residents and is trying to fight them. This past week, he inquired about buying a herd of goats to make an enormous stew and feed the entire Tent City to boost the protein level. It was a quirky idea that appealed to Schuster despite the doubts of those around him. - Reported by John Lantigua for Palm Beach Post from Thirukovil.