Sunday, January 30, 2005
"One should avoid sinful act"
Writing on the wall? Misuse and playing politics with relief and aid intended for the needy - and affected by tsunami, is a sinful act!
Saturday, January 29, 2005
"it fundamentally transformed the character of the war."
Although the Emancipation Proclamation did not immediately free a single slave, it fundamentally transformed the character of the war. After January 1, 1863, every advance of federal troops expanded the domain of freedom.
- President Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on January 1, 1863.
Friday, January 28, 2005
"a struggle for economic emancipation that differs from our political freedom struggle at least for the time being,”
“What we are engaged in now ... is a struggle for economic emancipation that differs from our political freedom struggle at least for the time being,”
- LTTE Peace negotiator, Anton Balasingham.
"I have come here as our leader's representative to tell you the amount of help our Tamil expatriates have extended to their people here at home."
"The main objective of my visit is to identify the barriers the Sri Lanka government is placing in the way of aid reaching our people and inform these details to the international community."
- Anton Balasingham, in Mullaithivu
Thursday, January 27, 2005
"more Tamils are questioning the LTTE, while the Sinhalese-dominated government needs to do a better job,"
"In some ways, it's the kind of classic minority-majority relationship," Webb said of the linguistic, cultural and religious differences between the predominantly Buddhist Sinhalese and Hindu Tamils.
Her impression is that more Tamils are questioning the LTTE, while the Sinhalese-dominated government needs to do a better job of treating ethnic minorities in a "just and equitable way," she said.
- Rita Webb, is a field team member for the Minneapolis-based Nonviolent Peaceforce. The aim of the nonprofit organization in Sri Lanka is to help strengthen civic society at the grass-roots level.
- Reported in Facing a sudden disaster, Twin Cities.com
"If the government had been efficient enough to inform the people through loudspeakers,"
"If the government had been efficient enough to inform the people through loudspeakers or stopped the train in time, my wife would still be alive," Mr Perera, a radio presenter, told Reuters news agency.
Mr Perera has filed his case with the supreme court, accusing authorities of failing to issue an early warning, not responding after the initial tsunami wave and, later, for failing to send rescuers immediately.
His lawyer, Mr Tambiah, said Mr Perera phoned the police and other government bodies after the first wave hit but received no assistance.
- Sri Lanka survivor to sue state , Reports BBC
"But they all smiled."
"I brought Disney Band-Aids and used them when the kids were crying. They brought the biggest smiles out of the kids."
- Betsy Egan of Frankfort IL and her sister-in-law, Jackie Carey, of New Jersey, helping in Sri Lanka's east coast, as reported in The Star, IL
“This is God’s punishment for the profanations which tourism brought to this village."
Sri Lanka’s tourism industry has been plagued by charges that it is lenient on the large number of pedophiles from Europe, Australia and North America who visit operate with impunity in remote sea side resorts amidst genuine tourists.
- Tamilnet from Arugambay
Wednesday, January 26, 2005
"Will we still care when media leave?"
When the tide of journalists now in Asia inevitably recedes, and the normal news cycle churns again, will media interest dry up?
Or can we hope that lives and deaths in hellish and dark places, now unrecorded by Western cameras, rise to the top of media attention so that the milk of human kindness never again dries up?
- Antonia Zerbisias in Toronto Star Jan 6, 2005
"Think globally, act locally"
Aid agencies are also urged to do more to consult with the communities they are there to help. A lack of consultation has meant that some of the aid delivered is not what is most needed. For example, in Sri Lanka some of the houses are being built without consultation and are not appropriate. Donors and those co-ordinating the response need to ensure that all agencies are working to meet the internationally accepted 'Sphere' standards for disaster relief.
- Oxfam Press Release - Jan 26, 2005
Tuesday, January 25, 2005
I'm most sad:...."When I'm alone, and asleep."
Work never stops to make life better for the children at the Tender Sprout home at its temporary base in Kilinochchi in Sri Lanka.
- By Jeremy Bowen BBC News, Mullaitivu, Cruel blow for Sri Lanka orphans
"If you fall 10 times down it is harder to get up the 11th time,"
"I basically see two populations in Sri Lanka -- one that had a natural disaster that hit them, but then there is another population that had a disaster upon disaster. The concern is that this is the population that is at a higher risk of developing psychological problems,"
- Dr. Paramjit Joshi, a Washington-based child psychiatrist, speaking to Tyson Trish of Daily Record, NJ about her recent visit to Matara, Mullaitivu and Batticaloa.
"Through relief work we can build up a relationship for any future peace talks,''
"Through relief work we can build up a relationship for any future peace talks.........we still see that relief is not being distributed equally in the region.''
- LTTE's Daya Master, speaking to Bloomberg
"It would take me 25 years to get enough money to have the house I have lost."
"We will never recover this loss. Before this we were happy and we enjoyed our life, now life is terrible.
- Rajan, 30, in Photojournal: Tsunami family goes home
Monday, January 24, 2005
How many patients we see? "Depends on the availability of Tamil interpreters"
"We came here when we heard that people in the camps needed some medical assistance. We started setting up a medical facility here today. Our team can see about three hundred patients a day depending on the availability of Tamil interpreters",
- Captain Scott Malcom of the Canadian army, Speaking to TamilNet
Sunday, January 23, 2005
"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.
"The army is filling trucks with food meant for the refugees and driving that food out of the camp,"
"The army is filling trucks with food meant for the refugees and driving that food out of the camp," says Schuster, who believes ethnic prejudice may be affecting distribution of aid all over the country. He has been outspoken in saying so.
At times, he has shared the medical tent with representatives of the Tamil Tigers, a guerrilla group that has fought the government sporadically since 1983 in a war that has claimed thousands of lives. At the moment there is a cease-fire, and the Tigers are passing out food to the refugees. But there is fear that if the alleged inequities in aid distribution continue, fighting could break out again.
- Reported by John Lantigua
Palm Beach Post from Thirukovil
"Thank you, Canada"
Bumper stickers to thank the overwhelming generosity of the Canadian public in response to the Tsunami disaster is being displayed throughout GTA.
"In light of the personal interest the Canadians took in our country and community, we felt that it was important that we show them our gratitude", says a group of Tamil Canadian business associates who sponsored the project.
"We have been very careful,"
"There is definitely no truth to the statement that the government has not been delivering aid to the north and the east......we have been very careful.......It would be foolish for us not to distribute food and medical aid equitably."
- Niranjan De Soysa, spokesman for the Sri Lanka Center for National Operations (CNO), which oversees the relief effort.
"These are the kind of things you never think of."
S.A. Miller in Wahington Times: Abigail Thomas, a graduate student from the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health in Baltimore, escorts a 14-year-old girl named Sindu to the clinic for counseling.
Sindu had begun menstruating for the first time and had no female relatives left to guide her.
According to local custom, a young girl's first menstruation is cause for a monthlong celebration, with cleaning rituals and special foods prepared by the girl's mother.
"None of that is happening," says Mrs. Thomas, 28. "These are the kind of things you never think of."
"Such terrible lies can come only from them''
Sri Lanka military spokesman Brig. Daya Ratnayake reacting furiously to LTTE concerns that the armed forces planning to go on a weapons buying spree amidst tsunami relief.
Saturday, January 22, 2005
" I am not saying that they are utilizing aid devoted to tsunami for military purposes."
" What I have said is it is a monumental tragedy that people are facing - both the Tamils, Sinhalese and Muslims.....so it is not the time for the government to spend an enormous amount of money to purchase military hardware. That is giving us concern."
- Anton Balasingham, Chief negotiator of LTTE at the Peace Process.
"As a priest, I was really upset."
The Rev. Sarangika Fernando, a Sri Lankan Methodist minister, witnessed one of the prayer sessions in Sri Lanka by Antioch Community Church members of Waco, Texas and accused them of acting unethically with traumatized people.
"They said, 'In the name of Jesus, she must be cured!' " he said.
"As a priest, I was really upset."
Monday, January 17, 2005
"For the Tamil people tragedy that struck on 26 December is the 2nd tsunami"
"The international community was kept away from the truth, if the subtle destruction of our homeland prior to 26 December 2004 could be defined as tsunami one, for the Tamil people the tragedy that struck on 26 December is, the second tsunami,"
- LTTE leader V. Prabakaran at the meeting with disaster management planners
"Countries affected by the tsunami are going to have to pay all that money eventually, starting in 12 months,"
BBC: Oxfam warns of tsunami cash delay
Oxfam praised the response of governments in the aftermath of the tsunami as "admirable". But it warned that rich country governments were "dragging their feet" on trade and debt reforms to help relieve poverty in the long term.
"I believe I was blessed,"
Bangkok Post: Fate intervenes
A missed flight turns into a fortunate opportunity to help Sri Lankan tsunami victims
L. Leland ``Skip'' Whitney, an American property developer, and his family had planned to celebrate Christmas in Sri Lanka. The schedule was to arrive at Galle, the city in the South, on the morning of December 26 as it turned out, right before the killer waves hit the country.But when he arrived at Don Muang Airport on Christmas to catch a flight to Colombo, he found that he had missed his flight.
Whitney had remembered the departure time incorrectly _ he thought the plane departed at 11:45pm, but in fact, that was actually the arrival time in Sri Lanka.``I felt so lucky that we had missed the flight that I felt compelled to help,'' said Whitney, who is on the Board of Directors of Operation USA, an organisation founded in 1979 with the aim of sending relief flights and sea and land shipments throughout the world.
The organisation works with nonprofit partners in each country or through international organisations. In Sri Lanka, Operation USA works with Tamils Rehabilitation Organization (TRO), a local relief group active in the devastated areas of Trincomalee and Batticaloa, Sri Lanka. In addition to providing medical aid, the group provides water, hygiene and food.
"You get more humble with this,"
The News-Press: Fort Myers couple helps homeland:
"We are getting great support. Really, it is heartwarming," Deva Caanthan said.
"one had to be a stone not to be moved by something like this".
- Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin, speaking in Colombo upon returning from tsunami devastated Kalmunai-Amparai.
Saturday, January 15, 2005
"These people - these are truly gentle people,"
The Capital Online: Locals travel to tsunami-hit areas to provide relief
Though large relief organizations including the American Red Cross, Save the Children and Doctors Without Borders are not accepting new volunteers in the devastated areas of Southeast Asia, some locals have found other ways to get there.
J. Thomas Giunta, an Annapolis lawyer, traveled to Sri Lanka last week after his vacation plans fell through.Stunned by the mounting death toll of more than 150,000, including 30,000 in Sri Lanka, he left on Jan. 3 after hearing about Tamils Rehabilitation Organisation. It was founded in 1985 to provide relief and rehabilitation for people in northeast Sri Lanka.
Now back in Annapolis, Mr. Giunta described the Sri Lankans as the "lotus flowers of the Earth.""These people - these are truly gentle people," he said. "I've never felt more comfortable anywhere I've traveled, and I've traveled all over the world. I've never felt so safe."
Tuesday, January 11, 2005
"Nothing like a giant tsunami to ruin a good rebellion".
At this hour of national and regional tragedy, one could detect among sections of the Sinhalese signs of malign glee ( As seen by: saag.org: THE TSUNAMI & THE LTTE ) not only over the damage suffered by the LTTE, but also over the fatalities suffered by the Tamil civilians.
One only has to visit the Internet chat rooms of many Sinhalese groups to have an idea of their mind-set. I am giving below random examples of the comments of the Sinhalese:
" If we let them alone, disease will wipe them out. Sounds like the seven plagues in Egypt to me. Let God do what man has been unwilling to do; "
"Nothing like a giant Tsunami to ruin a good rebellion;"
"Those kids (children who were killed by the Tsunami) would have ended up as child soldiers of the LTTE anyway;"
"Let them (the Tamils) rot. Perfect opportunity to go in and wipe out what's left of them;"
"Have their leaders strap on MEGA-bomb vests, then explode themselves. I'm sure they'll leave behind a crater large enough to bury quite a few bodies."
Sunday, January 09, 2005
"not just to visit but to celebrate peace."
"hoping to be able to come back and visit all parts of Sri Lanka, not just to visit but to celebrate peace."
"So the ordinary people of Sri Lanka have come together on an extraordinary scale to meet the needs created by the emergency. I fervently hope that their political leaders would do the same in joined hands,"
- Secretary General of the United Nations, Kofi Annan in Colmbo.
