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From tsunami to trauma to trek ahead
News Date: 19th November 2009
"In a beautiful morning among blossoming flowers with flying birds; In an unexpected moment unbelievable things happen; Angry ocean swallows entire nation and earth,And the tragedy gives tears to each and every one left."The poem, titled "Tsunami", written by 17-year-old Heshani Madushika Hewawitharana, recalls her miserable memory of the horrible morning of Dec.
26, 2004, when a tsunami drowned and killed more than 30,000 and displaced half a million people in Sri Lanka.
"We had just got up when my parents spotted the big waves coming and told us to run," Heshani recalled.
"My father, my mother, my sister and I ran toward different directions after seeing the tidal waves," Heshani was crying out of fears. And so was her little sister Dimalka.
The separated family, which were reunited later, found what might have been their house walls strutting on muddy beaches that represented the left-overs of their home.
To Heshani, now 17, the loss of property was much luckier than the loss of life during that catastrophe, though she missed very much her school things swallowed by the tidal waves.
The death of 3-year-old Kawya Kurukulasuriya, a distant cousin, has struck home the bitterness of the loss of loved ones in the tsunami.
"Kawya's mother cried all day without eating or sleeping for a long time after the tsunami," said Heshani, who along with her sister Dimalka did their best to comfort and help the heartbroken woman.
The father of the two sisters, I.T. Hewawitharana, viewed the tsunami as an unexpected twist of luck for the family.
Before, the sisters lived care-free lives, whereas now they have something extra in their life, an understanding of responsibility and the
courage to take it. With the elder sister helping around with the family, the 12-year-old
younger sister is helping the grandma living some distance away from the family.
"They have leant their responsibilities from the tsunami. Now the two girls have no fears," said the proud father.
Helping with the household chores is not all Heshani does. The tsunami was not only the twist of luck for the family but maybe a change of life for her as well.
Already having passed the Ordinary Level exams with four A's and five B's, Heshani is preparing for her Advanced Level exam slated for August 2010.
While the younger sister aspires to be a doctor, the older sister wants to become a banker.
"I want to be a banker in the future, thus to be helpful to my family and my country," Heshani said, knowing that she has to study and work hard
to make her dream come true.
For now, Heshani resorts to writing verses and poems to help herself and others to recover from the trauma of tsunami. Her works has been
published on the monthly publications of her school.
She is now pondering another work -- helping herself and many others who went through the tragic tsunami to fully recover and start a new life for a better future.
Source: GNA
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