Three grads who did what we all wanted to do - International ...

THREE GRADS WHO DID WH
PHOTOS COURTESY ERIN SMITH AND VICTOR MENJAL
IN THE AFTERMATH of the devastating
tsunami in Southeast Asia, we all wanted to
help those who lost their loved ones, their
homes and their livelihood. For most of us,
that meant making a financial contribution
to the Canadian Red Cross or other relief
agency, but for three Guelph graduates, it was
a hands-on experience — loading
emergency rations, digging organic
matter out of dirty wells and battling
local bureaucracies to co-ordinate an
effective disaster response.
Erin Smith, Victor Menkal and
Valerie Raymond were all part of the
relief effort in Sri Lanka, an island
country where more than 40,000
people died and devastation was
widespread. Although their experiences
are all different, they share a
deep respect and admiration for the
resilience of the Sri Lankan people.
ERIN SMITH
“I CAN’T FORGET
THEM.”
WHEN THE WAVES of the
tsunami started thrashing the
shores of Sri Lanka, I was on a train
in the Colombo station, ready to
head south to join a few friends on our
favourite beach. I disembarked to take a frantic
phone call from a friend running from
the beach to higher ground. The train went
on without me and made it only 40 kilometres
before it was hit by the waves. I had been
saved from being caught in the tsunami itself,
but was soon wrapped into a small faction
of what was to become the greatest humanitarian
aid response in history.
I had been working in Sri Lanka since
August 2004 for the World Conservation
Union (IUCN), on an internship with the
Canadian International Development
Agency and the Winnipeg-based International
Institute for Sustainable Development.
Sri Lanka was fascinating to explore, and the
people of the island were incredibly kind.
They were also fervent survivors, maintaining
dynamic spirits throughout decades of
Erin M. Smith is a researcher and writer
currently based in Ontario. She received
an undergraduate degree in geography
from Queen’s University in 2001 and an
MA from U of G in 2004.
civil conflict. These traits became even more
evident in the days after the tsunami.
While the waves were still ravaging the
coasts, Colombo moved into emergency
response mode, with local aid groups
recruiting volunteers like myself to co-ordinate
the purchasing and shipping of dry
rations. Medical teams were sent to the disaster
zones to help treat the injured, often
getting to survivors by jumping out of helicopters
forced to hover over rubble. My
friends and I, like many others, drove to the
coasts to try to find survivors. Seeing
those regions for the first time
revealed the apocalyptic proportions
of the disaster. The roads were
choked with stunned survivors,
their pale blue houses now skeletons
spilling furniture, clothing and
cherished mementos into muddy
rubble. The beaches had become
burial grounds, cradling bodies that
continued to wash in for days.
Because of the extent of the
damage and the number of people
affected, there were great difficulties
with the co-ordination of relief
efforts. Land mines had shifted with
the waves in the island’s political
and natural landscapes, making it
difficult to ensure that aid was getting
to the rebel-controlled areas as
well as government-run regions. A
network of about 30 friends and I
circumvented some of these problems by
signing up as volunteers with a number of
organizations and text messaging each other
when people and supplies were located
and needed.
During the weeks after the tsunami, we
would move from rationing dry goods into
family packs to assessing what supplies
camps needed. Some of us worked in temporary
morgues, identifying foreigners
among the dead, and others fielded overseas
calls from families looking for loved
ones. None of us slept.
During the day, I worked with the IUCN
on post-disaster environmental impact
assessments. My evenings and weekends
were filled with various tasks. It was normal
for me to deliver food to a camp, then find
myself in a field teaching the chicken dance
to 30 children.
20 The Portico

AT WE ALL WANTED TO DO
In my last few weeks in Sri Lanka, I saw
the need for clothing and medicines replaced
by demands for building materials and sanitation
networks. The kids in the camps
started drawing houses being built instead
of waves in the sky. Most organizations are
now focusing on long-term endeavours such
as livelihoods, housing and sanitation
projects. The initiatives I’m most
hopeful about are the ones being carried
out by smaller grassroots movements
working alongside international
organizations.
The world’s generous response
to the victims of the tsunami was
overwhelming but justified. Too
often, many of us allow our desensitized
selves to sit back while others
are in need, and now that the initial
response to the waves is over,
there is concern that those affected
will be left behind by the rest of the
world. This sentiment was made
clear to me in the plea of a woman
my age now living, like hundreds of
thousands across the island, in a
refugee camp. “Please,” she whispered
as she held my shoulder.
“When you all leave, don’t forget us.”
There’s no way I ever will.
VICTOR MENKAL
“THE RESILIENCE
OF THE SRI LANKANS
IS INCREDIBLE.”
WITHIN DAYS of the tsunami, I saw
a TV interview with Toronto paramedic
Rahul Singh, who was standing in
front of a large pallet of bottled water being
airlifted to Sri Lanka. I contacted him by e-
mail and suggested a small reverse osmosis
water plant would be much more cost-effective
than shipping water and offered to provide
technical support and a donation. I had
intended to provide support from Whitehorse,
but he called the next day (Dec. 30)
and asked if I would be ready to leave Jan. 2.
It didn’t take much thought to decide to go.
I joined a team of volunteer paramedics
Victor Menkal, B.Sc.(Eng.) ’87, is a water
resources engineer in Whitehorse,
Yukon. He is also a volunteer with the
Canadian Ski Patrol and has experience
as an auxiliary paramedic. He is pictured
here with his Sri Lankin friend Krishan.
with Global Medics, an amazing little nonprofit
aid group that’s been working for a
number of years in Southeast Asia and other
developing countries, providing medical
training, medical supplies, clinics and disaster
assistance.
The Global Medics team was responsible
for setting up a small clinic and dispensary
at our hotel to service local needs, provided
mobile medical assistance to refugee camps
and small villages affected by the tsunami,
and built a clinic at a refugee camp.
My work included an engineering
evaluation of the municipal and
private water supply systems for the
town of Batticaloa (population over
100,000), developing a well-decontamination
strategy, and providing
training and advice on required
emergency repairs.
Many days, I was elbow deep in
dirty wells training teams of local
residents and volunteers from the
Texas Baptist Men’s organization on
methods to clean wells contaminated
with toxic organic sludge left by
the tsunami. Equipment was begged,
borrowed or otherwise acquired.
Rahul’s local contacts in Sri Lanka
were invaluable. Krishan Thambapillai,
a young local businessman,
was one of the most resourceful
people I’ve ever met. He organized
volunteers to help clean wells, co-ordinated
with his uncle in Colombo to get the specialized
pumping equipment, and used other
local businesses to provide supplies and
equipment. After working around the clock
for countless days, he still took the time to
make a Canadian flag with the “Camp
Yukon” logo for our base camp.
A six-year-old boy named Ajanthan
became my engineering assistant. Every day,
he carried my backpack and rode around
with me. We gave him the nickname “Short
Round” from the Indiana Jones movie.
After mobilizing the well-decontamination
teams, I evaluated the municipal pipedwater
system. Many of the municipal wells
were infected with E. coli, and pumps,
pipelines and other equipment were in need
of repair. I was sickened to find that both
municipal well fields were also contaminat-
Summer 2005 21

PHOTOS BY VICTOR MENKAL, ERIN SMITH AND NICK WESTOVER, FAC; STORY COURTESY CANADA WORLD VIEW
ed with land mines that had been scattered
from two military bases by the flooding.
Rohul’s contacts came through again,
and a demining outfit of ex-military engineers
from the Indian army came to help so
we could inspect and clean municipal wells.
We called these brave men the Sri Lankan
National Tap Dance Team.
We developed a plan of action to undertake
emergency repairs required to keep safe
water flowing to the town, hospital, schools
and refugee camps, and set up a
basic water lab for the local engineer
to use. Rahul asked me to train a
couple of environmental health
inspectors from the Ministry of
Health in well inspection and
decontamination. More than 50
people showed up for my course.
The kindness, generosity and
resilience of the Sri Lankans were
incredible. People greeted us warmly
wherever we went and offered soft
drinks even though they had lost
almost everything.
I am extremely proud to have
been able to work with Rahul’s
Global Medics team. It was amazing
to see the difference that such a
small group of people can make for
so many others. The experience was
one of the most incredible things I
have ever done.
I am currently working with the Yukon
government, Yukon College and the Rotary
Club to “adopt” the town of Batticaloa and
provide ongoing assistance for at least one
year. In the meantime, the work of Global
Medics continues in Sri Lanka. If you’d like to
help, contact the organization at dmgf.org.
VALERIE RAYMOND
“WE HAVE TO TRY
TO MAKE A SMALL
DIFFERENCE.”
ON DEC. 26, Valerie Raymond, BA
’73, Canada’s high commissioner to
Sri Lanka, like many other Canadians, was
enjoying a few days’ holiday. As fate would
have it, she and her partner were at a resort
near Galle on Sri Lanka’s southwest coast
and experienced first-hand the tsunami that
so dramatically affected the island — and
the world — that day.
They watched from their second-storey
room as the sea eerily receded, then surged
to shore. But it wasn’t until the water was
calm once more and she went downstairs
Valerie Raymond was born in Winnipeg,
grew up in Edmonton and began her
career as a reporter for the Ottawa Citizen
in the mid-1970s. She moved on
to a series of communications positions
in the federal government and, in 1986,
joined the Department of External Affairs
and International Trade, where she took
on a number of senior jobs. She served
as Canada’s high commissioner to New
Zealand from 1997 to 2001, and in 2002
was posted to Sri Lanka with concurrent
accreditation to the Maldives.
that Raymond began to grasp the devastation
the waves had wrought — the hotel
lobby gutted, shops destroyed, concrete walls
flattened and cars strewn about like toys.
Sri Lanka was hard hit by the tsunami,
with more than 40,000 deaths and vast
stretches of coastal areas ruined. Raymond
found her way back the following day to the
inland capital of Colombo, and since then,
her life and job have been consumed by the
disaster.
Initially, consular matters took
priority, with those in the High
Commission spending exhausting
days helping to account for Canadians
in Sri Lanka, finding them
accommodation, contacting their
families and easing their way home.
She and her staff also worked closely
with officials in Ottawa on Canada’s
humanitarian response to the
tsunami, a key part of which was
bringing the 200-member Disaster
Assistance Response Team to provide
medical support, clean water
and other assistance to the island’s
devastated Ampara district.
Raymond lauds the dedication
and professionalism of staff at the
Canadian mission in Sri Lanka, as
well as the temporary reinforcements
sent by Foreign Affairs
Canada. She says she’s been
inspired by the resilience of the Sri Lankan
people, whom she has come to know well
through Canada’s efforts in support of
ending the country’s long-standing and
brutal civil war.
The conflict zone in the northeast was
badly hit by the waves, she says. “Many of
these people had suffered for many years
before the tsunami and now have to face
another disaster. The devastation and the
destruction are absolutely heartbreaking.”
Yet, she adds, there have been heartening
stories of people from the country’s three
main groups — the Sinhalese, the Tamils
and the Muslims — helping each other.
Raymond will return to Ottawa when
her three-year appointment to Colombo
ends this summer, but life after the tsunami
won’t ever be the same.
“I don’t think we can try to understand
these things. We simply have to try to make a
small difference, and that’s very sustaining.” ■
22 The Portico