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Due to the lack of construction volunteers, the whole
project of setting up temporary tents was behind schedule.
There were 39 construction volunteers who joined us
today -- 13 senior construction professionals, 25 junior
construction workers and one local volunteer. Brother
Chen Ying-chi, a construction specialist who had been
involved in the project, was leaving Hambantota that
day. He delegated several proposals and things needed
attention to local foremen before his departure.
Brother Lee Wen-chieh from Malaysia would keep supervising
the whole schedule of the project. Up to that evening,
there were 147 tent bases completed and a total of 196
were going to be constructed, followed by about 100
more tents to be set up in another construction site
nearby.
More than 20 brothers and sisters attended the grand
opening ceremony of the Hambantota Rebuilding Project
in the morning presided over by Sri Lankan President
Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga who delivered a speech
on the occasion. The president then toured around the
construction site and reviewed all plans by each builder.
President Kumaratunga was really grateful for all the
help from around the world and hoped the rebuild project
would finish as soon as possible so it could give victims
a better living environment and start to rebuild their
family.
Members of the fourth Tzu Chi international relief group
for Sri Lanka gathered at 10:40 p.m. in Singapore. Total
of 49 volunteers, including doctors and nurses from
Singapore and Malaysia, came to join the relief effort
(Eleven people from Penang arrived in Sri Lanka one
day earlier).
After the tsunami first hit South Asia, the travelers
to Colombo decreased sharply. However, after three weeks,
the airport seemed to regain its energy and people's
life had slowly gotten back on track. About 80 percent
of seats were occupied on the flight that we took. Most
of the passengers were visitors and businessmen along
with some relief workers; it seemed people's lives were
gradually back to normal.
Two buses with all the relief workers left the hotel
at 9:00 a.m. and headed south. The road followed the
winding coastline. Blue sky, peaceful ocean scenes and
beautiful beaches were our first impression of Sri Lanka.
When we were approaching the tsunami disaster areas,
all the beautiful scenes suddenly changed to a totally
different scene. Debris, garbage spread everywhere;
all the houses were torn down one by one. From the scene,
we could imagine the shock and scariness when the tsunami
first hit the land.
We went pass by a graveyard and noticed that all the
trees were cut down by the tsunami and had shattered
on the graves. Although we have seen so many footages
about the disaster areas on TV, it was still a big shock
to us when we saw those scenes in person. The whole
southern coastline of Sri Lanka was totally destroyed
by the tsunami. The whole area was so big and made the
relief work even harder to carry on.
The job transfer ceremony took place at 3:30 p.m. After
the brief introduction conducted by Sister Lee Miao-hung,
who is from Malaysia, the medical team started the relief
work right away. "Though we didn't see any patient
the first day, getting familiar with the whole environment
and work flow will help us blend into the whole team
more easily," said a doctor from Singapore with
smile.
The third medical team led by Dr. Lin Shinn-rong was
leaving for Taiwan the next day. For the past week,
they lived and worked together and shared all their
feeling with local volunteers. They were bond with each
other and had built up a strong friendship. The local
volunteers even made pretty corsage for members of the
medical team to show their sincere appreciation. They
helped pin the flowers onto the members' chests.
The team members were very touched by this warm gesture.
"It felt so wonderful to work with them. It was
really hard to say good-bye to them," said a pediatrician
from Taiwan, Dr. Chang Yin-hsiu, with tears in her eyes.
To give is better than to take. Because of their total
devotion to the people who suffered from the disaster,
the medical team members enjoyed the greatest and warmest
return that money could not buy. Working with all the
genuinely nice and sincere local volunteers, they saw
the strength that can be revived in Sri Lanka. Number
of patients treated today: 868. Accumulated number of
total patients: 11,958.
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