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Out
of the tsunami nightmare The trauma is taking its toll with children being the worst affected. With little or no counselling being seen in the rehabilitation process, the battle to overcome the nightmare is left to survivors themselves. However, some have come to terms with the tragedy and are learning to live with it - as in the case of eight-year-old Uresha Fernando, a Colombo Methodist College student. She, along with her parents Upali and Jayani Fernando, ten-year-old brother Udara and her twin sister Udeshika, was on the ill-fated train at Telwatte when the tsunami struck. They boarded the train from Moratuwa to go to Hikkaduwa where they were planning to spend a few days with relatives and attend a birthday party. When the tsunami hit the train, little Uresha was thrown out only to be stopped by a wall of a compound of a house. She heard someone telling her to climb the wall. Which she did. She shouted out to her brother, sister and parents to join her there but they were not so lucky. Several hours later, she joined a lorry load of survivors who were being sent to a refugee camp. The lorry stopped at a petrol shed to pump in some fuel. By a strange quirk of fate, the little girl's uncle Suren Soysa, who was on his motorcycle, also stopped at the same petrol shed for fuel. He had heard the calamity by then and was concerned about the fate of his relatives. When Suren by chance glanced over the faces of the refugees he saw little Uresha. "Yes, that is my Hikkaduwe Suren mama” the little girl recognized him. Mr. Soysa took the girl home and contacted her grandfather Rev. Johnston Fernando, a Methodist priest who lives in Athurugiriya. Nearly three months after the tragedy, Uresha goes into a "sort of depression" from time to time, her grandfather says. He says he wants to get the child admitted to the Methodist College hostel because he believes that the atmosphere there and the experience of living with friends will help her overcome the nightmare. |
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