Forgotten in the post-tsunami aid flood

Forgotten in the post-tsunami aid flood

Susanne Loos-Jayawickreme highlights the plight of the elderly at UN Roundtable sessions in New York.

Susanne Loos-Jayawickreme is in deep conversation at a popular cafe in Colombo when a German couple came in search of her. They have a parcel to give her; a parcel that contains some hundred pairs of spectacles, which they have collected for the people of Weligama.

It's not uncommon for people like the German couple to channel assistance through Susanne. The German journalist who married Sri Lankan, Sujith Jayawickreme, consequently made her home here in the tranquil coastal town of Weligama and was involved in raising funds and doing various charity projects, long before the tsunami hit our shores. The Jayawickreme Foundation, which Susanne and Sujith established in 2001, has been actively helping the people of Weligama and the tsunami only gave a new intensity to their work, bringing as it did a new set of urgent needs.

Her mission to help the people of Weligama has taken her many miles. Last month, Susanne was at the United Nations in New York at the UN Roundtable on Older Persons in the 2004 Tsunami, where she made a presentation on the plight of the elderly, post-tsunami on the invitation of the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung. "They have been overlooked", she says passionately. "Everyone wanted to help the children. That is not surprising, but what about the older folk? In most instances, they were responsible for caring for their children's property and their grandchildren with many of the young people working abroad. So they lost not only family members, but also every single thing they had owned and worked for over many years."

There is a deep sense of loneliness, despair and frustration still present, she says for there has been hardly any counselling for the elderly. You still see them in the camps sitting staring vacantly. "You often hear them saying, 'I want to die...'" she says. Disease and sickness are a daily plight, and there are many cases of cataract and malnutrition among the elderly she adds. "I want to create awareness", Susanne stresses, and she feels her contribution to the Roundtable may have some effect with the president of the NGO Global Ageing, having asked her to join Helpage to formulate a programme to help the elderly.

Raising funds for the tsunami survivors is getting increasingly difficult, she says, outlining the many projects that they have been able to undertake with the aid that flowed in. In their case, much of the aid came from German organisations and their friends eager to help, such as the Conrad Adeneuer Foundation, the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, the Rhinland Pfalz Hilf, Susanne's home village of Plettenberg, at the town of Zirndorf, where her sister lives. Thanks to theses and other donors, the Jayawickreme Foundation has been able to build 16 houses. A kindergarten for 550 children in Weligama; a project that involved Rs. 5.1 million and two schools to teach English to children between 11 and 15 are well underway, one now being supported by the German Charity Hilfsbruecke. For the fishing community of Weligama, 13 boats have already been gifted and two more will be given shortly. Four boats were from Fedderuardersiel, a fishing community from Northern Germany making it a gift from one fishing community to another. Local sports clubs, some 30 in all were also helped with sports equipment. The Foundation has also received 1.2 acres of government land for construction of more tsunami houses in Modera, Weligama.

Susanne Loos-Jayawickreme upon receiving the 'Sama Sri Deshamanya' award

It is an ongoing effort, and Susanne and husband Sujith living as they do in Weligama, are all too conscious of the needs of the community. In fact, Sujith's great grandfather, the well-known philanthropist David Martin Samaraweera's statue stands on the stretch of road before Taprobane Island. When the tsunami struck, devastating the area, the statute escaped unscathed, Susanne recounts.

The couple are also mindful of the social problems that have erupted post-tsunami, as some families received brand new houses while others languished sans anything. Even after the tsunami work is over there will stiil be so much to be done says Susanne pointing out the poverty in Weligama.

Amidst all the activity, does she miss her old life in Germany, where she worked as a journalist? "It's a different culture, different language and a different life", she muses, adding that she does return to Germany to touch base regularly, keep in touch with her routes and also to raise funds for the Foundation's work.

There is no doubt that Susanne is well integrated. Recognising her community service efforts, the United Organisation of All Island Communities - Sri Lanka based in Ratnapura bestowed on Susanne a 'Sama Sri Deshamanya' award in January, the first foreigner they have recognised in this way.

Source: Sunday Times Plus, page 10. Sunday March 26, 2006 www.sundaytimes.lk