First Contact applicant helps Tsunami victims

Cynthia Tan, an applicant for Church Army’s First Contact scheme, was among 14 volunteers from different churches in Kuala Lumpur , Malaysia , who embarked on a 10 day Tsunami relief trip to Sri Lanka to help the victims of the Tsunami disaster.

The trip, organised by Crest and seconded by National Christian Evangelical Alliance of Sri Lanka (NCEASL), took the volunteers to different villages including Jaffna, Vavuniya, Munai and Potpathy, where they set up a medical clinic, counselling corner and children’s program.

“Every individual that needed medical attention, from adult to child, was treated by the medical team. I was assigned to the medical team assisting the SRN with surgery,” explains Cynthia.

“We attended to numerous injuries including, deep wounds, broken legs, eye infections, burns, and other miscellaneous physical concerns. The counsellors comforted, while leading the victims through the process of addressing grief. Most of the time was spent listening patiently while empathizing and sympathizing as people poured out their pain and grief.”

Cynthia and the rest of the team got to see at first-hand the devastating effect of the Tsunami and meet the people whose lives are affected by the tragedy. She recalls her experience at the Kudathani Tsunami Relief Camp A , “The people placed in this camp were from Potpathy village. The Tsunami killed three people and made a total of 135 families homeless. The 590 adults and children stayed in tents provided by the Sri Lankan government.”

“As we entered the camp, we saw a woman sitting behind a tent crying and signalling to us to help her. The woman was still in trauma, she was the only survivor in the family. Another came with tears in her eyes related that when the Tsunami came, she carried her one-year-old child and tried to run to safety. Sadly, the water came and swept her child out of her hands. She did not only lose that child but she also suffered a miscarriage. She asked us, ‘Why all of my children? Why am I not allowed to keep even one?’ Indeed, pain and sorrow were written over the faces of the people.”

As the Tsunami disaster fades from prominence in our newspapers and TV screens, Cynthia asks Church Army supporters to continue to pray for the victims of the disasters and those working to help villages, towns and cities get back on their feet.