Sri Lankans happy to see local Red Cross students
By WINTER JOHNSON Special to the Daily Press
After a three-week humanitarian trip to Sri Lanka, three Santa Monica youth have returned to their hometown changed forever.
Laurent Grill, 16, Mariza B. Lockhart, 15, and Gether Gibson, 17, were part of a group of 10 Southern California high school students who were accompanied by three chaperones from the United States and were joined by additional chaperones in Sri Lanka. The trip was sponsored by Relief International-Schools Online (RI- SOL) with the assistance of the Landing in Colombo, Sri Lanka, the youth group spent two weeks doing humanitarian and relief work in the coastal areas devastated by last December’s tsunami that claimed more than 200,000 lives. The group departed from Los Angeles on July 1 and returned on July 22.
“Before the tsunami, the country was-n’t in great shape,” said Grill, a junior at Crossroads School. “Now it’s worse. It’s almost like they got a double whammy,”
The students completed various projects throughout their trip.
“We spent four days working around the Buddhist community center in Madihe, a village in the Matara district in southern Sri Lanka where we repaired and painted walls, helped repair a latrine and planted a medicinal garden,” Grill said.
The students also supplied chalk and a chalkboard for a preschool in Matara, and sanded and painted classroom furniture.
Amongst the multiple experiences that impacted the students was the damage from the tsunami and the additional poverty it caused. Grill estimated that only 40 percent of the tsunami damage had been repaired at the time of their arrival. In fact, they were so stricken that they wished they could do more, said Gibson, a senior at Santa Monica High School.
For Lockhart and the others, one of the most difficult moments was when the group stopped at Galle, the site where a train was swept off its tracks in southern Sri Lanka when the tsunami hit. The accident killed 1,500 people and made international news.
“I was at a loss for words,” said Lockhart, a sophomore at Santa Monica High School. “But on the other hand, I was really proud of the people. They made the train a memorial, showing their awareness of those who died.”
Though sickness was a fear of Grill’s, he was the one of few who did not get sick on the journey.
Chaperone and Santa Monica Red Cross Director of Volunteers and Youth Services Jerry Washington was hospitalized for multiple spider bites on his leg. He has since recovered, but his leg still has a black and blue blemish as a result of the bites.
Despite the sickness and challenges that occurred on the tour, compassion was one of the many results of the students’ journey.
“A lot of these people have to rebuild their lives, and all I could think was, ‘what if this happened to me?’ Lockhart said with a sigh. “The trip really made me feel like I could make a difference.”
In addition to only eating with their hands in accordance with the country’s custom, seeing eroded buildings, dealing with the high temperatures, and witnessing the roads covered with trash, one of the greatest challenges of the trip was the language barrier when working with local non-governmental organizations. What normally would be a short conversation would take 30 minutes because of translation, Grill said.
But not all the time was spent translating and working. One week of the trip was spent exploring the country like sightseeing in the capital city of Colombo, which included visits to the National Museum and Buddhist Temple of the Tooth. Later during the tour, the grouped backpacked into the central highlands of Sri Lanka. And in Kandy, Sri Lanka, the group participated in a cultural event that included singing and dancing with the locals.
The Santa Monica students boasted of the Sri Lankan hospitality.
“They were really open,” Grill said. “Despite the language differences and three translators, everyone worked together and we got the job done. Everyone was excited that we were there to help.”
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on August 3, 2005. Read the original PDF.