What started as a four-month globetrotting adventure for two local residents is now a full-on humanitarian initiative in Sri Lanka.
Sherry Lundholm of Britannia and her friend Elvina Morrison of 樱桃视频were staying in the coastal Sri Lankan community of Tangalla when the deadly tsunami slammed the island nation on Boxing Day. The pair was on a beach in the community when the massive wall of water hit.
"They have nothing on the coast," Lundholm wrote in an e-mail message she sent to her husband, Paul, on Dec. 29. "The Sri Lankans were wonderful to me."
The Britannia cappuccino shop owner wants to give something back and is now trying to gather money to help the people that helped her. In that first message to her husband she said she wanted to buy a fiberglass fishing boat for the community and she asked him to start canvassing for money.
"One fishing boat that I am thinking of is 75,000 rupees about US$750," Lundholm wrote in the next e-mail message to her husband. She also indicated that she was interested in purchasing a tuc tuc [a covered three-wheel scooter used as a taxi] or a sewing machine.
"The whole family or community benefits from the fish boat because it takes so many to bring the nets in," Lundholm explained in a note sent Jan. 1. "They go out twice a day. The boat is about 20 feet (6.1 metres) long. It is not two feet (61 centimetres) wide but eight people are in it. And many more wait on the beach to pull the nets in. When they have made a big circle a young man jumps in close to shore and guides the lines and they are pulled in by at least 10 people on shore. Then they dump the fish out and each family takes what they need. Others will take fish to the market. So you see, one boat helps many people while one tuc tuc will help an extended family."
The e-mail messages from Sherry were posted at her cappuccino bar in Britannia and word of her situation spread quickly.
Proceeds from the Polar Bear swim in Britannia were donated to Lundholm's cause (see story page 19), Britannia firefighters donated $395 from their New Year's party and cappuccino bar customers are donating to the initiative through the shop in Britannia. Lundholm's husband contacted a number of individuals directly and that generated donations, including a $1,000 gift from one individual.
The total amount raised as of Wednesday afternoon totaled about $3,000, according to Lundholm's husband.
The big wave that converted Lundholm into a global aid worker took almost all of her belongings. She was shoeless for four days and wore clothing loaned to her by a Sri Lankan woman. Lundholm's passport and airline ticket were washed away along with one of her pairs of prescription glasses. Her only other pair of glasses was damaged and finally broke on Jan. 1.
Destruction surrounds Lundholm and Morrison as the country was one of the hardest hit by the tsunami with more than 30,000 people reported dead by the Sri Lankan government. More than 4,000 are reported missing and the number of people left homeless is estimated at almost 180,000.
In Lundholm's first e-mail message to her husband on Dec. 31 she described the events of Dec. 26."There was no sound, when it started," Lundholm wrote. "The water just started to roll in right after breakfast. Elvina was on the beach about 60 feet from our cabana. She hurried back but by the time she came and we were trying to save my laundry she started to be dragged away."
The pair stood beside each other as a man washed past them by the surging wave. The man screamed at them to get out quickly.
Lundholm was washed under and the pair was pulled inland. Elvina was able to climb a tree.The first two times she was washed under her toothbrush was in her mouth. She realized there was no point in keeping it, she said, and finally spat it out.
"I should not be alive today, but for the grace of God," wrote Lundholm. "Elvina and I were caught in the wave. She was washed to a tree and I was washed away. I grabbed hold of a tree but could not hold on. The next tree I managed to hold on to I wrapped one leg around as well. But debris kept hitting me in back and I knew if the ocean started going back out I would not be able to fight, no strength, so I let go of tree, thinking my best bet would be behind the wall of a house, although don't ask me why I thought that was my best chance because the homes were flooded."
Her instincts were sharp as she was able to get into a home.
"I was being tumbled about underwater with the furniture," she wrote. "It is amazing how much can be seen underwater even in a dark room. The next very amazing, wonderful thing was a boy of about 10 years came down from the roof to give me his hand. There was no way he had any strength to help me but, at risk to his own life, he would not leave me and he kept saying 'Hurry.'"
Anybody who wants to contribute money to Lundholm's initiatives can contact her husband at 604-896-2382 or visit Sherry's Cappuccino in Britannia Beach.
-with files from Alli Vail
