SRI
LANKA
The
First Meeting with
Father Terence - January 2005
(Extract from Pat's
diary after the initial meeting)
"Sri
Lanka was really hot, 36C when Suzy and I arrived. After
putting suitcases in to our room I spoke to the door porter
to ask where the nearest church was - this seeming the best
bet to find ways that we may be able to help. We were told
that it was five minutes walk away, so set off. It was over
half a mile! When we got there it was closed, a sortie round
the grounds to find the priests house led to me being shooed
away by the watchman! On the way I had noticed a Don Bosco
Centre (international street children organisation, supposed
to be available 24/7). There was no one there; in fact it
looked almost derelict. So back to the hotel feeling extremely
hot. The receptionist I approached suggested that we find
her church, and the Minister, Father Terence. So, off in
an auto rickshaw.
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We
found the church. It was shut. In the side of the church were
2 beggars; one said that the church opened at 3pm. It was
2pm, so we went back to the hotel, had a drink, and started
out again! At 3pm the church was still deserted and closed.
We wandered round for almost half an hour and were about to
give up when we saw a man at the rear of the church. I went
to ask him if he knew where we could find Father Terence,
and he pointed - he had just come out of a door that did not
look like a part of the church. So, in to join him, he was
bemused that we knew his name, and then we talked. What a
lovely man!! His daughter's church had 35 fishing families
who had been totally washed out by the Tsunami, and were now
living in tents in a refugee area. His plan was to buy a small
piece of land and resettle them. He had set up the bank account,
had plans drawn up, had managed to raise some money locally,
but was about £300 short of the money for the land.
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We had £300 with us that I had been asked by doctors
at the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital to give to
Sri Lanka.
After
a rather emotional farewell - because I had just told him
the story of how we had got to him, he said, "You know
that God sent you, don't you?" I'm really looking forward
to going back to see him again.
During
our talk he told me some of the difficult things that have
happened around the Tsunami, similar stories to those I had
heard in India. Of people who were unaffected by the Tsunami
managing to procure funds (one man had thousands of dollars
coming from the States because he said his fishing boats had
been destroyed - they had not).
Corruption is a way of life in the Third World; I think we
all know that, some of the stories underpin what we have always
known. Our money is safe with Father Terence. It is paid through
church accounts, and the whole congregation knows of our involvement.
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