Trip 2 of 9 - Tsunami Relief India Jan. 20-29, 2005

I was able to get an India visa while in Manila, so I flew from Manila to Madras, India. The Caris Foundation provided enough money for me to buy two truck loads of supplies and take them to the villages that were the most harmed by the tsunami. I cannot describe the memories I have of the devastation there. What burns in my mind most vividly
was the "lostness" of the people. They had once worshipped the sea, derived their living from it and their children had played on the beaches. After the tsunami many were afraid to go near the ocean and many wondered what they had done to anger their god.

It was difficult to distribute the blankets, stoves, rice, oil, pickles, clothing, mats, blankets etc., because of the crowds. The first village we went to they gave us a 4 police guard. About 20 minutes after we began our distribution, the police ordered us to get in our vehicle and to leave immediately. The truck drove away with people trying to get in the back.

We learned from that experience and the rest of the villages we distributed food and supplies were much better organized. We would not come into the village until we had contacted the village leaders and put them in charge of crowd control. We told them we would leave at the first sign of losing control of the crowd.

Dr. Carroll Osbourn, executive directer of Caris, and I distributed food and supplies to four villages and one orphan's home. We could not have done this without the assistance of Dr. Alexander and the staff at Phillips Hospital. We estimate about 500 families were helped in this way.