Sri Lanka Healing Wounds in Body and Spirit By the Formosa relief team (Originally in Chinese)

In Sri Lanka, the South Asian tsunamis killed at least 40,000 people and displaced millions as the island country's entire coastline except for the northwestern part was severely ravaged.

On December 28, three members of the Formosa relief team arrived in Colombo, Sri Lanka to identify the types of aid and assistance needed by local victims, and then began their relief effort. The next day, the initiates visited the Colombo branch of the International Red Cross accompanied by the local contact person. According to the Red Cross" analysis, many districts stretching over large areas were devastated as water, electricity, roads and communications were cut off. Also, people traveling to the affected areas had to carry their own fuel because gas stations in the region had been destroyed by flood waters, and material provisions were urgently needed, as was mental rehabilitation for the victims.

Just as the initiates were considering how to efficiently conduct emergency relief work over such a vast area, Master opportunely sent a large team of assistants in the form of staff members from The Finance Company, Limited, where the local contact person worked. The Company has more than thirty branch offices all over Sri Lanka, and General Manager G.D. Ratnapala offered his staff's full support in the relief operation. The initiates and The Finance Company staff then held meetings to discuss ways of efficiently providing aid to the victims, and workers were mobilized to determine the extent of damage in various communities. The Finance Company staff members also helped in purchasing medical supplies, potable water and other relief provisions at wholesale prices, leaving the initiates truly amazed at Master's incredible power!

On the morning of December 30, the initiates were joined by another group of fellow practitioners from Formosa, and under the guidance of Mr. Ratnapala and his colleagues, the group traveled to the heavily damaged resort town of Hambantota to distribute a truckload of potable water and medical supplies and to study the extent of damage in the area. However, just as the team's bus approached the town, the driver made a sharp U-turn and stepped hard on the accelerator, speeding away from the shore along with all the other vehicles on the road and the many people fleeing on foot. The Formosan initiates later learned from the contact person that there had been another earthquake off the coast of Indonesia measuring 5.0 on the Richter scale, and fear of another tsunami had set off the residents" rush to safety. While regaining their composure, the disciples sensed the local people's helplessness and became even more determined to conduct their relief operation in order to convey Master's love to the victims.

To help in the effort, Mr. Harsha, a local youth proficient in graphic art, worked through the night in his photography studio, preparing fabric banners bearing Master's image, which were then hung on both sides of the relief team's bus. The young man firmly declined payment for his work, but accepted a Swiss Army knife gratefully offered as a gift by the initiates. Mr. Harsha also volunteered to join the relief effort the following day and requested initiation into the Quan Yin Method when the operation was completed.

On the morning of December 31, the team visited the General Hospital in Matara to determine the facility's needs. The Hospital had scores of subsidiary hospitals, and its administrator and director expressed gratitude to The Supreme Master Ching Hai International Association for its care and assistance. Many local people helped unload the drinking water and medical supplies the initiates had brought for the Hospital, and each tried to obtain one of Master's photos and a copy of Her sample booklet, which they immediately began reading. Master's infinite love and compassion had indeed brought much comfort to these thirsty souls!

Fellow practitioners deliver drinking water and medical supplies to the General Hospital in Matara.		Nurses from the General Hospital find a treasure in Master's sample booklet.

Fellow practitioners purchase emergency provisions. On the truck are small water tanks required by tsunami victims in Matara.

The Hospital made a list of needed items, including candy, toys, illustrated children's books, bed pads, refrigerators for storing medicine and blood and small water tanks suitable for local use. The relief team then divided into two groups; one purchased the items and the other, guided by the contact person's colleague Mr. Tenison, assessed the situation along the coast. The second group visited two temporary shelters, where they quickly responded to the victims" urgent need for food and daily necessities by purchasing coconut oil, rice, salt, instant noodles, spices and potatoes. Upon learning that the food was for the disaster victims, the local wholesalers had their workers load the goods quickly and deliver them along with the initiates in a large truck. By evening, the team had supplied seven hundred shelter residents.

The other group of initiates managed to acquire some of the items needed by the Hospital, which included five hundred toys, five refrigerators and 38 water tanks. Since local store inventories were practically depleted of stock, the two groups of initiates met and decided to return to Colombo so that they could continue purchasing the substantial quantities of materials still required.

For several days, the fellow practitioners sought out every means available to buy supplies, following up on suggestions by local initiates and requests from temporary accommodations centers for practical items as well. The owner of the electrical appliance store who supplied refrigerators to the relief team generously offered his home as a logistical center and place to rest. The practitioners then knew that everything was in Master's hands. On January 5, the first supply of bed pads, slippers and other materials was delivered to the hospital. While trying to comfort the injured and wishing them a speedy recovery, the initiates also visited crowded children's wards to distribute candy and cookies.

As the contact person and fellow practitioners were purchasing medical equipment from the Colombo supplier M/S Technomedics Limited, the company's managing director and staff deeply felt the rescue team's sincerity, and offered Rs. 48,000 worth of surgical disposables free of charge to be given to hospitals along with the other items. Moreover, while making their purchases, the team was allowed free use of the company's telephones and fax machines to communicate with initiates in Formosa.

In another instance, several sisters went to the main city of Colombo to purchase a load of women's sanitary items, undergarments, toys and other goods. After a period of searching it began to get dark and no vehicle had been found. At this time the supplier of the goods generously offered his van and transported the items free of charge, again revealing Master's divine power.

The relief team members and their truck drivers.

 Later, the sisters and brothers once again formed two groups. The first visited seven local shelters to distribute mosquito incense, mosquito nets, plastic pads, bed sheets, women's sanitary items, undergarments, slippers, infant care supplies, toys, toiletry items, curry powder and other provisions needed by the victims. The second group delivered medical equipment and medicine to the Base Hospital in the heavily affected area of Hambantota and daily necessities to a government agency. Some shelters could be reached only after climbing hundreds of steps. So considerable time and effort were required to deliver the large quantities of relief materials. However, instead of charging extra for an entire day of work, the owner of the truck that was transporting the supplies gave the relief team a discount. This kind act demonstrated that despite suffering one of the greatest catastrophes of the century, those living and working in the affected areas could express selfless love as they helped and supported each other.

Mario Melcher, chairman of the Children's Dreams Foundation, who was stationed at one of the shelters visited by the initiates, was so deeply moved by Master's compassion and love that he wasted no time in writing a letter of appreciation for the aid rendered by Supreme Master Ching Hai. Mr. Melcher was profoundly touched that fellow practitioners of The Supreme Master Ching Hai International Association were able to provide relief supplies to remote shelters in such a short time.

After conducting the relief effort described above for tsunami victims along Sri Lanka's southern coast, the practitioners also distributed medical equipment such as ECG machines, nebulizers, diagnostic sets, crutches, bed sheets, pillow cases and raw cloths (mattress covers) to the Ampara and Panama Hospitals located on the eastern coast.  

Also, during an interview, Mr. Ratnapala, who aided the initiates greatly in their work, expressed what was in his people's hearts through the following statement:

Luckily, you all came to aid and assist us. With your Master's love, you came and helped us. So that's great. We are forever grateful to you for that. It's not the material help that you gave us; it's the universal love that's all pervading and that comes through your Master. The help comes with God's love and it's wherever you are. It happens inside like a small spark of lightning. That spark is very, very good. And the spark is love; this is the greatest energy.

So we're ever grateful to you and to your Master for the love that came through these donations, which must be the universal love because it has to come from a massive source. So the source is your Master. It's coming from God! That's where the universal cosmic energy has to come from. All material things will come and go. Even our bodies come and go. But one thing that remains is this energy. So it has to come from a source like your Master.

We need all your wishes of luck; we need all those blessings and your well wishes because this country has to rise up, meaning that its people have to come up. And to achieve this coming up, they should also, like you, see a Master. They should see the enlightened way that's shown by your Master. They should see this love. So the people must not only survive this calamity, they must also rise above their inner suffering. Suffering is from the inside. It's not what happens on the outside. So I hope we can also come out of that suffering.

Throughout the relief operation in Sri Lanka, the Formosan aid workers could feel the sincerity, benevolence, loving spirit and mutual support of the local people such as Mr. Ratnapala. And through Master's constant guidance and incredible arrangements, the project proceeded smoothly and efficiently. In addition, the work gave local fellow practitioners a deeper appreciation of the ephemeral nature of material life, and thus their faith in the Quan Yin Path grew stronger. Their families and colleagues were amazed to see the Formosan sisters and brothers arrive in Sri Lanka in such a short period of time to provide relief in accord with Master's teachings about expressing love and compassion to the less fortunate. Many of the Sri Lankan initiates" relatives and friends, as well as local rescue workers, expressed a desire to be initiated into the Quan Yin Method, or at least showed great interest in learning more about Master's teachings. Thus, through the South Asian Tsunami relief effort countless spiritual seeds were sown in Sri Lanka.