Pull of tsunami woes back home
FT.com, January 13, 2005
By Hugh Williamson in Berlin, Joanna Chung in Washington, James Lamont in London and Dan Westell in Toronto
For Pipit Kartawidjaja the days since the tsunami hit his home country have been filled with emotion. Being far from home has not eased the pain for the Indonesian office worker who has lived in Berlin for the past 30 years. Grief has been mixed with wonder at the unprecedented international response to the disaster by governments and individuals.
„I’m not sure rich people in Jakarta have been as generous as some people here,” he says.
Such a cocktail of emotions stirred by the December 26 Indian Ocean disaster is typical for those who trace their roots to the tsunami-devastated region but who now live in other parts of the world. In North America and Europe, the tragedy has profoundly touched expatriate communities that maintain strong ties to their homelands.
Since the disaster struck, Indonesian, Sri Lankan, Thai and Indian expatriates have offered their prayers, support and donations to the victims back home by working with local community, non-profit and religious organisations.
„I really had to ask myself, ‘what am I doing here?’ ” says Ranjitha Balasubramanyam, an Indian journalist working in Bonn. She says she was torn between doing her job which included reporting about the aftermath of the tsunami and catching the next flight to India or Sri Lanka to help the victims. She decided to stay, and quickly became a focal point for local people seeking ways to help. „Many Germans came up to me and asked for ideas on supporting the victims,” she says.
Others have returned to the region. Bala Balasubramaniam, a newsagent in London, travelled this week to his village near Jaffna in Sri Lanka to help with the relief effort. His family, he said, had sent £1,000 (€1,425, $1,880) to support the recovery of the north-east of the island, while its shop collected tsunami-relief donations on behalf of the local Hindu temple and a Tamil organisation. „Most expatriates are doing the same as us,“ he said. „After two or three weeks [the Sri Lankan government] should have sent things, but they didn’t send to our place.“
In Europe and North America, the disaster was a rallying call for local Asian communities. In Germany, home to 150,000 people from India, Sri Lanka, Indonesia and Thailand, Indonesian students staged street collections, Thai restaurants called for donations and Sri Lanka and Indian groups asked for money and medical supplies to be brought to their embassies.
Ismail Budhiarso, an Indonesian who has lived in the US for about 10 years, is part of a group in Seattle, Washington, that helped raise funds for communities in Aceh province on the northern end of Sumatra. So far, more than $25,000 has been raised, along with blankets and medical supplies.
Also in Washington state, Vijay Vashee, a retired Microsoft executive, jump-started a funding drive by contributing $10,000 of his own money and also promised to match any donations. In 10 days, he said a group of 20 members of the community together raised $700,000.
In Toronto, home to the largest Tamil community outside Sri Lanka, the fundraising has exceeded expectations, according to Tharsi Yoganathan, spokeswoman for the Canadian Tamil Congress. „Even in the snowstorm last week, volunteers were going door-to-door.“
Yet such acts of solidarity are also mixed with political realities from the region. Pricked by reports that aid was not reaching Tamil areas, the Sri Lankan embassy in Berlin issued a statement dismissing such claims as „total fabrication”.
And religious divides in Indonesia mean the country’s Christian and Muslim communities have launched separate fundraising efforts for victims in Aceh.
For Mr Kartawidjaja, this adds to the sadness of the disaster. „It’s frustrating that even at this time of need we cannot overcome our differences,” he says. <>
