Tsunami Recovery: Rebuilding from Disaster

A family's new start in Batticaloa, Sri Lanka

By Mikel Flamm

	Photojournalist Mikel Flamm stands with Manimala, who helped her father K. Vadivel rebuild their Habitat house.

Featured on the cover of Habitat World's special tsunami edition, K.Vadivel has partnered with Habitat for Humanity in Sri Lanka to rebuild his house on the same ground where it stood before the tsunami.

I will never forget the first time I met K. Vadivel and his daughter Manimala in early January. He was sitting on the edge of the foundation where his house once stood.

Rubble surrounded him. He had lost his wife just two weeks prior when the Dec. 26 tsunami crashed over their home. He also lost his livelihood as a fisherman. Sitting on the foundation, he stared off into the distance thinking of his losses.

Yet there was the will to rebuild the life of his family. Habitat homeowners were given first priority to rebuild their homes, and so his family was placed at the front of the list to partner with Habitat. They would build a new house on land donated by a Habitat  supporter in a location three kilometers (1.8 miles) inland.

But as the weeks wore on, he began to feel that he needed to be near the water, closer to the source of his livelihood.

He had no boat to fish with, but he knew he could not live anywhere else. His daughter Manimala requested that his house be rebuilt on the exact spot where their former Habitat house once stood, where they had lived for more than 30 years-and where they had lost their wife and mother.

Over the next two years, Habitat for Humanity is committed to assisting 35,000 families who lost their homes to the tsunami.

Habitat volunteers cleared rubble from the property, leveled the ground and began rebuilding. With intense heat and little cloud cover, the long days often were brutal, yet the team worked through it all, laying brick after brick, digging and laying foundation stones, moving sand, cement and rubble to get the job done--even working past daylight, at times, with flashlights and kerosene lamps.

As I rode in with Manimala to her new house a few hours before the dedication, she looked out the window of the van and smiled. "Oh, very beautiful," she said. "I am so happy now."

Bob Bell, a volunteer from the United States and the team leader, said, "When we arrived here five days ago we had no idea of what to expect and weren't sure of what we would do. We did not expect to have a house dedication while we were here, so this is a special occasion. This house culminates in a new beginning of hope for this family."

During the ceremony, as a Habitat for Humanity coordinator in Sri Lanka, Justus Gregory, relayed the story of the loss of the mother, the room fell silent. Mr. Vadivel's eyes were intent and teary. Manimala wiped tears from her own eyes--and the rest of us did, as well.

"When I think of the people who came here to help my family build this house I am very happy," Manimala said. "They came from very far away to be here for us and the other families, including my sister, who lost their homes.

"I will never forget the long days they spent working here. This is a beautiful house where we will all spend many years. This is our special home."

--Mikel Flamm is a photojournalist for Habitat for Humanity in Bangkok, Thailand.