Trauma in Sri Lanka

by Graham Francis, Baptist World Aid Australia (BWAA)

It’s fascinating how our use of words is dependent on our life experiences. The word trauma or traumatic is a good example. Generally we use these words to explain our response to some troubling event that is way outside our usual life experiences. We in Australia may describe a range of experiences as traumatic ranging from hailstone damage to an incident where severe injury or death is experienced. The incidents are truly traumatic to us at the time but for many thousands of people around the world traumatic is a word that could be applied to many of their everyday experiences. For some their world continues to provide memories of past trauma.

While travelling through Sri Lanka in 2007, there were ongoing reminders of the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami – almost three years later, and I fear that many reminders are still there today. We were in the country to review the new housing provided by Australian Baptists for victims of the 2004 Boxing Day Tsunami. We also visited some people who were working with children who were victims of trauma in their young lives.

At first glance they looked like any other group of youngsters laughing and playing together in a grassed area on the coast. The young adults who were running the program seemed to be having as much fun as the children. No more than a hundred metres away was a beach with waves breaking on the sand – which sounds idyllic. The close proximity to the sea gave the first hint of their situation. Yes, some of them had experienced the terror of the tsunami but there was another clue on the sand. A steel tower on the beach looked like what could have been a lifeguard post except for the machine gun protruding over the rail. At the time of my visit the civil war between the Government and the Tamil Tigers was continuing. Apparently the Government soldiers were watching for rebels who may come ashore looking like fisherman. These children knew the pain of war, loss of loved ones and other personal abuse.

The war is considered to be over now and the tsunami is only a memory, but the pain and fear won’t end as easily for the children. Christians are to be known by their love and there was plenty of evidence of loving care in the leaders running around playing games and sitting doing drawings with the children. For these young children their bright smiles and infectious laughter indicates that some progress is being made to move on with their lives. We know how easily we can experience flashbacks to sad or troubling experiences in our lives. For these children, who have seen and experienced so much more than most of us will ever experience, the future will always be coloured by their experience of trauma.