It's A Hard Knock Life

Wow. I just spent 4 days living in an IDP (internally displaced persons) camp in Mullaitivu and helped build the foundation of the building we’re putting up; the experience of a lifetime in just 4 days. My whole body is hurting because I’m not used to sleeping on concrete floors and sand. I’m planning to get used to it. I’ve also gotten visibly darker and I didn’t even know I could get sunburned until yesterday! I’ve never used a well before but I’ve been taking “showers” with buckets of well water. I didn’t need to use my towel because the heat there is so intense that you’re dry within a couple of minutes. Mullaitivu is a highly secured zone and now I can see why my family was worried that I was going there. I will post my journal entries (lots of pics!) from the last couple of days tomorrow if I have a chance. Just wanted to let everyone know I’m safe!

I can’t tell you hard life is out there. You can’t fully appreciate things most of us take for granted like: roads, cars, beds, mattresses, bathrooms, tools, electricity, clothes, food, running water and clean air until you’ve stayed somewhere like this. In Colombo I’ve been in some very nice accommodations thus far. Living out there was difficult but I could see the people in the camp (especially the kids) were very happy to have us there. I got used to going to the well, collecting water in buckets and walking somewhere to take a shower.

I can’t tell you how heart wrenching it is listening to some of these people’s stories. I’m not a sensitive person at all. As a matter of fact, more than 1 person has used the exact words: “cold-hearted bastard” (in the most loving way possible, of course! ) to describe me. A few months ago gems described me as ‘caring’ on her website. I thought this was nice, but I laughed and wondered “How did she get that impression?” I’ve now realized something: I’m careless when it comes to me. I’ve mentioned before I know God takes care of me so I don’t worry. I think I’m often more concerned about what happens to my friends and family than I am for myself. As insensitive as I am, it was really tough listening to what these people went through. Of course I know some people exaggerated and some people just came up with sob stories (uh-oh! There’s the cold-hearted bastard coming out!), but fact is: Mullaitivu was already destroyed by the civil war. In the past few years people were no longer afraid and finally decided to move back to their homes and rebuild their lives. Then the Tsunami hit. In just seven minutes, these people’s lives were ruined…again.

I can’t tell you how thankful we should be for all the things we take for granted.