A good Samaritan in Sri Lanka

By W. T. J. S. Kaviratne - Ambalangoda Spl. Corr.

Sarah Griffith who hails from St. Peter Port, Guernsey, Channel Islands keeps on coming to the South Coast of Sri Lanka nearly three times a year since her first arrival in the country as a volunteer providing assistance for the tsunami affected.

Sarah made her first trip in February 2005 and during her stay in Sri Lanka she had visited all the tsunami devastated coastal villages including the temporary camps provided for the displaced in the Galle district.

Realising the magnitude of the tsunami devastation and its impact on every aspect of the lives of the survivors, and with the intention of personally attending to the affected individuals who had been denied support by all concerned, Sarah formed her own charity called "Bridge 2 Sri Lanka". She took great pains in raising funds in Guernsey, St. Peter Port. Within six weeks she could raise funds amounting to 4,000 pounds.

In addition to raising funds in her country for the rehabilitation of tsunami affected in Sri Lanka, Sarah took the initiative of getting down groups of volunteers who undertook numerous welfare programmes and reconstruction projects.

The staff members of "Cocktail Bar Laska" in St. Peter Port reached Hikkaduwa on the persuasion of Sarah and joined her in the implementation of humanitarian projects for the benefit of the tsunami displaced people lived on the worst hit coastal villages of Telwatta, Peraliya, Seenigama and Akurala.

Cocktail Bar owner Dave Matheson asked his staff whether they like to go on an outing to the City of London or to make a trip to Sri Lanka to help the tsunami stricken people.

Initially Dave was planning to take his staff to the City of London in appreciation of their hard work. All the members of the Cocktail Bar staff were not hesitant to make their unanimous decision of coming down to Sri Lanka. They shut down their Cocktail Bar and headed for Sri Lanka which was their first ever visit to South Asia.

Just after reaching tsunami devastated coastal villages around Hikkaduwa the group worked in conjunction with locally based charity called "Bridge 2 Sri Lanka" founded by Sarah. Their first undertaking was building a house for a tsunami displaced family.

Sarah Griffith through her charity "Bridge 2 Sri Lanka" launched numerous other humanitarian programs in addition to tsunami reconstruction and facilitating the resumption of livelihood programmes and these were not confined only for the tsunami affected communities. She was very successful in one of her most exciting ventures of taking a Sri Lankan woman from Dickwella named Dayawathie Liyanage who was suffering from a severe knee ailment for an operation to the Princess Elizabeth Hospital in Guernsey.

Sarah Griffith first met Dayawathie in the year 2005 when she was selling paintings done by herself and her family members. In order to earn her living, Dayawathie over the years used to come down to Hikkaduwa from Dickwella a long distance by bus to sell her paintings to tourists. Dayawathie even though she was suffering from severe pain had continued to walk from one restaurant to other at Hikkaduwa trying to sell her Paintings. Sarah bought many of her paintings ranging from Beach side landscapes of Sri Lanka, sunsets, statues, monuments, ruined cities, religious shrines and scenic beauty of the Hill Country and these paintings have been received very well in Guernsey and in Sarah's mother's home town in Worcester. Dayawathie hardly knew that her knee had degenerated. Realising the plight of Dayawathie who was a talented Artist struggling for survival by selling paintings, Sarah took her to a consultant in Galle. The doctor advised that Dayawathie needed an urgent reconstructive surgery.

Sarah was not hesitant to refer her patient Dayawathie to another consultant in Colombo, who said that they had only a knee joint which would last only for two years. Sarah said, "I was not prepared to put her through an operation that would give her only a very short bit of comfort". Not giving up her search for a knee joint for Dayawathie, Sarah contacted Consultant Surgeon Roger Allsopp in Guernsey and asked whether he could help her in finding a knee joint and if so it could be taken to Sri Lanka for the operation. Dr. Roger immediately responded Sarah by contacting Guernsey based orthopaedic surgeon Dr. Rhanjan Vhadra from the Medical Specialist Group who offered to undertake the operation of Dayawathie free of all the charges at Princess Elizabeth Hospital in the Island of Guernsey. On Sunday 7th May, 2005, both Sarah Griffith and Dayawathie flew from Sri Lanka to Guernsey and it was a very traumatic journey for Dayawathie as she had never been out of Sri Lanka. Both of them were forced to sit in monsoon rain at Katunayake AirPort with Daya in a wheelchair. Referring to Dayawathie, Sarah said "She was incredibly brave."

They were met at Heathrow Air Port by "Bridge 2 Sri Lanka" committee member Kareen Goodhew and they were taken to Gatwick by a vehicle.

Dayawathie was terrified on the Aurigny journey to Guernsey due to turbulence. In Guernsey, Dayawathie stayed at Sarah's house until Thursday 11th May, 2005 and they managed to locate one of Dayawathie's distant relatives Irene de Silva living in London for nearly 29 years. Irene was brought to Guernsey as an interpreter. Sarah said, "Irene has a wonderful sense of humour." After the successful operation at about 8.30 a.m. on Saturday 13th May, Dayawathie was able to move around using crutches on Monday just a day after the operation.

"Bridge 2 Sri Lanka" was set up in July 2005 after Sarah Griffith became frustrated that money that had been given did not appear to be spent to help those traumatized by the tsunami. She initially devised a shopping list so people could sponsor an individual item and she would buy it and show them a photo to illustrate what their money had been used for. Next she was involved in delivering humanitarian aid including food parcels (dry rations) into camps in Hikkaduwa. Medical relief is also provided along with taking patients to medical specialists in Sri Lanka.

Bridge 2 Sri Lanka had already completed many permanent houses for tsunami displaced for the marginalised tsunami displaced families failed to get the attention of the officials involved in providing houses.