Orphanage In Eye Of The Storm
An orphanage that has served as a community center helping thousands in Colombo, Sri Lanka, has taken on a new, expanded role since the tsunami hit that area on Monday.
Sri Lankan native Sriyani Tidball and her husband, American photographer Tom Tidball, have dedicated their lives to helping those in need in Colombo, Sri Lanka. Since the early 1980s, they've operated a community center and an orphanage that has helped thousands.
Because of the work they already did in Colombo, it was natural for them to take an active role in helping those who lost everything when the tsunami pulverized all in its path.
If you want to help, you can go to their Web site, or send a check or supplies to Community Concern Society, c/o Tom and Sriyani Tidball, 101 Galle Road, Colombo 4 Sri Lanka.
On Thursday's The Early Show, co-anchor Harry Smith spoke with Sriyani and the couple's daughter, Suba, who works with children in the community center, which is near the beach.
Sriyani says, ""All of the homes along the beach -- we serve 5,000 families -- and about 2,500 homes are totally demolished. The rest are partially demolished. So we have a lot of women and children and dads who are homeless, displaced, with only the things they had on their back and it's just very sad."
In the refugee camps, says Sriyani, "People are in real shock. They cannot believe what has happened. They're grateful for the fact that they're still alive and some of their family is with them, but it seems like they are traumatized. People have this real glassy look and it's a very sad situation."
Suba says the initial moments were terrifying: "As soon as I heard that the wave had hit, one of my youth workers called and her house got destroyed, and I received a phone call with her crying on the other end, saying, 'You have to come down, you have to come down.' So, immediately, I got in my car. But I thought it was just a flood. Every once in a while, we have a little bit of flooding here.
"But I never expected what I saw. As I got there, there were boats that had come up the road. I found my friend and she was carrying babies that didn't belong to her and she was saying, "I don't know where their parents are.' There is a church up the road -- just a really small church and someone had gone and collected all of the kids out of the water that were still alive.
"Nobody died in that area -- they're very lucky -- but all of the kids were collected and dumped at this church and parents were coming in and out when I got there, trying to look for their kids. So it was really heartbreaking."