Where are they now? Sri Lanka three years on

Srivithya, Jeeva and their baby girl in front of their new home, built with the help of Caritas EHED, Navaledi, eastern Sri Lanka, November 2007. [Caritas EHED]

Srivithya, who lost most of her family in the tsunami in 2005, is now married, with a little baby girl living in a new home built with the help of CAFOD's partner, Caritas EHED

By Laura Storr

Srivithya was only 26 when I met her in 2005. The tsunami swept across her tiny village of Navaledi in Batticaloa, eastern Sri Lanka.

Located on a sandbank, separating the Indian Ocean from the mainland – Navaledi didn’t stand a chance. Nearly a thousand people were killed in this village alone – two-thirds of the population.

Fishermen returning from a night at sea arrived to find the beaches littered with bodies, loved ones missing and their homes in ruins.

Family lost

Srivithya lost her mother, father, elder sister and her grandmother in the tsunami.

“My sister was with me in a tree,” she said, looking down at the ground as she recalled what happened when we met in 2005.

“The wave hit my sister’s face and she got scared and let go of the tree. Then she fell down.”

Srivithya’s voice was measured and quiet. “When I found my sister’s body, at first I couldn’t identify it because it was all swollen with water.”

Srivithya lost everything in the tsunami. She managed to cope with the help of her fiancé Jeeva.

“If you are alone it is terrible, but I am ok because of Jeeva. If I didn’t have him I don’t know what I’d do.”

Hope for the future

Srivithya and Jeeva lay the floor of their temporary house in Navaledi, eastern Sri Lanka, June 2005. [Noel Gavin]

Jeeva and Srivithya had just finished building a temporary shelter, with the help of CAFOD’s partner, Caritas EHED, in June 2005.

Three years later, Srivithya and Jeeva are now married and living in a new home.

Caritas EHED provided two-storey houses in Navaledi at the special request of people returning there.

The people feel safer as they know they can rush upstairs and have more chance of shelter from any future disaster.

With CAFOD’s support, Caritas EHED has built more than 2,750 houses in Batticaloa and neighbouring Ampara for people who lost their homes in the tsunami. House construction is continuing into 2008.

Srivithya and Jeeva have also had a baby girl, Rsihmya, who is 14 months old.

“The house has brought new life to me and my family,” said Srivithya. “We are so fortunate – we feel this is a blessing from God.”