The tsunami: a year later

The four small children were struggling down the steep uneven hill, carrying between them a sack full of cloths and a large cooking bowl containing five small metal plates.

I asked a passer-by what were they doing and was told they were carrying all their possessions from their temporary abode to their new home down the road. "What do you mean by all their possessions," I asked. "Is that all they have?"

It turned out that the sack of cloths and the few pots were indeed the only possessions of a family of four children and their mother. Their father, who was a fisherman, died when the tsunami struck their village located on the southern shores of India.

The children were moving their family home from the temporary hut made from coconut palm leaves to the new brick home built for them by one of the many aid organisations. This new home comprised a room, 10 feet square, with an outside toilet. Not much, but a palace compared to what they were living in for the last year.

The reason why they were moving house was because their mother was walking five miles to the nearest town to sell some fish that had been caught that day by her brother-in-law. She took four fish, each five inches long, in a basin carried on her head, and she managed to sell two of the fish. The remaining fish were brought back to her family for their daily meal.

This area of southern India was horribly affected by the tsunami on Boxing Day last year. Thousands of people, mainly the elderly and children, were killed. They left behind their families who were helpless and totally distraught.

This whole area of southern India is predominately Catholic and all the people killed by the tsunami in this area were in fact Catholics.

I was in the area recently, to open a boys' home that people in Malta had helped to build for the children of the families in the area, most of whom were fishermen.

I witnessed absolute and total poverty, but also a people who were at the same time very happy, hard working and honest. I saw people who had nothing and yet were smiling, polite and very friendly. People full of faith, looked after by local Catholic priests in a manner reminiscent of days gone by in Malta where the priests did everything and looked after everyone, because if they didn't then nobody else would.

When I was in this amazing region, I saw such natural beauty and people who needed only the very basics of life to be happy and content. I saw people who were very grateful for anything they received over and above the basic necessities of life.

I saw around me the work that was being done by people from abroad to help reconstruct the lives of the local people. Houses were being built, breakwaters and protective walls, life was gradually getting back to normal. Not that normal was anything other than the very basic necessities.

I left the area full of admiration for the local priests who did so much for the unfortunate victims of that terrible disaster.

Full of admiration for the people themselves, who managed to survive such tragedies and yet still keep their spirit and faith. Full of determination to help as much as I can such worthy and lovely people. And harbouring a determined intention never to grumble when I don't have everything I want because even a little tiny bit of what I have is infinitely more than these wonderful people would ever dream of having.