We interviewed several people today and asked them to tell their story of what happened on Decemember 26, 2004, the day of the great Tsunami. Ihya’s story goes like this:
He lived near the ocean and heard of what was coming. He grabbed their young son in one arm, and his wife was hanging onto the other arm. They ran—literally ran—for their lives away from the ocean.
As they ran, he looked back and “saw a mountain of water behind us.” They kept running, looked back again and saw the mountain coming closer.
His son was ripped from his arms, then his wife. He went unconscious and when he came too, saw he was near a roof a building. He grabbed hold but then that building collapsed.
Somehow he managed to survive.
Just before the Tsunami hit, Ihya’s parents made the pilgrimage to Mecca. Before they left, they took a picture of their son, his wife, and their son. That picture was in the camera they took with them to Saudi Arabia. It’s one of the only things Ihya has left to remember his family by. He had the photo enlarged and brought it out to show to us.
CRWRC, the organization that has worked here for the past four years, has helped Ihya, and hundreds and hundreds more just like him, aquire housing and meaningful work since the Tsunami. Seeing Ihya in his new home, and hearing him talk of the girl he’s now dating and hopes to marry, makes me realize that hope can emerge from such a dark story.
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