Toronto Star Article:
Mission far from accomplished
T.O. medic returns after relief effort
Haunted by people he left behind
DEBRA BLACK
STAFF REPORTER
It's been three weeks since Rahul Singh returned home, but the devastation he saw in Sri Lanka haunts him still.
"I wish I was still there helping out," he says. "I'm wondering what I'm doing back in Canada. I wish I could have done more."
Singh, a 34-year-old Toronto paramedic, led a team of health volunteers in the tsunami-ravaged island of Sri Lanka. For a month, they provided aid to 4,168 patients, rehabilitated 480 wells, built a medical clinic in the newly formed village of Sakkuday and trained 68 people in how to clean wells in the rest of the region.
"I wish I'd had two or three teams out there," said Singh, who documented his team's efforts in a journal published by the Toronto Star last month. "I would have liked to have a team in Banda (in Indonesia) as well. But I'm proud of my guys, my team, they're brilliant."
Singh is founder of the David McAntony Gibson Foundation, which provides medical help in developing countries. The foundation sent a team of volunteers to Sri Lanka in January and also shipped four sea containers of donated equipment, including medical supplies, bicycles and beds, to the area.
The total cost of the volunteer operation was $15,000, which paid for the cost of a base camp, medicine and water-cleaning chemicals, food and ground transportation, Singh said. All of his volunteers paid for their own flights to the region.
And while he knows his team has helped, he can't help but think of those left behind. Singh wonders what will happen to his friend and driver Christy Fernando, his wife and their two children. Fernando was just one of a number of local residents Singh hired to help the team.
Before the tsunami, Fernando would drive tourists around his homeland, showing them the sights. But now the tourists have gone. And many experts fear they may never come back. "How does he survive an event like this?" Singh asks. "How many tourists are going to go there? Who's going to take care of this guy? You look at the guy and you feel for him."
Reconstruction of the devastated region has begun, but it will be costly, with estimates of rebuilding Sri Lanka alone at $2.5 billion to
$3 billion, according to a report in The Guardian Weekly. The total reconstruction cost in all the countries affected is estimated at $12.5 billion.
The cost is great, but many like Singh know the reconstruction of Sri Lanka can only improve the lives of people like Fernando. And Singh believes it's important to not just come in and rebuild whole villages and towns, but also teach people in the area new skills.
"They have an opportunity to rebuild it as more than a Third World nation with shanty towns on the coast," he said. "The emphasis should be on getting people back to work and getting them to actually build their homes and villages and give them a sense of responsibility.
"After the tsunami is long over, they're going to be rebuilding for years. Sri Lanka has survived 25 years of war and years of poverty before that. It's an opportunity for them to build from zero."
What Singh would like to do next in Sri Lanka if he had the funds is build schools.
"That's the only real way you're going to help rebuild the country. The future generation is going to be their salvation. And they have to be educated."
RAHUL SINGH PHOTO
A young child in a Sri Lankan refugee camp sports a temporary tattoo that designates him a "Junior Paramedic."