by Rex Wockner
[story updated January 6, 2005]
The latest information
from the Sri Lankan gay organization Companions
on a Journey
is that 36 of its members were killed in the Dec. 26
tsunami, another
nine remain unaccounted for, and 131 others were made
homeless by
the disaster.
The deaths occurred
in the southern parts of the country while the
homelessness
problem is greatest in Dehiwala, Koralawella, Moratuwa and
Mt. Lavinia,
which are coastal suburbs of the capital, Colombo.
"Lots of gays
discarded by their families due to their sexuality are
living [in these
suburbs] in clusters in slums," said Companions
Executive Director
Sherman de Rose. "Most of these people are
illiterate,
underemployed and earn their living through sex work and
other odd jobs."
Companions is
providing aid at its drop-in center in the form of dry
rations and
clothing. In addition, the organization has given money for
temporary lodging,
repairs, and cooking and cleaning supplies to 17 of
its members.
The group also
is involved in general relief work in Matara and Wadduwa,
distributing
clothes, clean drinking water, sanitation supplies, cooked
food and dry
rations.
"Many of us have
lost family members, lovers, friends, neighbors and
colleagues --
not to mention the loss of possessions, homes, shelters,
livelihood and
other social spaces," said de Rose.
Some Companions
members living in temporary camps have reported
homophobic harassment,
mostly cat calls and name-calling.
The good news
is that "most of the gay people who are in temporary camps
set up by local
authorities for the victims of the tsunami are starting
to rebuild their
lives again," de Rose said. "Some have already moved
out from these
camps. But some others couldn't do that because they
simply don't
have anything or anybody to return to. The waves have
destroyed everything
that they have ever possessed."
Persons wishing
to help with Companion's gay relief efforts can send
checks made
out to Companions on a Journey to Hatton National Bank, No.
285, Galle Road
Bambalapitiya, Colombo-04, Sri Lanka. Note the group's
account number:
0390019955CU. Postage from the U.S. is 80 cents per
ounce. The "Swift
code" for wire transfers is HBLILKLX. Wire transfers
may incur transfer
fees in transit.
The tsunami also
destroyed many of Sri Lanka's gay-friendly venues,
which tend to
be in tourist areas frequented by Western Europeans. The
nation has no
out and open gay venues, de Rose said.
"Fortunately
for the gay community, the tsunami didn't make its
appearance in
the evening; otherwise lots of gays cruising along the
beaches would
have perished," he said.
Members of the
Sri Lankan "LGBTIQ" organization Equal Ground also are
helping with
disaster relief.
"The magnitude
of the catastrophe that affected Sri Lanka on Boxing Day
is something
that is hardly describable," said Executive Director
Rosanna Flamer-Caldera.
"Members of Equal Ground have not only given of
their time and
energy to volunteer for relief efforts, but also have
spent their
own monies buying essentials like medicine and food, and
donating it
to the larger organizations sending the trucks to the north,
east and south."
Flamer-Caldera
said "many of the gay 'spaces' in the south and also in
Negombo to the
north of Colombo were damaged or wiped out by the
tsunami. ...
This horrible, horrible disaster has knocked Sri Lanka so
bad that it
will take years and years to rebuild."
INDONESIA
In Indonesia,
gay groups have been unable to get any information from
the most-affected
areas.
"We don't know
about the effect of the tsunami on gay people in Aceh and
North Sumatra,"
said Dédé Oetomo, head of GAYa NUSANTARA. "We never had
any organized
contact in Aceh or the island of Nias in North Sumatra,
which have been
hardest-hit.
"Medan, the major
city on the eastern coast with a sizeable gay
population,
was spared due to its distance from the epicenter," Oetomo
said. "The good
news is that gay organizations are involved in
fundraising
and collecting donations together with other community
groups."
THAILAND
In Thailand,
the gay resort of Phuket was hard-hit. It has many gay
guest houses,
restaurants, bars, shops and coffeehouses. But, according
to Ulf Mikaelsson
and Börje Carlsson, two Swedes who run the Connect
Guest House
and Coffee Bar, most of the gay businesses are "far enough
from the beach
to be untouched by the tragedy."
"The day of the
tsunami disaster, the Connect, with its satellite
television connection,
was one of the only sources of news coverage of
the tragedy
as it unfolded," the couple wrote in an e-mail. "Scores of
native and foreign
gays gathered around the mounted television and ate,
drank and bonded
with each other as news came in as to the losses being
sustained.
"Right now, the
Phuket gay community is busy raising funds for those
Thais and foreigners
who suffered injury and loss due to the tidal
wave," the couple
said. "It will take some months to clean up and
rebuild the
beach area, but everything else on the island, 500 yards or
more from the
beach, is exactly as it was -- untouched by the tsunami.
... If you want
to help us in Patong, do not cancel your tour to Patong
Beach. Now more
than ever we need your support."
Carlsson described his own experience of the tsunami.
"It was a clear
blue sky and we were having our morning coffee at
Connect when
we heard people screaming that the beach had disappeared,"
he said. "When
I got close to the beach I heard more screaming and
suddenly I saw
this huge wave, taller than the palm trees, coming to
crash down on
us. ... We rushed into a hotel as the huge wave rolled
into Patong
Beach. The giant wave flooded the lobby within seconds and
dragged furniture
onto the street. I had to wrap myself around a pillar
to avoid being
swept away. As I was standing there, a car actually
floated into
the lobby and overturned because the current was so strong.
The water was
up to my chest and I was holding on to my boyfriend's hand
because he can't
swim."
"It's a strange
feeling to walk from one side of Rath-U-Thit road to the
other," Carlsson
said. "On one side it looks like a war zone and on the
other side nothing
had changed."
CONTACT INFORMATION
SRI LANKA
Companions on
a Journey, 46/50 Robert Drive, Robert Gunawardhane
Mawatha, Colombo-06,
Sri Lanka. Telephone: 011-94-11-251-4680. Fax:
011-94-11-555-7660.
E-mail: coj@sri.lanka.net. Web:
http://www.companions-lanka.org.
Equal Ground.
Telephone: 011-94-11-268-2278. E-mail: graycat@sltnet.lk and
donate@equal-ground.org.
Web: http://www.equal-ground.org.
INDONESIA
GAYa NUSANTARA,
Jalan Mojo Kidul I No. 11-A, Surabaya 60285, Indonesia.
Telephone/fax:
011-62-31-591-4668. Cell phone: 011-62-811-311-743.
E-mail: doetomo@indo.net.id.
THAILAND
Connect. Telephone:
011-66-76-294-195. E-mail: connect@beachpatong.com.
Web: http://www.beachpatong.com/.
GayPatong.com.
E-mail: webmaster@gaypatong.com. Web:
http://www.gaypatong.com.