Extra support for tsunami kids pays off

Children themselves supported their tsunami-affected friends. "Our friends were falling behind with their lessons, so we helped them catch up and explained things they didn't understand," says P. Subashree, a high school student.

All this support seemed to pay off in at least one tangible way with the higher test scores. According to figures released in May and June by the Department of Government Examinations in Madras, the pass percentage on the higher secondary exam in tsunami-affected areas is 79.38; the state average is 76.9. On the school leaving exam, the pass rate in tsunami zones is 81.31 versus 77.8 state-wide. In previous years, such gaps were not noticeable.

For youths who've left the school system, employment opportunities are cropping up. "Now, nongovernmental organizations are offering vocational training. Before the tsunami, they weren't doing anything for the educated young people in our village," says Poongkodi.

On the whole, Mr. Mani thinks the tsunami has given literacy a boost in the fishing community. "After the tsunami, [affected adults] had to fill out forms and all that. They couldn't do this on their own and they realized the value of education. So, now they're sending their children to school properly."

Nagapattinam, India - With fishing and related economic activities still in a slump and permanent housing not yet in sight, tsunami-affected adults, unlike children, remain off kilter. But very little psychological support has been extended to them because of the lack of mental health professionals in India.

It has fallen on survivors to counsel fellow survivors. M. Parameswaran of Nagapattinam, who lost all his three children and seven relatives in the tidal waves, started filling the gap early on. "So many nongovernmental organizations were giving material things. But devastated people, they also need comfort and peace. So, we were doing that," he says.

Since January, Mr. Parameswaran and his wife, Choodamani, have been going to tsunami-affected areas in Andhra Pradesh and Tamilnadu to revive the broken spirits of survivors and to get them to move on. "We have to recover from this disaster. We have to survive. We shouldn't be covering our heads with a cloth and sitting in a corner," says Parameswaran.

Choodamani remembers her excruciating grief after the tsunami. "Why did this incident happen in my life, I kept asking," she says. But the turning point came when she heard an inner voice saying to her, "When your husband is saved, do you think I couldn't have saved your children?" She took that to be the voice of God and found spiritual comfort in her Christian faith. "I stopped grumbling and weeping. I said, my children are with God. They're in the right place."

Her courage and strength helped Parameswaran get out of his funk. Within a week's time they were consoling a bereaved neighbor. "We were strong enough to come out of our emotions. We wanted to help others," says Choodamani.

Parameswaran's inspirational work of spreading comfort has brought him a lot of local attention and praise. "Your speech on the evening of the 9th was very powerful," Indhu from Coimbatore wrote him. So many people send notes these days that Parameswaran spends most of his off-work hours reading e-mail and writing letters, says Choodamani.

Because the Parameswarans' home felt empty without kids, they decided to take in tsunami orphans. "We needed to fill this house with children," says Parameswaran. "When we're diverting our thoughts to other children, we're forgetting all our sorrow."

Lives have changed after being touched by the Parameswarans' story. Childless after 20 years of marriage, V. R. Hemalatha of Kerala used to get depressed. "I used to feel lonely and ask why God has not given any child to me." After reading about the Parameswarans in a local magazine, her whole outlook changed. "Now, I want to help poor children and orphans."

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