Northwest Medical Teams' volunteers in post-tsunami South Asia continue to focus on targeted projects in the region, working with local groups, schools and ministries of health to help thousands of hurting families rebuild their lives.
Six teams -- two in Sri Lanka and four in Indonesia -- are addressing medical/dental and psycho-social concerns of communities left homeless by the Dec. 26 disaster. A seventh group of volunteers heads to Sri Lanka in early March.
"The rebuilding efforts are extensive and long-term," says Bas Vanderzalm, who just returned from Indonesia and Sri Lanka. "These communities need our help in a multitude of areas: medical care and supplies, trauma counseling, clinic and hospital reconstruction, home building. There is much work to be done."
With nearly 100 volunteers and staff serving in South Asia in the last two months, many health care workers with Northwest Medical Teams report the tremendous need for both medical training and psychological counseling/education. Sue Busch, a Boston nurse practitioner who served in Sumatra for four weeks, explains, "The devastation is beyond belief. Everyone here has lost someone, usually many family members."
Busch recounts the story of Salma, a 40-year-old wife and mother who shared her story through an interpreter. "I met Salma in the clinic in Lamno after she had been walking for three days. She had been trapped in the water for a very long time and ingested large amounts of disgusting black water."
Busch learned that the Indonesian woman had lost her two-year-old son, parents, siblings and friends. "As she shared her story she tried very hard not to show emotion because it is culturally unacceptable to cry in public. I held her hand and she looked in my eyes with such sadness. I hope she saw the love and compassion I tried to project."
Northwest Medical Teams will continue to send volunteer trauma counselors in the coming months. The organization has developed a culturally-sensitive Critical Stress Management curriculum that volunteers use to train local teachers, nurses and community leaders in South Asia.