HPI
KAUAI, HAWAII, January 1, 2005: Nearly all residents of an orphanage supported by Kauai’s Hindu Monastery, home of Hinduism Today and HPI in Hawaii, miraculously survived the December 26 Tsunami. Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami (1927-2001), founder of the monastery, had deep ties with Sri Lanka. He was initiated there in 1949 and established a temple and an ashram in the north, which he visited often. Over the years he and the monastery became involved in many Sri Lankan activities, including an orphanage on the Eastern coast, the site of the most horrific damage in Sri Lanka. This small orphanage with 75 boys, ages 6 to 15, was founded twenty years ago and Kauai’s Hindu Monastery has provided financial support and spiritual guidance for the orphanage. Unfortunately, the 75 orphans were right in the center of the worst and most deadly tsunami to hit the shores of Lanka.
The young boys there are more social activists than orphans. They taught religion to all in the community, organized and held festivals and religious youth camps, and fed the poor and the homeless. They held summer camps, devotional singing contests, spiritual dramas and worship services. They encouraged physical fitness among the youth, and promoted what they called “eternal values,” moral and spiritual understandings of man and God. They read from Gurudeva’s spiritual teachings each day and followed a strict life, which included vegetarianism, regular yoga practices and meditation. Gurudeva’s was always supportive of their projects and efforts, admiring their attitude of not only taking care of themselves, but reaching out to others, actually helping those who had more than they. In recent years, with help from Kauai through the Hindu Heritage Endowment, they had built a new multi-purpose facility which gave them new pride and purpose.
Initial news on the day of the Tsunami was not good. A massive 30-foot wave swept over the entire Batticaloa region, which is right on the shore and only a few feet in elevation. The monastery waited for news, and was told two days back that the boys’ village had been swept away, with no known survivors. The monks despaired of ever hearing from the orphans again.
But yesterday they were sent this cryptic message, a report from the Tamil Tiger military leaders assessing damage and trying to help survivors which was contained in an Internet news item:
” ‘Seventy five boys in an orphanage in Thirukovil escaped the tsunami by running inland as soon as they saw it coming. A few boys there who did not escape were killed in the orphanage when it was hit by the wave,’ Commander Ram said.”
Thirukovil is the main village near the orphanage. That note sparked new optimism on Kauai, and the monks reached out into the US and Canadian Sri Lankan immigrant community, pleading for eyewitness news of the orphans, something reliable. On December 30 they heard, through a Canadian relative of a cell-phone equipped resident in the boy’s town, that most of the boys had indeed escaped, their swift, young feet taking most of them inland to higher ground just in time. Three of the orphans did not run and their lives were lost, and the leader of the facility. Mr. Swaminatha Thambiah, survived, but sustained serious injuries while saving the boys and is recovering in the local hospital. It is assumed that the orphanage buildings and grounds are demolished, but with the miracle of lives saved, and the commitment of Kauai’s Hindu Monastery, that will all be rebuilt in the months ahead.
Photos of the orphanage before the tsunami are at http://www.himalayanacademy.com/taka/past/2004/December/December_30_2004/.