Yale Bulletin and Calendar

April 14, 2006|Volume 34, Number 26

Tsunami Awareness Week raised funds
and refocused humanitarian efforts

It was a grim reminder: "60,000: the number of people still living in tent houses in Indonesia alone."

So read a poster advertising Tsunami Awareness Week, a joint venture of Tsunami Relief at Yale College (TRYC) and the International Silat Federation (ISF) held on campus April 3-7.

The goal of the program was to refocus people's attention on those who were displaced and impoverished by the deadly Indian Ocean tsunami, which brought devastation to hundreds of thousands of lives across 12 nations just 15 months ago, and to renew the collective humanitarian efforts to ease their plight.

The week featured a lecture by Leonardo Stoute ("Bapak Waleed"), founder of the ISF. Stoute, an expert in the traditional arts and cultural dances of Indonesia who has just concluded a six-week course at the Yale International Center, travels extensively to the region affected by the tsunami. He offered his first-hand observations of the progress in the reconstruction effort.

"People don't realize or appreciate the magnitude of the destruction until they see it with their own eyes," he said. "[W]hole fishing villages are gone; farming land destroyed; beaches washed away. ... [T]he reconstruction and rehabilitation must be a long-term, coordinated effort in order to restore the livelihoods and communities that were destroyed and wiped out."

During the week, TRYC collected donations and handed out blue "Tsunami Awareness" ribbons at a display on Cross Campus that included a makeshift house symbolizing the destruction that still remains in many parts of Southeast Asia.

Rain left both the display and the students in it soaked by the end of the day. "We were so cold -- it was perfect," remarked Cynthia Liu, president of TRYC, noting that the rain enhanced their attempt to illustrate the plight of tsunami victims, albeit on a much smaller scale.

One hundred percent of the proceeds collected by TRYC will be distributed among non-governmental organizations working in Indonesia, India and Sri Lanka.

For more information on TRYC, ISF or how to aid in the reconstruction efforts, visit www.yale.edu/silat or www.yale.edu/tryc.

-- By Sara Hashmi,
doctoral candidate, Yale Engineering

T H I SW E E K ' SS T O R I E S

It's Official. President of China to speak April 21

As HHMI Professor, Strobel will take students 'bioprospecting'

Scientists find gene linked to drug dependence

Program puts FOCUS on communication

Joan Steitz, Thomas Pollard win prestigious international prize spirit

Renowned poet W.S. Merwin to read from and discuss his work

A heroine's determination prevails in 'All's Well That Ends Well'

Event will examine how to preserve access to knowledge

Performances and workshops will explore 'theatrical bodies' . . .

Symposium on human rights will focus on memorializing atrocities

Talk, exhibit explore lessons learned from past flu outbreaks

SOM conference will examine globalization and technology

India's road to independence is topic of film, panel discussion

Dwight Hall fundraiser to include inaugural social justice award

Symposium to look at 'Success with Learning Differences'

Impact of bird-borne infections on wildlife conservation is topic of forum

Panel discussion will focus on 'Class, Race and Inequality in South Africa'

Trainer describes biker Lance Armstrong's winning ways

Tsunami Awareness Week raised funds and refocused humanitarian efforts

Campus Notes

Wangari Maathai lecture cancelled