A New Year - New Beginnings for my family - and Reflections on the Tsunami...

Hello again - greetings, after a longish absence from online.

It was a welcome break for me over the festive season here in Britain (and London) - fairly quiet here, and happily my son was discharged from the mental health ward shortly after Christmas - a positive development. He had already been home on long periods of leave since about December 16th, and had been doing well on the whole. Everything was quiet, apart from the many drunken young people on the streets late at night, and then - bang! The Asian tsunami on our "Boxing Day" (December 26th) washed everything away (on that side of the world); so many were killed or disappeared that it was just too overwhelming to take in. Everything was knocked out of kilter: the scheme of things was overthrown. Many Western people just enjoying a sunny winter holiday, or the thousands of people quietly working for their living as fishermen or hotel staff, were drowned, dashed to death in the rubble or deprived of many close relatives and their economic livelihoods. A terrible disaster - worse even (in most ways) than '9/11' - September 11th 2001, New York (3,000 died).

After the tidal wave disaster, our own problems seemed so insignificant - even though we lost our own daughter in the past (4-5 years ago) and our son has mental health problems. But we are comfortable, have a roof over our heads and a good enough income; we've only lost one member of our family in a violent, sudden way (our daughter, Alice, in a road crash in Scotland: 2000). Some of these poor people have lost all their family - or their children/parents/siblings/spouses. I felt I had to give something - and not just a little. This is what many people in Britain thought. Our son Tom - despite his own mental difficulties, felt he should give something from his limited income. I quickly agreed with my husband that we should give a generous sum, and phoned it in to the Disasters Emergency Committee. Tom sent a cheque via a postal coupon in the paper. A few days ago I felt I should send some more, so sent in a chit with another amount via my bank debit card. I've now given a fair amount - but it still does not seem enough...

Some people say why don't we give so much money, say, to victims of war, as in Iraq or The Sudan? I think it is because a natural disaster on this scale is so breathtakingly vast: the harm caused is quite arbitrary - it is not brought about by human error (geologically, the tectonic plates moved, regardless of anything we humans have done - this was not due to global warming). The main human error was the lack of an early warning system in the Indian Ocean beach areas, or one that works - but this would not have prevented all the deaths. We Westerners can imagine ourselves caught up in such a situation - if we were on holiday there, or visiting family, not realising the danger until too late. As for me, I have in the past sent money off to charities catering for the starving people fo Sudan, and victims of now "lesser" disasters like the Bam earthquake in Iran - and the victims of the Serbo-Croat-Bosnian War in the 1990s (do you remember?), plus the Rwandan war in Africa. I'd already given to charity for Christmas before the tsunami disaster and also make regular donations through my bank, but felt in my conscience that I should give again. One feels guilty for having enough money.

Back to my son Tom - he is carrying on well enough until he goes in to his Rehab placement on Friday of this week. The is a residential alcohol abuse rehabilitation centre in Camberwell, south east London. He has been praying, going to our church and attending Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) meetings - all to conquer any urge to return to drink. His mental state has on the whole been OK, with only minor mood swings. My husband D. is nervous of this new venture - how Tom will make out. Tom will have to live among a new community, of people who suffer from similar problems. He can take his medication, attend hospital and visit us, AA or the church in his free time. But he has to be responsible for making several times weekly train or bus journeys without our help. It is a bit risky - but the regular programme of therapy should be a positive help to him. I will post more here on his progress when the scheme has got under way. Wish him all the best in this - pray for its success for Tom. I hope he fits in and gets on well with other residents, and the "regime" at Kairos residential hostel.

Must go and get my lunch now - thanks for reading this. Happy New Year to all!

Love - Tigey.