Edition:
January 21, 2005
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Notices - DBA Info
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The Friday Flyer Assistant Editor
Canyon Lake Tennis Pro Baba Soysa says he was surprised and pleased by all the phone calls he got from friends in Canyon Lake, especially Tennis Club members, but he wants to emphasize that neither he nor his family was personally impacted by the tsunami that devastated the east coast of Sri Lanka while he was visiting his home over the holidays.
After the tsunami first struck, several Canyon Lakers who knew Baba was visiting his family in Colombo grew anxious when they saw news reports about the tsunami, but they quickly learned via his roommate that Baba was fine.
However, even though Baba wasn’t personally affected, the Tennis Club decided that attaching a name and face to the tragic events occurring in South Asia would give Canyon Lakers a focus in their desire to make donations to a humanitarian organization.
For that reason, the club chose Operation USA, begun by actress Julie Andrews, husband Blake Edwards and Tony Adams, because it guarantees that 98 cents of every dollar donated goes directly into its efforts in the affected regions. Baba just wants to make sure Canyon Lakers understand none of the money goes to him or his family. Like other Sri Lankans, he appreciates all the money pouring into his country from the West.
Many people died and many lost their homes and livelihoods, so this was a very sad time for Sri Lanka, he notes. It was so sad he didn’t even want to take pictures or bring back newspapers. The tourist industry on Sri Lanka’s east coast was especially affected since the waves traveled as far inland as two miles. He explains that, normally on New Year’s Eve, fireworks start exploding over the city of Colombo at midnight, but this year, all was still as the nation mourned its losses together.
Baba says that, in the north, where rebels from an Indian sect have been fighting a war against the government of Sri Lanka for the past 28 years, a truce was declared and everyone came together to help each other. Even in Colombo, where there is an obvious divide between rich and poor, with no middle class, the rich did their part to help their countrymen.
“Normally that week between Christmas and New Year’s, we would have all been partying, but we all came together,” says Baba. “It was good. It brought out the best in all people.”
He adds that, if Canyon Lakers still want to help, the best thing they can do is support an organization that allows you to “adopt a child” by sending a monthly donation of $10 to $15 in a particular child’s name. “That money would go a long way to helping a Sri Lankan orphan live and eat and get an education,” he says.
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