Art for Social Change: A personal tale

In February 2005, I was invited  to work in the north of Sri Lanka with orphans and victims of the tsunami and twenty year war. My goal to was find way of creating art and rituals with them, that would offer ways to make sense of their experiences and to rebuild their community. During my five weeks as a guest of Tamil nuns I engaged with approximately 1000 women, children and men who had lost their families, homes and hope when the tsunami hit.

The Tamils say the Tsunami (26 December 2004) is the second disaster for them, the first being the civil war.

While there, I visited Mulliativu, a town on the Jaffna Peninsula in which 5,000 of the 25,000 souls were taken by the sea. Many of the women and nuns, who offered support and counsel to those survivors, created works of art that reflected their own personal narrative of loss.

In 2009, I was invited to submit a poem to a website that was raising awareness about global warming. My response was inspired by the painting (above) and by my experience so soon after the tsunami as it is believed that human induced global warming causes extremes and frequency in weather events such as tsunamis and flooding and continues to devastate people's loves throughout the globe.

Oh green, lush Sri Lanka -
"Teardrop of India" -
the world weeps for you, and leaves
unwanted salt-water tears
to flush away memories.

Such betrayal from Mother Ocean.
Once nurturing and generous,
a deep rumbling within her womb,
angered her to rise and lash out at your people,
for whom loss is not foreign.

Surviving Fisher-folk!
Cast your nets around her waist,
hold tightly for fear of being lost
and wail for those bodies held
deep within her grasp.    

©Sarah Dobbs 2009