Putting her life back together After the tsunami, Eranthie sees opportunities to help the poorest people In the wake of a major natural disaster that catapulted her into the media spotlight, Eranthie Mendis, 23, today is putting her life back together with the help of family, friends and faith. Mendis and her mother, Tamara, 55, were visiting family and friends in Sri Lanka the day after Christmas, taking a train along the island's southwestern coast when the great tsunami hit. A 30-foot wall of water — as tall as a three-story building — toppled and submerged the train. Eranthie survived. Her mother did not. (February, page 35.) In the immediate aftermath of the catastrophe, Eranthie was interviewed for print, radio and television. Like it or not, she had become a public figure. Her father, Eardley Mendis, pastor of Purna Jiwan South Asian Ministry, part of Norwood Park Lutheran Church, Chicago, and two brothers, Aranga, 27, and Amal, 21, flew to Sri Lanka for a Dec. 30 funeral service for her mother in Moratuwa. Shortly thereafter, the Mendis family returned home to Chicago's Hyde Park community and began to pick up the threads of their lives. "Things are still a little strange," Eranthie said after a Chicago memorial service for her mother. "It's quite amazing to see how many people knew and loved my mother, how many lives she touched." More than 600 people gathered Feb. 12 in the chapel of the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago to celebrate the life of Tamara Mendis, The date would have been Eardley and Tamara's 29th anniversary. The gathering was notable for the breadth and depth of its diversity. "There were people from all over South Asia — Sri Lanka, India, Indonesia. They included Christians, Hindus, Buddhists and Muslims," Eardley said. His daughter added, "There were some people my mother used to baby-sit when we first came to Hyde Park. They're mostly grown now. "People mostly have been quite gentle and kind. I have a really big extended family here and in Sri Lanka. I have the people of Purna Jiwan and from Zion Lutheran (Chicago) where we attended before Purna Jiwan." Her father said, "Our friends and our faith sustain us and are helping us through this very difficult time." Eranthie now faces a very different future than the one she envisioned when she graduated last spring from St. Olaf College, Northfield, Minn. A political science major, she still plans to attend graduate school and pursue a career in international development. But the context has changed. "As I go around the city, I see the change jars and the collection boxes for tsunami relief," she said. "And when I talk to people I can feel the compassion and also the need for connection. There is something very heartfelt in American generosity, and right now there is a chance to do so much good in Sri Lanka and all the other places that were hit. "If there is a silver lining in all this, it may be that there is a chance to do some real planning and help the very poorest people. They suffered the most because they were the ones living on the oceanside and they lost everything. "Sri Lanka has banned housing close to the ocean, and maybe some of the aid money can be used to build decent housing for the poor on higher, safer ground." Before they left for Sri Lanka last fall, Tamara Mendis was spending time with her older son, Aranga, and his family in Sarasota, Fla. The family includes 14-month-old Rawinda, the Mendis' first grandson. Eranthie now plans to spend a major part of her time in Sarasota before her anticipated return to school in the fall. "I know how blessed I've been," she said. "I'm one of only about 150 people who escaped from that train. There were 1,300 people on the train when it stopped. In the 15 or 20 minutes between the two waves, I don't know how many climbed aboard [to escape the water], but 1,492 died on that train." |
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