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When news of the magnitude 9.0 earthquake and resulting tremendously powerful tsunami reached the ears of Joe Wilkey, the World Compassion Network president began making plans to offer relief. The tsunami whipped through the Indian Ocean, devastating 12 Asian countries.
The Dec. 26 earthquake, whose epicenter was off the west coast of the Indonesian Island of Sumatra, reached the island of Sri Lanka, off the southeast coast of India. There are 40,000 known dead and thousands more missing on the island (known for many decades as Ceylon). More than 800,000 remain homeless. An estimated 150,000 people were killed in the region.
Wilkey reached the island Jan. 2 and attended relief coordinating meetings in Columbo, the Sir Lankan capital.
"It seemed like a lot of people were rushing into the mix," Wilkey said Wednesday from his Warsaw home. "We decided to go to an area that wasn't as well-traveled."
A 12-hour trip turned into a 50-hour trip to the small fishing village of Tirkkovl on the southeast coast.
"While we were there, we found four bodies washed up on the beach. One was a child known only by God. It shook me to the core. As I stood there, I wept and wondered how I could handle the loss of one of my children or grandchildren. All this time I thought I had seen everything and could handle anything," he said.
Wilkey, an ordained minister, worked with international relief and development organizations for 24 years. He has traveled to more than 100 countries and has worked in 13 war zones. He established WCN in 2002 and has continued his travels to countries like Afghanistan, Honduras. Last year he organized a relief trip to Florida following a series of hurricanes.
"Some of the villages were just devastated. We could see 80 percent of the homes, schools and medical clinics were destroyed. Roads are torn up and bridges are down. It will take a very long time to rebuild these badly needed support systems," Wilkey said.
WCN along with its partner organization, Convoy of Hope, out of Springfield, Mo., has decided to provide non-food items like dry mats for temporary shelters, cooking kits, sandals and items for personal hygiene.
The group is depending on the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, known as the Tamil Tigers, to deliver supplies.
The Tigers have control over several regions following a lengthy civil war in which the mainly Hindu Tigers demanded a nation separate from the mainly Buddhist Sinhalese.
"We knew we were being watched," Wilkey said, "but they knew were were noncombatants and not threatening. As long as we didn't come in with Sri Lankan or U.S. military, we were fine."
Wilkey also traveled with a Convoy of Hope team to Tricomalee on the northern coast of the island, a favored tourist spot.
"We distance ourselves and work away from where all the attention is given. Places like Tricomalee are easy to reach. The media goes there, the large relief organizations go there. We go where it is hard to reach."
Sri Lanka had a population of 19,905,105 people in 2004. The island is about half the size of Alabama or 25,332 square miles. There are about 786 people per square mile.
Wilkey plans to return to the island in a few weeks. He has projects in Central America and the Caribbean to tend in the meanwhile.
"I have good contacts in the country with the Assembly of God churches. They have the integrity and wherewithal to do the work. I'm still going to slip back in there and make sure the supplies are being distributed. If you're not careful, this could be a huge money pit. That increases the likelihood of fraud and thievery," Wilkey said.
Developed nations have pledged more than $4 billion toward relief efforts. Funds for WCN come from churches, individuals and some corporate sponsorship. WCN is a nonprofit 501(c)3 organization.
"It's what I do and I love it. I pinch myself every day. I don't even consider this a job."
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