Following the devastating flood in Southeast Asia in December 2004, the association "Homeopaths Without Borders e.V." Germany was contacted to provide assistance by colleagues from the homeopathic hospital in Welisara, near Colombo.

 

In February 2005 the first team of HoG went to Sri Lanka to the east coast. This region was particularly devastated by the tsunami, but no one in Colombo had any idea at that time regarding what to expect.

 

We decided to initiate treatment in the region of Kalmunai, a region where the population was extremely affected by the tsunami. The international first aid groups had stopped their work after a few weeks, but people still debilitated and suffered from injuries due to the flood.

 

From March 2005 until October 2006 teams of 2 to 3 homeopaths each provided homeopathic treatment in a "Free Clinic" on a nearly continuous basis. In addition, we visited the surrounding refugee camps. Every day we worked in the Clinic for half of the day, then in one of the camps for the remainder of the day. During the weekends we often visited some orphanages.

We were lucky to meet and get to know an English colleague who had come to Sri Lanka right after the disaster. She offered to help our association.

 

Altogether about 5000 people were treated in our Free Clinic or in the mobile clinics in the camps and orphanages. There was such great need for homeopathy: often patients first came for problems due to the tsunami, but quickly revealed a personal history deeply impacted by civil war, torture, or loss of family members, home and belongings.

 

Due to the outbreak of civil war hostilities we had to discontinue providing homeopathic healthcare in Kalmunai in October 2006, to the people who had suffered as a direct consequence of the tsunami. Despite the fact that a majority of the population seems to have regained a condition of relative normalcy now, there are still people living in desolate conditions who are in great need of help. At the present time however, Sri Lankans are unfortunately in the midst of the ongoing civil war which has already caused unimaginable humanitarian problems and caused a great deal of human suffering.

 

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