Volunteers Need More Than Good Intentions

Like most days here, it's been an interesting day. But before I describe it to you, I want to tell you a true story that perfectly illustrates the risks of outsiders blundering into a country like Sri Lanka with the best of intentions, but only a hazy idea of the way things operate here.

A group of German divers arrived in Weligama soon after the tsunami to help in the relief effort. Brimming with altruism, they began scouring Weligama Bay, one of the largest natural harbors in Sri Lanka, for engines from wrecked fishing boats. The plan was to return the engines to local fishermen, so that they could begin going out to sea again. Since this was humanitarian work, they did not charge for their services.

The German divers thought they were doing everyone a favor -- until someone threw a few sticks of dynamite into the water after them. Fortunately no one was injured, but the Germans were frightened enough to suspend the salvage operation. It turned out they had been taking business away from local Sri Lankan divers, who had been charging the owners of fishing boats around $50 for every engine they recovered.

View Enlarged Photo and CaptionI mentioned this story to the head of a seven-man team of Belgian army divers, Capt. Jean-Paul Stevens, whose men have been scouring the bay for wrecked fishing boats for the past few weeks. He nodded sagely. "Yes, you have to know the right people to go to, and you must approach them the right way. Otherwise, they will do whatever they want with you."

The Belgians, who were working separately from the Germans, also had some trouble with local divers. But they resolved the problem by getting everyone together--fishermen and divers--and threatening to stop work unless they received full cooperation. For the last week or so, the local divers have been pointing out wrecks to the Belgians, in return for free supplies of compressed air for their tanks.

Stevens and his men have rescued several dozen fishing boats, which were either swept onto land, or pushed to the bottom of the bay by the waves. (The tsunami moved capriciously, in both directions.) The Belgians estimate there are another 50 wrecks still down there, but they haven't been able to pinpoint them. They have proposed a high tech solution to their bosses back home: position a satellite over the bay, and take 3-D pictures of the bottom of the ocean.

Local people say that there are a couple of buses and tuk-tuks (a kind of motorized rickshaw powered by a scooter) down in the bay as well. Stevens is skeptical. He has checked with local bus companies--and nobody has reported missing any buses on this particular stretch of road.

-- Michael Dobbs

By washingtonpost.com |  February 9, 2005; 3:00 AM ET  | Category:  Michael Dobbs
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