I have extended family over there, one of my English cousins married a Sri Lankan girl- they live in Colombo. They’re all safe, my cousin and his wife were in London for the holidays (I think they even feel guilty about that, that they escaped).

I also made a lot of friends on my own, one boy in particular who’s very special to me. Ruwan, he worked at the hotel I stayed at and we went to the beach together for 3 days. My short Sri Lanka relationship! He’s been emailing me heartbreaking letters… he broke both of his legs when the tsunami hit and his sister has not been found. He keeps asking how he can get away from it all and move to the States. I really don’t know what to tell him…

I’ve gotten emails from some of my other friends there who are angry b/c they feel like the world forgot them, the media had a feeding frenzy with it in the beginning and now and now it’s hardly brought up. It’s going to take SO MUCH to rebuild…

I’d really like to go back and help and at least pay my respects…