Photo Credit: Refugees International/ Sarah Martin
09/11/2005

This 34-year-old woman lives in a temporary shelter in the south of Sri Lanka near the tourist areas of Galle in Sri Lanka. Her family was luckier than most --- she and her husband, two daughters, and a son all survived the tsunami. However, they were all displaced by the tsunami and they have been living for seven months in a two room temporary shelter made of metal siding and wood with a cement floor.

The temporary shelter area that Sooriya and her family live in is several kilometers from the sea. "Now that we are in temporary shelter, my husband has to travel to the sea everyday to make money. It costs us approximately 900 rupees ($9) a month for him to go to the sea. This is a lot of money for us so I sew to make extra money for the family. A Japanese monk came through the area and was giving away sewing machines to families. He gave one to me and two other ladies to share but I keep it here in my house."