Heshani Madushika Hewavitharana

Heshani, 13, excels in creative writing in which she’d won certificates and awards -- all of which were washed away, with all her school books and everything else her family owned. Their house, in Suduwella in Sri Lanka’s southern district of Matara, was badly damaged. Now living in the house of a friend, they are grateful that no family member was lost to the tsunami. Her father cannot immediately get back to fishing without his boat and gear. For now, the family relies on the mother’s income from spinning coir ropes. Heshani made her first return to the beach - hesitantly - with our film crew in late February. It will take a long while for her to come to terms with the sea.