Searching for Punchi'

by Nadira Gunatilleke

Plan Sri Lanka, an NGO working with poor communities around Sri Lanka for 25 years launched 'Searching for Punchi", an educational booklet for children at a workshop organised for educational officials held at Hotel Renuka, Colombo on June 5.

The book in an innovative project to help children to understand and come to terms with the grief and loss caused by the tsunami. This colourful book is a fictionalised account of a Sri Lankan child's attempt to cope with the loss of a pet that dies in the tsunami. Through this story, the concept of coping with grief and issues related to the tsunami disaster are discussed.

A pull-out educational poster included in the book explains the science behind the tsunami, a listing of some of the world's worst Tsunamis to put the 2004 tsunami in a historical context, and key points on safety issues and what to do in the event of another tsunami. The book and poster also attempt to prevent children from growing up in fear of the sea.

Both the book and poster are trilingual, in Sinhala, Tamil and English and will be distributed through the Ministry of Education to close upon a million schoolchildren around the country. The material is targeted at schoolchildren in grades 6, 7 and 8 while schools will be encouraged to use the book to teach younger children as well.

This initiative is one of the first attempts by a tsunami affected country to directly address children with a communication campaign of this nature, and it is hoped that the material will be replicated in some form for use by other tsunami affected Asian countries.

According to the country Director, Plan Sri Lanka, Ms.Mingming Evora Plan Sri Lanka, as a child-centred community development organization, aims to help children and those who care for them to cope with loss and grief, through the book, `Searching for Punchi".

According to Dr.Hemamali Perera, Child Psychiatrist, University of Colombo who vetted the book it must be understood that there may be times when some children wish to avoid talking about tsunami disaster.