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WBNS-10TV Columbus, Ohio
By Angela An, traveling with 10-TV Videographer Chris Hedrick
February 9, 2005

As I tried to get up and leave the orphanage with 500 children, the little boy that had been sitting on my lap wouldn't get down. When he finally did, he grabbed hold of my khakis with five tiny fingers and started tugging. Can you imagine having to pry yourself away from that image?

Like many children without parents, these children will grow up the same. But they have one more fear to overcome besides abandonment. The fear of water. The relief organization in this Tamil-controlled region of northeastern Sri Lanka is beginning mental health counseling for everyone-- adults and kids. But it is not an overnight solution. And the tsunami's smallest victims may be the hardest to heal.

On this day though, children from central Ohio healed in more ways they can ever imagine. Before they left, Dr. Mervyn Samuel and his wife Mallikha, of Blacklick, Ohio, gathered up hundreds of care packages made from several Columbus girls. Inside these care packages-- crayons, candy hearts, Jolly Ranchers, gum, soap, and other small goodies. As part of their medical mission, the Samuels allowed 10-TV to travel with them to these orphanages and help pass out the gifts. As I put one of the candy hearts inside a little girls mouth-- I said "candy." She repeated, "condee?" And smiled. And the way they said thank you-- so, so soft with such a sweet accent. They sounded almost like Audrey Hepburn in the movie "My Fair Lady" when she played the role of beggar-girl-turned-aristocrat Ms. Eliza Doolittle.

These children are not called orphans. In Sri Lanka, orphans are considered people who have no one to care for them. Instead, they are referred to as "children without parents," because they have the people of Tamil caring for each and every one of them. And in this case, also the people of central Ohio.