Local service honors tsunami victims

Arizona Daily Star By Mary Vandeveire
ARIZONA DAILY STAR

About 350 people, including leaders of religious groups ranging from Bahai to Zoroastrian, filled an East Side church Sunday afternoon for a service to remember victims of the tsunami.

The honored victims included Tucson resident Soma Madawela. Madawela, a member of St. Alban's Episcopal Church, 3738 N. Sabino Canyon Road, drowned in Sri Lanka when the tsunami hit Dec. 26. She was vacationing with her husband and son. Her son has returned to the United States, and her husband remains in Sri Lanka, friend Rohan Wirasingha told the crowd Sunday.

Madawela was a native of Sri Lanka. The memorial service was held at St. Alban's, where the Rev. Tim Scott announced that as of Saturday more than $50,000 had been raised in the Tucson community for a Sri Lanka relief fund.

University of Arizona student Suminda Hapuarachchi, 32, said there will be a candlelight memorial on the University of Arizona mall Jan. 19 at 7 p.m. The event to support all the countries affected by the tsunami is being organized by the UA student association of Sri Lankan students, said Hapuarachchi, president of the group.

Sunday's interfaith community service featured music and prayers for those who died, were injured or lost homes and livelihoods.

The Rev. Sumith DeSilva, an organizer and friend of Madawela, said the news of her death hit him hard.

"There are times that we realize we have to come together," DeSilva said.

Participants in the service and those who attended said they appreciated the chance to remember the victims as a community.

"It was a beautiful ceremony," said Roshan Bhappu, a leader of the Zoroastrian community in Tucson, with about 25 members. "It's a tragedy we have no control over, but we have each other."

The Zoroastrian Community is an international organization that spreads an ideology and religion based on the prophet Zarathushtra's teachings.

Shane Oaten, 12, a seventh-grader at Emily Gray Junior High, lighted a candle during the "Lighting the Lamp of Life" ceremony in the service.

"It was very shocking, right after Christmas," Oaten said of the southern Asia devastation.

Oaten said he was surprised by the diverse styles of worship demonstrated at the service. Monks of the Three Ratna Thai Temple chanted a prayer. Roman Catholic Bishop Gerald F. Kicanas led a prayer for the "Lamp of Life."

"There's a lot of religions out there," said Oaten, a member of St. Alban's.

The church was filled to capacity, including people of south Asian heritage, older couples and many families with young children. Participants and religious leaders mingled at a reception in the church hall following the two-hour service.

Ellen Fernando, a friend of Madawela, spoke of her caring attitude toward others during a remembrance that was part of the service.

"She was a willing and energetic person attending to others' needs. We miss her very much," Fernando said.

Wirasingha said Madawela, who operated a day-care center in her home, "always saw beauty in all people."

"I can't believe that she's gone," Wirasingha said. "She was a great teacher. A lot of kids learned from her, especially the neighborhood kids."


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Arizona, USA

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