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| Lot Thomson (R)
and Daniel John, soccer players of Carnicobar XI, pose before
the start of an exhibition soccer match between Carnicobar XI
and India XI (under-17) team in the southern Indian city of
Bangalore May 30, 2005. (reuters)
| |
Lot Thompson has a black eye and gash across his temple , but his passion for soccer drives
him to finish the tsunami recovery series.
The 20-year-old has much deeper wounds.
Half the Thompson family were killed in last year's tsunami which
ravaged India's remote Andaman and Nicobar islands.
Soccer, says the stocky Thompson sporting
four stitches from his injury, provides a brief escape.
"I'm trying to forget all that," he says, recalling how he ran into the
jungle and climbed a coconut tree to escape the giant waves that lashed
the archipelago off India's eastern coast.
"I lost 13 members of my family, including my mother and sister. We
were 26 members in the family. Now we have been reduced to half. We
haven't even recovered their bodies."
Thompson was a member of an 18-man squad from the tiny island which
toured the Indian mainland this month to play a series of matches against
prominent local teams.
The soccer tour was organized by the Sports Authority of India (SAI), a
top state-run sports agency, to help in dealing with post-tsunami
trauma .
"We have a social stake in Car Nicobar which has a very old tradition
of soccer," says SAI secretary B.K. Sinha. "We decided to use sport as a
means to make them socially and psychologically stronger."
Most of the squad were leaving their sleepy island of swaying coconut
plantations for the first
time.
"Many of them have lost family members, we have kind of adopted them,"
he says. "We're also taking them for sightseeing in all the big cities to
help them forget the tragedy."
Daniel John, a 19-year-old teammate of Thompson, says he is still
struggling to get over the horrors of Dec. 26 which began with an undersea
earthquake a few hundred miles south of Car Nicobar and triggered the
tsunami.
"I was also swept away when the waves hit, but I clung on to a log and
somehow survived," says John, displaying scars on his elbow and foot
suffered during his fight for survival.
Officials say the tsunami killed 850 people on Car Nicobar, which had a
population of 19,000 before the disaster.
(Agencies) |
羅德·湯普森眼圈發黑，鬢角那還有一道深深的疤痕，不過，對足球的熱情讓他從海嘯造成的創傷中逐漸恢復過來。
這位20歲的青年心中還有更深的傷痛。
湯普森一半的家人都在去年的海嘯中喪生，那次海嘯席卷了印度偏遠的安達曼群島和尼科巴群島。
足球讓我們暫時忘記悲傷，這位健壯結實的小伙子說。他當時因受傷縫了四針。
“我試著擺脫過去。”他說，并回憶起當時他是如何奔向叢林，為躲避巨浪爬上一棵椰子樹。那次海嘯帶來的巨浪瘋狂地席卷了印度東海岸地區所屬群島。
“我有13位家人在海嘯中喪生，其中包括我的媽媽和姐姐。我們一家共有26口人，現在少了一半。至今我們還沒有找到他們的尸體。”
作為小島上18人球隊的一員，本月湯普森將隨隊前往印度內陸，參加一系列足球巡回賽，其對手則是當地的多支知名球隊。
這次足球巡回賽是由印度體育協會（SAI）組辦的，這家印度最權威的國有體育機構希望借此幫助大家擺脫災難留下的陰影。
SAI秘書辛哈稱，“卡爾尼古巴島擁有一支歷史非常悠久的足球隊，我們決定用體育讓他們更好地與外界溝通，同時在心理上更加堅強。”
在小島的18人球隊中，大多數球員都是第一次離開他們布滿大片椰樹種植園的寧靜家園。
他說：“很多球員失去了親人，我們就像收養孩子一樣對待他們。我們還要帶他們游覽所有的大城市，幫助他們忘記悲傷。”
湯普森19歲的隊友丹尼爾·約翰表示，他目前仍在努力從12月26日海嘯的陰影中走出來。最初，卡爾尼古巴島南部幾百英里處的海底發生地震并由此引發海嘯。
約翰說：“我當時也差點被巨浪卷走，但后來抓住一根伐木，這才僥幸生還。”他還露出求生時在肘部及腳部留下的傷疤。
官員們表示，海嘯導致卡爾尼古巴島上850人喪生，海嘯發生前該島上共有19,000名居民。
（中國日報網站譯） |
Updated: 2005-06-15 09:03