Children of Tsunami May 2005 - Theeban

The Asian Tsunami of December 2004 left a trail of destruction in South and Southeast Asia. Picking up from where the news media left off, Children of Tsunami tracks the recovery of eight affected families in the four hardest hit countries. TVE Asia Pacific's locally based TV journalist teams are visiting and filming with them every month in 2005 to track their recovery. In May 2005, we begin to realise the contrast in how different families are rebuilding their lost or damaged homes. In India, Mala and her mother have converted to Christianity that came as part of the recovery package, but her father is not convinced. Selvam is happy that her sister has got married, but the tin roof shelters built by relief organisations cause medical problems. In Indonesia, Putri is happy in her new school but her brother might be forced to work as their family cannot make ends meet. Meanwhile Yenni's father has been collecting scrap metal to earn some money, but as post-tsunami cleaning progresses, there is less and less left to gather. In Sri Lanka, Heshani moves into a new temporary home and celebrates the Buddhist Vesak festival while Theeban struggles to cope with the hard work at the motor garage he works at. In Thailand, Bao's brother Dum hears his teacher talk about teaching children who have lost their loves ones. Beam's mother feels more secure about the future after starting work as a cook in Beam's school.