Report on the publication

Report on the publication and distribution of ‘3 Friends and the Big Wave’ Sinhala and Tamilwww.3friendsreport.blogspot.com

Book Cover

About the book
The 3 Friends and the BIG Wave is a story of friend ship, love and understanding. This book takes us through the emotions of a child who went through the tsunami. When we were young, we all had this great love for the sea but after the big wave visited our shores this is no longer true for many children. This book hopes to re-ignite the love that children had for the sea and to help them deal with some of emotions they feel now. The book also hopes to let the children who were not affected by this big wave, understand and feel some of the emotions of a child who went through the tsunami. The book will be published by Perera Hussein Publishing House and should be in the book shops by the end of the month. The book will also be translated to Sinhala and Tamil as many NGO’s have shown interest in the book the book is out in all the book shops right now.

About the Author

Timothy Senaviratne– Is a film maker by profession but an artist at heart; after experiencing the tsunami himself, (http://timothybarco.blogspot.com) he took time off work and started the “Tsunami relief foundation” with his friends. This project uses the arts as a means of connecting with children all over the country and giving them an outlet for their fears. ( http://unawatunasmiles.blogspot.com) was pre-school teacher and also has a background in child psychology. The book is based on a lot of the work he has done with children affected by the tsunami.

About the illustrator

Toto – Is a graphic designer by profession and an artist at heart. After the tsunami she undertook art projects with children who were affected by the tsunami, giving the children an outlet for what they were feeling inside. She is from Colombia and loves to travel. Her love for color is evident in this book, as is her desire to put a smile on children’s faces.

Some of the illustrations and test

The 3 Friends and the BIG Wave.

Written By Timothy Senaviratne.

The sun rose and the animals in the village started to wake. Chuti, the little dragonfly was still asleep. His mother called out to him “Chuti…Chuti...wake up.” As Chuti opened his eyes, he had a big smile on his face. Today he was going meet his friend Saman, a boy from the village.

Saman and Chuti had been friends for a long time, but hadn’t seen each other since the big wave came. Chuti got up, cleaned his wings and wiped his body. He had his breakfast and left home for the village where Saman’s house was.

It was a beautiful day as Chuti set off from his house. As he flew, his wings began to shine like two little rainbows. Chuti entered Saman’s village and noticed that Saman’s house was no longer there. A white tent stood in its place. “Have I got the right house?” Chuti wondered. Then he saw Saman sitting under his favourite tree. Saman looked very sad with his head bowed low.

Chuti called out to him. “Saman... Saman...” Saman looked around. Chuti landed on Saman’s hand just like he always did. The two hugged and smiled and smiled a bit more. Chuti asked Saman where he had been. “After the big wave came, I looked for you all over. I was so worried and sad,” said Chuti.

“Chuti…I was at my aunt’s house in the hills. We all ran there when the wave came. I was worried about you too, but I remembered that you can fly, and I knew you would be safe. My house and even my school were broken by the Tsunami!”

“Tsunami?” asked Chuti. “That’s what the grown-ups call it,” replied Saman. “Do you remember my friend Ravi? He was taken by the big waves; no one has seen him since. His mother and family cry all the time. My sister was lost, but we found her later on top of a tree. A lot of people have died from this big wave, Chuti.”

The two friends stood there in silence. Chuti gave Saman a big hug. As they were hugging it felt like time stood still. Saman did not know why, but tears started to roll down his cheeks. Chuti also felt like crying but was afraid someone would see him. But as Saman hugged him, the tears started to flow for him too. It was a good cry; the two of them had wanted to cry for a long time. But this was the first time they had.

Afterwards, they decided to take a walk around the village. “Chuti, our village has changed so much. Do you want to see it?” asked Saman. “Yes!” said Chuti. He too was thinking about taking a long flight over the village, but was afraid to do it alone.“Let’s look at your house first,” said Chuti.



The two walked over to Saman’s house. Only part of the wall was standing, it was only the foundation that remained. Saman had lost all his toys and all his books! He had even lost the little blue bicycle his father had got for him.

Chuti did not know what to tell Saman, so he did not say anything. “This is where I stay now,” said Saman as he pointed to a small white tent. “This is the place you and your whole family sleep, eat and cook in?” asked Chuti in confusion. “Yes,” answered Saman, “we will live here for now until we can rebuild it, but I think that will take some time.”

Saman’s father was a fisherman. He would sit on his big red motorcycle, and go around the nearby villages, selling fish from house to house. But Saman’s father now found it difficult to earn a living after the big wave destroyed the motorcycle. Again Chuti was at a loss for words.

“Let’s go and see Mohamed’s house, it’s just next door!” exclaimed Chuti. It was completely destroyed as it was closer to the beach. It looked like a ghost house. “Mohamed and his family have gone to live in a camp,” said Saman.

“What’s a camp?” asked Chuti. “It’s where people who lost their houses after the wave live in now,” explained Saman.

Chuti and Saman went through the whole village and saw big mountains of rubble. Without realizing it, the two walked closer towards the beach, the place they had loved so much. They used to swim, build sandcastles and fly kites. Chuti would fly so close to the water that you thought he was swimming. He loved to zip around the sandcastles that Saman built. It was the place the two of them liked most.

Now after the big wave, they and all the children in the village were afraid of the sea. None of them came to the beach anymore. The beach looked like a new beach. It was clean with no footprints or plastic bags flying around. Even the sand on the beach looked like a spotless white sheet of snow.

For Chuti and Saman, the sea was a place they came to meet their friend Naima, the dolphin. No one had heard anything about her since the big wave. Chuti and Saman looked out to the horizon to see if they could catch a glimpse of her. “Saman!” cried Chuti, “We have to go to the beach. We have to check if Naima is ok.”

Saman didn’t want to go near the water but he didn’t want Chuti to know that he was frightened. Chuti was afraid too. “Let’s do this together,” he said. Saman was happy with this idea. He would not feel so alone with Chuti beside him. They walked along the clear white sand. The sea water was as blue as the sky above. They looked around for Naima but she was nowhere around.


Just then they heard the sound of a dolphin’s call. It sounded like someone shaking a rattle but at a higher tone. Beyond the big rock in the distance they saw Naima. She was so happy to see her friends, she jumped out of the water and did a double summersault.

As she swam closer, the two friends started to move towards her. Without even thinking, Chuti and Saman had gone right into the sea with the water up to Saman’s knees. This was the first time that Naima had come towards the land after the big wave as she was afraid too.

“Saman we are in the water now,” shouted Chuti. Saman looked down at his feet, now underwater, and smiled to himself. “Why was I so afraid to come to the sea that I love so much?” he said out loud. He felt like a great big weight had been lifted off his head.

Saman started to splash around in the water with his feet, kicking the water high into the air. Chuti too, was happy, zipping around the waves and playing with the foam. In a moment Naima joined in the celebration, by jumping so high that she almost touched the sky.

After playing, the three friends sat down and talked. Each of them had a different story about the big wave. Saman told how he had very nearly been taken, before his father jumped into the water and took him to higher ground. Chuti told of how he was so close to the beach that he could see the big wave building up. Naima told how her mum asked her sister and her to go to deeper water, as it was safer there.

“All this talking has made me feel much better,” said Saman. “It’s nice to have friends that listen and understand,” said Chuti with a great big smile on his face.

“Thanks for coming to check if I was ok,” said Naima. They hugged once more and each went their own way. Naima did one more summersault for her friends and headed towards deeper waters to be with her family. Chuti zipped around Saman and headed in the direction where his house was. Saman stood on the beach and smiled to himself, he was happy that his friends had brought him back to the sea again. He was not angry at the sea anymore. He waved to his friends and walked back in the direction of his house.