A single vessel, grounded on the sand, holds the hopes of dozens of people from one devastated village in Sri Lanka.
Boats donated by the Archbishops Overseas Relief and Aid Fund (ORAF) are slowly transforming the lives of communities devastated by the Christmas tsunami.
Sydney Anglicans have donated more than $50,000 to ORAF to aid in the reconstruction of thirty villages in Sri Lanka and India.
ORAF is working in partnership with the India Gospel League to translate that surge of sympathy into concrete support.
Part of the assistance includes the provision of fully equipped boats to fishermen whose fleets were destroyed by the tidal waves.
Families forgot their fear of the water and were ecstatic as they took to the waves in six new fishing boats with motors and nets.
Vessels are given to five families who form a fishing co-operative to feed five more families, with surplus funds going towards the purchase of another boat.
Two Sydneysiders have just returned from the devastated territories in Sri Lanka and India to report on the relief work in progress.
IGL invited Rick Ford from ORAF and Mrs Ramabai Chako, IGL Australia's representative, to join seventeen others to see and experience efforts first hand.
An uninformed drive-by tourist to the coastal strips of Sri Lanka and Tamil Nadu state in India could be excused for not realising that the December 26th tsunami had devastated them.
Two months clean up has reusable rubble in ordered piles and the less substantial debris is simply not there having disappeared, sucked back into the ocean.
But thousands of people are still eking out a meagre existence eating donated dry rations in dozens of out of the way refugee camps.
Schools are not functioning, small businesses have been wiped out and any people are still in hospital recovering from injuries.
Refugees are also experiencing increasing frustration over government delays with allocating new locations for villages to rebuild.
Mr Ford says residents were encouraged that the delegation had come to listen to their stories and pray with them.
"I was struck by the spirit of unity and cooperation of the pastors who, though from different churches all having numerous tsunami affected members, were able to amicably prioritise and share the limited relief resources," he says.
One camp of 150 families was given three water tanks; bicycles were given to fish sellers to enable them to make a fresh start.
Mr Ford says temporary shelters to ease camp overcrowding and gifts of income generating equipment are next on the agenda in what has already been a first-rate response.
"The delivery of six new boats with engines and nets to remote locations within two months of the disaster was an impressive achievement on the part of the national and regional committees."
