“Wherever they need us is where we’re going to go,” Virginia Buben said.

The former Kodiak resident leaves Anchorage today as part of an 11-member medical team headed for Sri Lanka. There they will help relief efforts on the island nation off the coast of India, which suffered some of the most devastating effects from the recent tsunamis in South Asia.

Just days before the tsunamis struck Dec. 26, Buben graduated from the University of Alaska Anchorage with a degree in nursing. Putting off preparations for a licensing exam and job search, she will spend three weeks on Sri Lanka.

Buben and her colleagues had little time to prepare for the trip, sponsored by two Mat-Su congregations, the Crossroads Community Church and the Church on the Rock. She only learned of the relief project Jan. 1.

“It’s kind of been a last-minute thing,” Buben said.

She spent the days since in a flurry of activity, helping to arrange the team’s equipment, as well as taking care of personal needs.

“Some of our bags they want to use to haul medical stuff,” she said.

Friends and family pitched in with crucial help to make the trip possible. Tasks included rushing a passport application to Seattle.

“I’ve never been out of the country before,” Buben said.

Buben was born in Anchorage and grew up there and in Tennessee. In 2000 and 2001 she lived in Kodiak with her grandparents, Vern and Mary Buben, while working at Hope Community Resources and taking courses at Kodiak College in preparation for the nursing program at UAA.

The trip to Sri Lanka was arranged through contact with a church pastor there. Buben and the other Alaska medical professionals know few details of where they will stay or what they may need to do, so they are taking sleeping bags and a willingness to provide whatever help they can in the crisis.

Buben admits it’s “a little scary” to travel so far into such a situation, but finds motivation in her Christian faith. She believes the timing of her graduation and the speed with which the relief effort was organized are evidence of God’s help.

“Everything fell into place so perfectly,” she said. “This is what I have training for … to make a difference.”

Other activity in Kodiak and Alaska continues to support relief efforts in Asia.

Donations received at a table in Safeway manned by local Red Cross volunteers Dec. 31 totaled $5,225, Kodiak Red Cross manager Sally Magnuson said. The table will be up again today and Friday from 3:30 to 6:30 p.m.

Donations for the Red Cross relief effort may also be made at Wells Fargo Bank to the Alaska to Asia Disaster Relief Fund. Donation sent to the local Red Cross at 610 Mill Bay Rd. should indicate if the giver intends it specifically for the Alaska to Asia fund.

“It is really quite phenomenal how the people of the state have stepped up,” Magnuson said.

At a Dec. 29 press conference, Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich announced the Red Cross of Alaska goal of raising $50,000 by Jan. 7. As of Tuesday Alaskans had given $349,000, Magnuson reported.

The Alaska Red Cross wants to send the money raised in the state as a single donation to the American Red Cross Disaster Relief Fund, targeted for the work in Asia.

“They’re trying to meet the immediate needs,” Magnuson said, noting Red Cross workers will stay on the scene to help with long-term recovery.

The Sitka-based Alaska Marine Safety Education Association (AMSEA) has joined a relief effort targeting the local fisheries affected by the tsunami.

According to a letter from AMSEA executive director Jerry Dzugan, the organization was contacted by Herman Kumara of the National Fisheries Solidarity Movement (NAFSO), a nonprofit fisheries development organization in Sri Lanka.

Kumara, who spoke at a fall 2003 AMSEA conference, reported on the damage to roads and bridges in Sri Lanka. He wrote that NAFSO is buying dry rations, tents and medicines for which there is urgent need.

Dzugan writes that donations sent to AMSEA will go directly to NAFSO so fishing families will get help faster than through larger relief organizations.

Contributions made out to AMSEA may be sent to 2924 Halibut Point Rd., Sitka, AK 99835.

Mirror writer Drew Herman may be reached via a-mail at dherman@kodiakdailymirror.com.