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Date last updated - 17 June
2006
Introduction
The tsunami that struck Sri Lanka on the 26th of
December 2004 devastated entire communities on at least half her
coastal regions. As a horrified world looked on, news gradually
filtered through that thousands of lives had been lost in Indonesia,
Thailand, India, Sri Lanka and elsewhere.
A few alert members
from our association in Cardiff launched an appeal for
help starting on the 27th of December 2004, through local radio,
local and national TV
and the local press, and
straightaway, began to receive support from people from all over Wales and beyond. We
initially expected to collect and ship perhaps three van-loads of
relief goods to Sri Lanka, but were quickly overwhelmed by the
sheer generosity of the general public. People from all over Wales
brought car and van-loads of relief goods to us and we filled a church hall, a
community hall a warehouse and part of another warehouse in just one
day. Other communities that operated collecting centres with the
intention of bringing a few vanloads to us quickly became
overwhelmed themselves, and ended up making their own shipping
arrangements. Because of the publicity generated by our efforts in
January, many were willing to help us with funds for the projects
that followed later in the year. Initially, our emergency effort was
organised on-the-hoof, but since March 2005 we have done most work,
particularly projects, through a structured approach.
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| Donor
queues stretched back half a mile |
Help
arrived to move goods to warehouses |
Donations on the first day exceeded £3000 |
Much has happened since we started our appeal. On
this website you will find details of all the relief work undertaken
by us since the 2nd of January 2005, and is dedicated to the memory of
those who perished in the tsunami.
We thank all those who
helped us in so many ways - with donations of clothes, linen, food,
medicines, toys, money, help with sorting and packing, help with
loading and unloading, transport, and clearing up afterwards. We
were able to help hundreds of desperate people in Sri Lanka because
of your kindness, generosity and hard work.
This website will be updated
every few months for the
foreseeable future. Some projects that we have initiated recently will not come to
fruition for several months. As we get feedback from our projects or
as new activities are undertaken, details will appear here.
Latest Update
Community Hall, Kattankudy
On the advice of Help Sri Lanka Consortium's CEO,
Major General Fernando, a community hall was part-funded from a
donation of £1500 from South Wales Police and a further £500, being
the balance left in our association's tsunami relief fund. This hall
will serve a community of mainly Muslim and Tamil families living in
a newly built village of 100 houses, in Kattankudy, near Batticaloa.
Our donations (April 2005 and May 2006) are
listed on Help Sri Lanka Consortium's website -
http://rehablanka-tsunami.org/financial_statements.htm
Lions Club project, Moratuwa
Dr. & Mrs. Tillekeratne visited this project in March
2006, and was warmly received by all the families living in their
new flats. There are new photos taken by Daisy on her visit in
February 2006, on the Lions club project
photo page. There is a photo of a commemorative plaque, clearly
listing main donors.
Twinning
After several months of patient communications, two primary
schools from Llangrannog in West Wales have twinned with Thilaka Vidyalaya in Koralawella, Moratuwa. Our
contacts with Thilaka Vidyalaya began in May 2005, with a
visit by Ranjith and Eromi during their holiday in Sri Lanka.
Although not directly affected by the tsunami, this school was used
as a temporary camp for several months by victims of the tsunami, and was left in a
very poor state. The Llangrannog Welfare Committee has donated £500
to the school, enabling them to have a secure play area complete
with swings and slides. Pupils from Thilaka have exchanged letters, drawings and photographs
with to
the two Llangrannog schools.
Report from YWCA
A progress report from YWCA Sri Lanka can be downloaded from this
link.
Progress Report Hope
House.doc
Small Projects Fund
A report on the project facilitated by Mrs. Geetha Batuwitage
has been circulated to members. In it she has documented transaction
details and beneficiaries. More details are available on request
from Geetha. Previous updates have mentioned projects facilitated by
Sivanes Sivapalan and Ranjith Dodangoda.
Tsunami Relief Cymru
This Welsh charity raised money from sportsmen and women in
Wales for sports in Sri Lanka. A donation of £5000 was made to
Rotary Sri Lanka in April 2006. This money will enable Rotary Sri
Lanka to purchase basic sports equipment for 25 newly built schools
in tsunami affected areas. A trustee from Tsunami Relief
Cymru, Peter Phillips, was in Sri Lanka at the end of April to hand
over the donation and to assess an art therapy project based in
Arugam Bay. Peter talked to Jason Mohamed on BBC Radio Wales in June
about his visit. The donation to Rotary Sri Lanka is listed on
their website's donations page. Please click this link for more
details -
http://www.rotary-srilanka.org/donors.php?donars=3
Go to Projects pages
This website is maintained by
Paul Perera and Ranjith Dodangoda on behalf of the Sri Lankan
community of South Wales, UK.
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For queries, feedback or to
request a project report please email: -
mailto:info@srilankawales.org.uk or
eromiuk@hotmail.com
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