Home » Sri Lanka » 9 Aug 2005 - friends od Unawatuna.

It’s been a while since the last news update as we’ve all been very busy. Lots has been happening, we’re glad to say, mainly thanks to the valiant hard work of our volunteers, Laura Dunham and Katie Posner, and of course Jake Zarins working for both Project Galle 05 and Friends of Unawatuna. Thanks, too, to Erik Coleman, working for Project Galle 05 and coming up with some great ideas for us to get involved with!

9 Aug 2005 - friends od Unawatuna.

Lasulo
2006-01-06 19:53:05

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is very fortunate to have a surgeon with his training’.

Sian and Tony also visited Hambantota, which is in a poor state, very badly hit by the Tsunami with insufficient aid coming in, even after eight months.

The Esala Full Moon Festival has been going full tilt, bringing much needed revenue to the village through the arrival of thousands of pilgrims and Sri Lankan visitors. Friends of Unawatuna were able to pay towards the illuminations and tannoy system through the Wella Devalaya Temple and the Meegaha Temple, contributing to the hectic atmosphere of a regular annual festival.

At the Meegaha Temple building work has been completed on the repair of the Tsunami-damaged wall, and Laura tells us the work looks “amazing”. Great to have something completed.

The Roomassala Temple has asked us to pay for two concrete moonstones to be made, in remembrance of the tsunami victims. They are to be decorated, and should be a moving symbol of recent events.

Gardening equipment has been presented to recipients by Jake, Laura and Kate. This was organised by a local Environmental Group, with a Ministry of Agriculture representative on board, who plan to follow up the project. Friends of Unawatuna were able to help fund this project. We hope to maintain links with this group as Jake found them to be very impressive and well-organised.

And new potential projects:

A very exciting new project still in its early stages is the Livelihoods Programme, in co-ordination with Project Galle 05. This programme hopes to provide grants to beneficiaries planning to start up new businesses. The scheme is already underway in the Galle region, and Friends of Unawatuna plan to provide funds for Project Galle to expand to cover Unawatuna. This could cover such variety of occupations such as replacing a peanut seller’s stock to purchasing deep freezers, from surf wax to chisels, grocery stock to repaying recently taken on loans. Already livelihoods identified have included tea shops, batik dyers, fruit stalls, beauty parlours, wood carvers and communication centres, jewellery makers and gardeners. Project Galle 05 will manage and coordinate the Programme, as they are already successfully doing in Galle.

A second exciting project also in the pipeline is the Tsunami Scholarship Programme (TSP). This is a Sri Lankan registered charity in Galle set up to provide financial assistance towards the educational needs of children who have been directly affected by the Tsunami. They are already supporting children in three schools in the Galle region, and hope to expand into Unawatuna with our support. We are currently exploring with them how best to do this.

Both this Programme and the Livelihoods Programme feel very close to our original Statement of Intent in that they aim to offer direct assistance to individuals to re-establish and develop their lives.