It is now one year to the day since the Tsunami washed over our shores. Whilst our initial plan was to help out a few families as best we could for a couple of months till larger NGO's could step in, we are finding ourselves only now just completing the relief work we started a year ago. This has been largely due to the much greater response that we received from you all than initially anticipated, and has enabled us to do so much more for the communities around Pottuvil, and to a lesser extent, Galle.

We are now happy to report that we have all but completed our two housing projects, there being a few odds and ends left to finish off in approximately 10 of the houses. These will hopefully be carried out in the course of the next week to ten days.

We have received approximately £305,000 in funds and have pledges for £10,000 more. We have spent or released £305,000 thus far.

The past year has been a very interesting one as we have had the chance to see and experience an improbable range of events and of human nature. While the tsunami clearly brought out the best in so many people, it unfortunately also brought out the worst in some. On the one hand we saw the extraordinary generosity of people both in deed and in money, as well as the triumph of human spirit exemplified by the will to survive and persevere in the face of unspeakable challenges. On the other hand we have also witnessed some of the not-so-savoury aspects of human nature – greed, dishonesty and aggression.

In the final tally, our experience has been broadly a happy one, though we are glad to see the end of our relief effort. We are now seeing much more institutional activity as far as the rebuilding effort goes which more than makes up for any slack created by the ending of small-scale and unofficial efforts such as ours.

Our Projects

1. Housing project to build 47 homes with 28 outhouse toilets as required for villagers in Kalliapattu and Eatham, just outside the town of Pottuvil.

There are five houses left to complete, with the remaining work comprising fitting door and window frames. Almost all of the houses are now in occupation.

2. Housing project to build 113 homes with an outhouse toilet each and 10 public wells in Aaittimunai (Sarvodayapuram), on the far side of the lagoon in Arugam Bay.

Again, there are only a handful of houses left in which a few finishing touches are required. These we expect will be completed in the next few days. The one exception is the house belonging to a man who partially destroyed his house in a drunken fit when building had reached window sill level. We told him we would complete his house only if he repaired the damage he caused. He chose not to and we have as a matter of principle decided to leave his house as it is. The majority of houses are now in occupation.

3. Livelihood project to help fishermen repair or buy new boats and nets.

Completed, as reported in our last circular.

4. Livelihood project to help tradesmen and other self-employed individuals.

Our visits to Arugam Bay in December brought to light a few discrepancies between the list we had been compiling and reporting in our circular and the actual disbursement of funds. We have enlisted the kind help of the President of the Arugam Bay Hotel Association to work closely with our representatives on the ground to reconcile and compile an accurate list of everyone who has been helped and the total amounts paid out. We will circulate the list in the course of the next month.

Conclusion

Once again, we would like to say a very big THANK YOU! to all those of you who have contributed funds and made all our relief efforts possible.