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| Sunday, 4 September 2005 |
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Features |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
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To Sri Lanka, with love by Shanika Sriyananda Until December 26, the sea was their pride, they never dreamt of it as a source of destruction. The families who lived along the coastal belt loved the mighty ocean.
But now, most of them are scared to even look at the sea. It reminds them of that fateful day that the sea reduced their hard earned livelihoods to rubble, taking the lives of their kith and kin. Displaced after the tsunami, most families with young children do not want to build their homes near the sea, any more. Their dream is to build a house as far away from the sea as possible. R. Ratnasiri, an employee of the Divisional Secretariat, Akmeemana, Galle is a victim, whose wish is to build his house away from the sea. He had lived in a house built with the money sent by his wife, who had worked abroad. "I worked as a domestic aide in Kuwait and collected every cent for six years to build our house. But the tsunami waves reduced my small house to rubble in a matter of minutes", said his wife. A glimmer of hope, glitters in her tear-filled eyes. She is now living in a relative's house with her three children. But she knows that she will soon become the proud owner of a beautiful small house built on 10 perches of land. The Sunday Observer met the recipients of houses, at the foundation laying ceremony held at the 'China-Sri Lanka Friendship Village' at Walahanduwe, Galle last Monday. The China-Sri Lanka Friendship Village is a fine example of a true bond between two friends. It is said that genuine friendships last forever, when one is helpless, the first to come forward to help will always be a good friend. Likewise, China is a good friend to Sri Lanka and this friendship has been thriving over the centuries. Strengthening this friendship, soon after the tsunami catastrophe, China sent millions worth of relief to its old friend. Further, China also took steps to write off some of the loans that had been given to Sri Lanka and gave more loans on concessions, for Sri Lanka to rise from the devastation. This age - old friendship between the two countries was strengthened even more, on this day when the two countries laid the foundation stone for a joint project which will give shelter to hundreds of families who lost their houses. Some of the owners-to-be were invited to the ceremony. A 28-year-old mother of two little girls Roshini Manamperi had her house at IDH Watte in Dadalla, just 50 metres away from the sea. The tsunami had destroyed half of her house and they had had a narrow escape. She ran for her life with her one and a half-month-old infant and two year-old daughter, when the giant waves came towards them with a thundering roar. They had no place to live. Her family still lives in the same house which is aboutto collapse. H. P. Lakmini is another tsunami victim, whose house was completely damaged by the tsunami. Being a fisherman, the family with two small children, aged six and three, depended on a meagre daily income from the sale of fish. "My husband lost all his fishing equipment. After a few days in a relief camp, we came back to our land and put up a small wooden house on the same foundation", she says. Ratnasiri, Roshini, Lakmini and many others who spoke to us, do not want to build their houses close to the sea. "This village is far away from the sea. But my husband has a bicycle in which he can take his fishing equipment when he goes out to sea. What we want today is a house away from the sea. Still, my little daughter who saw the giant waves cries at nights. I know that most of the families with small children do not want to experience the trauma again, Lakmini adds. Over 150 houses will be built for these victims with money collected from ordinary people in China. Soon after the tsunami, the China Charity Foundation and the China Red Cross Society collected donations from people to make the lives of the people in the tsunami-hit countries especially Sri Lanka, Thailand and Indonesia worth living. The money that will be spent to build the Village was collected coin by coin in the streets of China. Every coin that is spent to build this village has a meaning and has a wish - to make the lives of tsunami victims happy by providing them shelter", says the Project Manager of the Sinohydro Corporation Ltd (SCL), one of the major state construction companies in China. According to the Project Manager, the Chinese, who witnessed the tsunami over TV, donated money for the victims. The name 'China-Sri Lanka Friendship Village' was proposed by President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga and the houses will be built on 15 acres of land. Despite the ceremony, the engineers of the SCL were busy with some local labourers making cement bricks at the small temporary cement 'manufacturing factory' at the site. Some of them were surveying the land and putting demarcations. Fresh red earth emerged after the site was bulldozed, showing how fertile the land is. The fresh wind moving around this small hilly area, made the entire site dusty. The huge palm trees uprooted and piled near the newly created road needs to be transported to some other place to clear the site. The large housing construction plan stands in front of the site giving a beautiful picture to the Village, once the building is complete. With broad new roads, a well- developed playground, recreational facilities and with small houses designed to a fine architectural plan, the entire landscape looks like a modern village. The Chinese engineers with the co-ordination of the Tsunami Housing Reconstruction Unit (THRU) has a target of nine months to complete the Village and settle the victims as soon as possible. Wanting to donate quality and durable houses to the displaced, the SCL undertook the task of manufacturing 500,000 cement bricks for the housing construction. "We went around the Galle district, looking for quality cement bricks, but most of them were not upto our standards. So we commenced brick making at the site". These two major charity organisations in China, which often help victims of disasters like floods, drought and other natural disasters, have promised to build 400 houses in Sri Lanka. The China-Sri Lanka Friendship Village 2 and 3 in the Galle district will commence construction soon. In this friendship village, from engineers to local labourers, the two countries work together to achieve one goal - to complete this village as early as possible. The Village is a dream of every Chinese including the small child. These children, donated their money that was given to buy candy, and the older people donated money from their savings to make the tsunami victims smile again, to give them hopes for a better future. The small kids who donated their money, is of immense value with a message, which says " we are there for you". The China-Sri Lanka Friendship Villages are surely symbols of great love between true friends. |
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