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| Sunday, 09 April 2006 |
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Features |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
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Desires fulfilled by Elmo Leonard in Kalutara
Ms Joan M Patterson, Ph.D and Paul Anderson, who owns Anderson Construction, in Minnersota, came here, in March 2005, bubbling with enthusiasm over building houses for the tsunami affected. They planned to repair 30 houses and build 20 more, at the `safe distance' of 100 metres from the sea, in a village in Moratuwa, in the outskirts of Colombo. When we met the Americans on their second trip to Sri Lanka last month, they were in Kalutara. They had not visited the village, where they had financed the repair of 30 houses and the building of 20 more. They did not wish to go to that village, site or talk about the project. When pressed, Paul said that the builder, to whom they had entrusted the work and funds, had not maintained accounts. `It is a write off', he seemed to say. They wanted to finance another project, this time, with people who will do the work, while they carry out their professional activities at home. Joan, is associate professor, in the Twin Cities Campus, University of Minnersota. A student in that university, Gertrude Ira Hewapathirana found that most of her relations had lost their lives to the Asian tsunami of December 2004, while one is listed missing. Hewapathirana, who is Ira, to Sri Lankans and Gertrude to her colleagues in the USA, teamed up with two other Sri Lankan students, Upali Karunatilake and Anojini Nagahawatte and began a Sri Lanka Student Association in Minnersota University, with Hewapathirana as president. The Sri Lankans befriended the Oak Grove Lutheran Church in Richfield, Minnersota. The parishioners, among whom are Joan and Paul, raised $20,000.
Back in Sri Lanka, last month, Ira and the two Americans were given 60 perches of land, in Hikkaduwa, to build houses. But, the land was swampy, and they gave up the idea. Government, then gave them two acres of land in Nagoda, Kalutara. Ira formed a Sri Lankan based, NGO called FOCHRA - Foundation for Collaborative Humanitarian Relief and Assistance. The work at Nagoda, has begun. Initially, four houses are being built for tsunami refugees, at a cost of $5000 each. Back in America, Joan, Paul, Ira, the other Sri Lankans and the parishioners of the Lutheran Church in Richfield, are confident, they will find enough money to build another 20 houses, at $5000 each. And, we look forward to seeing Joan and Paul back in Kalutara. This time, we hope, they will alter the adage to, `Our desires have been fulfilled.' |
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