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| Sunday, 15 August 2004 |
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Features |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
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Sharing the 'good life' "I will not become a holy man. But, I have the satisfaction that I have helped my fellow country men in a small way," says Shahul H.M. Well, that is what he had been doing for the past 25 years, with his wife, Lidwina Storey, helping his fellow country men. In Sri Lanka, Africa and other countries, whenever a need arises, for he is 'a world citizen.' Shahul and Lidwina migrated to Ulm, Germany 30 years ago, young and enthusiastic to experience the good life in the developed world. They not only experienced the good life, but brought some of it to the 'needy sisters and brothers here,' says Shahul. Inspired by a call for help, Lidwina and Shahul started fund raising in Ulm for African countries 25 years ago. Listening to the pleas from Sri Lanka, they had also been raising funds for small individual projects such as assistance for orphanages, to buy wheelchairs, Christmas gifts for orphan children and the like. "All these are possible because of our friends in Ulm. It is very difficult as individuals to get into social work, but nothing is impossible if you want to," Shahul is determined. And now, Lidwina, Shahul and their friends in Ulm, Germany had linked themselves with a small village in Nuwara Eliya, where housing conditions seem to be "like hovels, not at all adequate to keep away the cold or the rains," says Shahul. Seven hundred houses are to be built at a cost of about 730 Euro each. Ulm citizens have rallied round Lidwina and Shahul, patronising their Sri Lankan dinners and Sri Lankan nights. There, while Lidwina and her friends cook Sri Lankan meals, Shahul provides entertainment with Tombola. "We get a lot of invitations for 50th and 60th birthdays, anniversaries and the like. "There, we cook Sri Lankan food and collect money for the project." Their efforts have not gone astray, for since October 2003, the time of its start, 25 new houses have already been built. Much more needs to be done. "We will do what we can with the help of our friends back in Ulm," says Shahul. - VF |
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