STILL IN SHORT SUPPLY   (Dec 3oth 2004)

Shirani Saunders informs us that Water purification tablets are in short supply. See below: I spoke with the team that did go…………..consisted of 5 lorries & 17 double cabs taking tonnes of supplies. 6 doctors went along & will set up camp there. They had about 5 lakhs worth of medicines but the direst need is water purification tablets. Cos its impracticle to carry clean water all that distance & its never going to be enough. If there is any issue at customs bringing in the water purification tablets pl. give us a call & we can clear it without any duty etc. (it should be allowed but just in case) If there is excess cash the next items are pillows/rubber slippers which can be purchased from here. If there r any other big items that people want to send they can container it & we will clear it without any cost from this end as even warehousing has been arranged free of charge. ok. If you need to speak to her call her on hr mobile, at 94 773 088 705

Refugee situation in Hendala

Shirani Saunders, not a reporter by any means files this story from Tewatte on Dec29th. By day she is a ‘business development manager’ at Phoenix Ogilvy & Mather advertising. As we hear every day, people have literally left their offices, to go out and do whatever needs to be done. This is just one person operating almost like an NGO.

Hi Angelo,

Yesterday evening i was able to go to Tewatte where there are about 10,000
people – displaced/evacuees from the Negombo/Hendala area.I spoke to a
mother who was trying in vain to discover the whereabouts of her husband.
Just that morning she had manged to locate her 2 children who had been at
another centre but the last she saw of her husband(who is a fisherman) was
him watching his boat shatter on the shore.

We took bed sheets/plastic sheeting & medicines like Piriton/Paracetomol &
bandages etc. There was some sense of organising as many volunteers from
the church were seen distributing stuff. The church is full with refugees
and the surrounding rubber plantaion is also packed with families camp
style with basic plastic sheeting roofs – its really heartbreaking to see
little children put to sleep on plastic sheets out on the grass – theres a
shortage of mats here. Food seems to be available as once again there are
people bringing in boxes of cooked food to be distributed. Its amazing how
much the average ‘ not very well off ‘person is contributing to this
effort. Because really no big money has reached any of these places (yet)
its the average citizen  who is rallying round for the moment.

Our next effort is directed towards collecting medicines/dry rations to be
taken to Pottuvil – a private group is organising a little convoy to go to
the Lahugala nature reserve where evacuees from the arugam bay/Pottuvil
area are being sheltered. At least 10 of us from office will be joining. I
‘ not sure if you’ve been to Arugam Bay? We have holidayed there ever so
often & apparantly none of the guest houses/the fishing
village/roads/bridges are standing – its like a wasteland of mud & debris.
The four wheel club was there yesterday & one of the guys called in with
this infor – they ‘ve been helping with the evacuvation of people marooned
in the jungles of Panama – extreme tip –  south-east of the island.

Shirani Saunders