‘Rail’, a fund raiser by ad agencies in Colombo, was held at Slave Island Railway Station on Wednesday the 23rd Feb, raised Rs 2.5 million toward the profiling of children displaced by the tsuanmi in Sri Lanka.

The event will continue today at 6 pm. Mike Masilamai writes to say that there is more to it than the auction –including live performances such as mime shows, a second-hand book sale, and sale of postcards and photographs etc. This event was the first, hosted by AdAid, an outfit created by a group representing advertsing agencies such as DDB Needham, O&M, McCann-Erickson, JWT, Bates, and several others.

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This morning, NPR (National Public Radio) aired a story by reporter Elizabeth Arnold, covering the ecological impact of the tsunami in Sri Lanka. Amazing insight, in true NPR style, with great audio.

The story is from Yala, with a National Geographic expedition, and is full of neat insights into how ecologists are assessing the damage. One scientist, Sanjayan Muthulingam of the Nature Conservancy, observes that he can hardly call this ‘damage’ since the trees seem to have absorbed the impact, and actually started recovering. Get the background here., and the audio version of the broadcast here. (If you cannot get the audio, pick it up from the link on the NPR page)

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“The poor person is a better credit risk than the rich person.”

The Ceylinco group, and Lalith Kotelawela are front page news in a story y’day (Feb 17, 2005) in the Wall Street Journal.

The story, “In Sri Lanka, loans take on key role in disaster relief” is about the tragedy of disaster victims having to go after lenders when there’s over one billion dollars in aid that has been pledged. Also it says that the government is messing with aid flow saying it will get its hands on the Tigers. Trust CBKs government to do all the bad PR Sri Lanka never needs! And it’s not just a PR thing. Messing with funds eventually means messing with victims and lives. People don’t forget these things. Of course, the private sector, inevitably scores points every time the government screws up.

Kotelawala is described in the WSJ article as “better known –and seems better trusted—than most politicians here." The ‘lending’ he’s doing is a form of micro-lending, with Ceylinco’s connection with the Grameen Bank. There’s no collateral involved, and that means a slim chance of recovery, should borrowers default. “The poor person is a better credit risk than the rich person.” Kotelawala is quoted as saying.

No surprise there. His philanthropy, risk taking, and simple charm is what makes him the Richard Branson of Sri Lanka. No minister in the government, let alone the top rung, has an ounce of his humanity and charisma.

It’s an amazing story, about how Ceylinco ran ads asking for tsunami victims to come to them for help, and the company going out on the road with 100 managers to provide instant credit.

In an unrelated article, in LMD, the Sarvodaya head, Dr. A.T. Ariyaratne, praises the private sector, saying he is traditionally not its cheerleader.

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Here’s what I mean by yesterday’s post on UNICEF, of there being a lot that is falling through the cracks in tsunami relief. You won’t see these stories in the Wall Street Journal or on TV. Why? Because there is no sensational component, here.

There’s an ‘ocean of work to be done’ says Joey Caspersz, who’s privately heading what one may call a task force of two, providing relief and supplies to schools in Trincolmalee.

"As at today and speaking for Trincomalee, not much of mid and long term help appears to be reaching those in need of it," he says.

So here is what Mr. Caspersz and his colleague Bala Wimaladass are doing. They are providing shoes to children in afected areas, as they go back to school. Hats off to what he is tirelessly doing over in Sri Lanka.

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Contrary to what we see in the media that there is plenty of aid money flowing in, there is work to be done in Sri Lanka. Predictably the media now begins looking for the wierd stories. But unseen work goes on, to solve ‘problems’ that don’t make for sensational stories.

Addressing mental health, water sanitation, infant hygiene, school supplies continue to be addressed. UNICEF released its weekly assessment today. It includes these issues:

–         schools continue to be occupied by displaced families

–          incomplete construction of temporary schools

–       parents are frightened of being separated from their children due to rumors of recurring tsunamis and the possibility of recruitment

–       furniture in schools vacated by IDPs has been used as fuel or has been destroyed

–       water and sanitation facilities are damaged and parents are worried that schools are unhygienic for children to return

–       transport to temporary schools is causing problems

–       children are not attending temporary schools that are intended for different social groups (e.g. non-Moslem children will not attend Moslem schools)

–       schools used as camps are partially operating for teaching but parents don’t think that regular or effective instruction is taking place

–       there is a stigma attached to sending children to school without uniform, even though parents know that regulations have been relaxed

–       living conditions in camps are not conducive to support learning

–      many pre-schools are affected and some school-age children who have lost a parent are looking after siblings

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Tthe magazine in Sri Lanka I write for, LMD, has a good page of statistics, in this special issue (Feb 05).

People are not statistics, but when you look at a list, you realize the scale of the tragedy, and how some towns in Sri Lanka were more affected and lost more lives that the media coverage tends to show.

The town of Ampara, for instance had over 10,000 deaths, while Galle had 4,214. On the other hand, Galle lost 1,536 hotel rooms, while Kalutara lost less than half that.

See the full list here.

My article, a piece on how ‘connected’ the world really is, is here.

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There can be many angles with with we can approach the post-tsunami Sri Lanka. There’s tourism, housing, environment, infrastructure for the fishing industry, and then there are the orphanages and the impact on the children.

Children. Read this by a reporter Stan Grant, and see if you can ignore them.

Grant was writing in early January about seeing the bodies of three small children recovered from the beach.

From where I stood, I could see that they were children. No more than babies really, aged maybe between 1 to 3. From a distance, it just really didn’t look real. They looked almost like mannequins or dolls.

But as we got closer, I saw their arms were locked around each other. They were hanging on to each other.

Their bodies had been tossed in the torrent … as it came through. Somehow these three little kids had hung together and died together.

He stoppped being a reporter, and realized that he was a father, first:

I remember standing there, looking, and I couldn’t help thinking about my own children. I have three little boys of my own. And I know I look in on them sometimes before they are about to go to bed, and they are often lying there and they have their arms around each other.

Looking at these three little children, with their arms around each other, reminded me so much of my own kids. And I started thinking about the little things that matter.

This kind of reporting stopped us in its tracks. Sure this is a CNN reporter, but this is much more than a ‘news story.’

Another angle.

Here’s another writer with another great story about how religious and ethnic differences suddenly disappear. Jeff Greenwald writes for Ethical Traveller:

While we relax, Dilan (who is from Kandy) tells us that the monk we hope to see — Thibbotuwawe Sri Sumangala — did something rather extraordinary, given the events of 1998. Four days after the tsunami, he and his monks loaded 26 trucks full of food, medicine, and supplies. They drove the trucks due east, and delivered the supplies directly into the hands of the Tamils near Trincomalee.

"It was a way of saying that religion doesn’t matter," explains Dilan. "For the past 20 years, Sinhalese and Tamils can’t find a chance to talk to each other. With this disaster, there is an opening to communicate — so we give help to them, from the bottom of our hearts."

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This video circulating, captures how millions of us Sri Lankans feel about the commitment to rebuild a nation.

‘A thousand Inspiring Stories’ indeed!

http://astream.net/links/asia/song1.asx

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In response to a post here –based on a request from a relief worker in Trincomalee– about the need to suply shoes and socks to children returning to schools in affected areas in an East coast city of Sri Lanka, here’s a follow up.

The board of the New Era Children’s Fund, a Arizona-based organization has transfered  $2,000 toward the cause. Also, CEO of NECF, has agreed to privately fund the balance for ths socks. Thank you for such speedy action.

The supplies are being purchased through Ceylon Leather Products, in Colombo 10.

Side note: Other organizations are helping with back-to-school projects. See this BBC article. But let’s not forget these other little projects –especially those in the areas that the media don’t always visit.

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Sarvodaya, a grassroots ‘reawakening’ movement in Sri Lanka has been around for a long time –47 years! This blog has been directing many people who asked about donating to a very tangible cause. 

If you haven’t checked th site recently it is worth a visit. They have a team of bloggers updating news. They also have a good plan for Active Engagement to assist villages, here.

through an Income Support scheme combined with upgraded skills for the rehabilitation and reconstruction of affected areas.

Also, to

create other avenues of employment through private traders and government projects, which will be encouraged to employ affected community members.

Its goals of tapping the private sector for marketing of products produced by these communities is just one of the many areas worth looking into.

Here is the link to the National Reawakening Plan.

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