| On the 12th of April, 26 homeless families moved into their
130 square feet private homes. For over three months they
have lived in a crowded school near Baticaloa. They had no
Privacy and slept on floor mats with 20 other families in
a crowed hall. The school located in the village of Kalladi
near Baticaloa still has 20 families and we hope to build
transitory housing scheme #2 and move them out soon. We are
waiting for the government to give us the land. They don’t
seem to be in a hurry and I should not lose my patience because
I am a monk! I will keep it a secret how many times I wanted
to go and scream at some of the government officials.
One of my monk collogues, Rev. Uparatana, is in charge
of our Transitory Housing Scheme and I appreciate all his
hard work. He has faced many challenges and has kept a lot
of headaches out of my sight so that I can attend to other
things. We were in a risky and dangerous area and we knew
it form the beginning. Some warned me not to go, the police
advised me to be cautious, and the military provided us
their support. For example when had lunch at a house the
police and military were outside the home and they followed
me around a lot. During construction two police men were
present at the site every day and the day of the opening
there were 14 armed solders and two policemen until I left
the scene. They were not there for show. It shows how dangerous
it could be where I have to go.
This time our temporary homes are a little different than
the previous ones because we built them separately in land
that the families will eventually own and build their permanent
homes. Round three of our temporary housing projects for
the tsunami victims is on the way and 26 more families have
moved into our new homes. As you might know previously we
had moved 89 families into our temporary homes and with
the current 26 a total of 115 families now live in our shelters.
We now have triple camp # 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5, and Triple
Gem Transitory housing scheme # 1. This is truly a remarkable
achievement for our small organization.
After the tsunami, the government has prohibited the construction
of new homes or any other structures within 100 meters of
the shore. In some areas almost all the homes within the
100 meter limit were destroyed by the tsunami. The surviving
families who lived in the 100 meter area not only lost their
belongings, homes, and some family members, they also have
lost their land to the government. Many are waiting in camps
until the government or somebody else can help them.
Recently we worked with the government agents and obtained
land beyond the 100 meter limit to build the 26 transitory
homes. Although they have divided the land and given a piece
to each family, we were allowed to build only temporary
homes and not allowed to build permanent ones. In our discussions
as we questioned the government officials they said that
the plans and other guidelines are not ready and they could
not tell us when anybody will be allowed to build permanent
homes in the Baticaloa area.
In Kalmunai in Ampara district we are currently building
a 20 family unit which will be called triple gem camp #6
and before I leave on the 24th we will give the families
the keys. I will also have finalized plans to build 50 new
permanent homes. This is a huge undertaking that we hope
to complete in 3 to 4 months. Some people think that I am
joking when I say we can complete them in 4 months, I am
quite serious and will see.
The tsunami is one of the worst disasters of recent history.
As you might understand we can not solve all the complex
problems that have arisen. We simply try to continue our
efforts with the best intensions and help as many families
as we can so that they can have a decent and normal life
again. Without the support of all of you we will not have
been able to achieve such great results within such a short
period of time. Thank you so much.
|
