Providing 300 Pregnant Women with Mattresses

During a recent conversation with the doctor in charge of the three IDP camps; Sumathipuram, Dharmapuram and Veerapuram I learned that there were 4500 families living in tents sleeping on sheets of plastic. Sadly, amongst the people were 300 pregnant women. I visited the camps and saw for myself the unbelievable conditions these women had to endure. My goal was to change their current living conditions by providing them with a comfortable mattress to sleep on.

As you can imagine there were many seemly insurmountable challenges facing us. Specifically, how to obtain the mattresses and arrange transportation to enable us to distribute them quickly. Despite these obstacles we were able, just 48 hrs after we started the project, to deliver the mattresses and immediately improve the quality of life for these 300 women.

I would like to thank everyone that contributed to the success of this project. I could not have done it without your hard work, commitment and willingness to accomplish such a difficult task in a short period of time. I would like to recognize the individuals who drove all night, the officers who provided the military escort that helped with the border clearance, my niece Achala, and my nephews Sobath and Lasantha who worked endless hours and Patricia for making numerous phone calls to negotiate discounts and purchase the mattresses and bed sheets.