Project Updates
HELP has continue its support of the Amman Mahaleer Girls Home over the past three months, following a visit by our Trustees and volunteers in July. We have now firmly established a sewing centre in the Home which provides free lessons in dress making etc on a weekly basis for local mothers in the village and for the eldest girls in the Home. We habe bought 6 Singer treddle sewing machines for the Home, pay the costs of the teachers and provide the cloth that is required. This women sell the clothes they make which provides them with a small income, but more importantly they learn a skill which offers them the opportunity to work in local textile shops. We hope to be able to expand this scheme over the next year. The sewing machines cost £100 and we provide a bursary of Rps 10,000 (c70 per month) for the salaries of the teachers and the purchaseof the cloth.
Thanks to Peter Woodward's fantastic fund raising exlploits on his cycle journey (total raised £2,800!!), we have had further extensive work undertaken on the Home. A water tank has been moved to make it usable (the girls now have running waterfor showers and toilets) and the bedrooms in the upstairs floor of the Home have had ceilings put in - the girls were previously sleeping under a roof but with gaping holes for birds to enter. Needless to say, the girls and staff were very grateful for this.
We are planning to set up our own micro finance scheme in the village of Thirrikuvil under the guidance of Mr Gunapalan, the Principal of the Little Flowers school. The sheme will provide small, very low interest loans to the most needy single mothers in the village to provide them with a livelihood. We hope to have this up and running in 2012. Mr Gunaplan is currently working on the various permissions that are required. We will keep you posted... And Little Flowers itself continues to prosper.
What is HELP?
Helping East Lanka Progress (HELP) is a UK registered charity that was set up by Dr Vip Thiagarasah in August 2005 to relieve the suffering of victims affected by the devastating tsunami of December 2004 on the East Coast of Sri Lanka.
The aim of HELP is to provide assistance to the families, and specifically the children, in the Ampara district of Eastern Sri Lanka who have suffered as a result of the tsunami. HELP operates on the simple principle that all funds raised will be spent on the projects identified by the Trustees.
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Flood Relief
As reported by the BBC and Guardian newspaper, there have been some devastating floods in Central and Eastern Sri Lanka in the past month with over one million people displaced. Read more »
Prior to a visit in July 2009, HELP had been informed of the plight of a children’s safe house in Ampara and was asked if we would be prepared to support it. Read more »
Working with our colleagues in Komari, HELP has set up a community-based garden project in the village. Read more »
The Swami Vipulananda Children's Home in Akkraiapattu provides a safe haven to 30 boys orphaned by the tsunami and/or the civil war. Read more »
HELP has been actively providing medical and other equipment to the local hospital in Thirrukovil, which services a large population of Ampara District.
Read more »
Following a very generous donation from YEAR 7 of The Latymer School (Edmonton UK), HELP has funded the building of two children's playgrounds in Komari. Read more »
With thanks to the Old Chelmsfordians Association (and to Brian Terry and Terry Charrington in particular), we have sent three kit bags of football and cricket kit for the use of the local teams in Pottuvil. We hope to have some photos soon of the locals in OC kit...
We have also sent some funds across to a boys Christian Tamil boys home in Thirrikuvil at the request of the Principal who we met in July. The funds will be used to provide food and clothing for 300 children over the christmas period.
Gaj smashes £3890
A big thanks to Gaj Ragunathan for raising £3890 for HELP during the Wimbledon tennis period 2011. A great effort by all involved. This is our biggest one-off donation to date and will make a massive contribution to our future projects. Well done again. Next year lets hope Murray gets in the final too!
Claire Abery raises £238
Claire Abery raised £238 for HELP at her 40th birthday party recently. We will be sending this money to buy equipment for some junior schools in Pottuvil.
And Peter Woodward, father of Will who came out to SL last year and who is returning later this month, is raising money for HELP by cycling 953 miles (!!) from John O'Groats to Lands End from 11to 19th June. If anyone wishes to donate, his just giving page is www.justgiving.com/Peter-Woodward2. Good luck Peter and thanks!
Relief provided for Flood victims
Large number of families sustained losses of their belongings and means of income they earned through paddy cultivation due to flood caused by heavy rain in the eastern province and they having displaced of their residences and had to seek refugee in Welfare Centers…