October 22nd, 2011
I have not been able to visit the families we have Adopted because of my eye. In fact I had to have 2 more operations on it at the beginning of this month and I am praying that they will restore my sight soon. One of my colleagues visited several families and I will send his comments soon.
July 27, 2011
I have not been able to visit the families we have Adopted because of my eye. In fact I had to have 2 more operations on it at the beginning of this month and I am praying that they will restore my sight soon. One of my colleagues visited several families and I will send his comments soon.
July 27, 2011
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| Sunil's New House |
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| Sunil's House destroyed by Floods |
Nilmini is lucky to have received a grant from the National Housing Development Authority and support from a NGO to build her house. We will help her to get water and elecricity to it. Her elder daughter, Sanduni (16, extreme right) dropped out of school 3 years ago when her father died and the mother could not spend for her schooling. The electricity will help her younger daughter, Siyumini (9), to study in the evenings.Farmers who have agro wells and water pumps have started to cultivate vegetables on small extents of land.
On the left is Sunil's long-bean (ma karal) and okra (bandakka) and on the right is Sarath's chilli plot. Below are the brinjals (aubergines) Sarath has harvested to take to market. He would get only Rs.10/- per kg that would hardly cover his costs.
They will cultivate corn and paddy on larger extents of unirrigable land when the rains come in October-November. They are praying that there would be enough water and not too much like last year. All of us who are helping them to get back on their feet also pray for that.
7 out of the 20 families we expect to Adopt have already been adopted. Erika and I visited them 3 weeks ago. They are the families of:
1. Sunil Samarasinghe adopted by Erika and Hiran Dias (Rs.136,000/-). He has started to build his house and has cultivated some vegetables near this house with water pumped from his agro-well.
2 G M G Chandrasiri adopted by Sudharma and Vimal Dias (Rs.130,700/-). He has cut bricks and was preparing to lay the foundation. He had cultivated some vegetables but we did not support it as there was little chance of it succeeding because there was no assured source of water to irrigate it.
3. H M Piyaratne adopted by Erika Jr., Isabella, Katherine and Agashan Dias (Rs.138,850/-). They had got the bricks ready and were already building their house when we visited. They could not cultivate vegetables as the sides of their agro-well had collapsed during the excessive rains at the beginning of the year. This will be repaired. Their elder daughter, Shanika (15), is preparing for the GCE "Ordinary" level exams; her tuition in Maths, Science and English costs Rs.1,200/- a month.
4. P H Sarath - (Rs.108,520/-) Shihana Mohamed, W M Leelasena, Beryl Lokuge and Indika and Upekha Leelasena have Adopted this family. He had prepared most of the bricks needed for his house at the time of our visit and will start building soon. He has a agro-well and pump and had cultivated brinjals, chilli, gotukola (Centella asiatica) and thibbatu (Solanum tovum). He had harvested some brinjals and was selecting them to take to market. Unfortunately, the market has a lot of brinjals now and he will get only Rs.10/- per kg which hardly covers his costs of production and transport to market.
5. E H Henderson - adopted by Andrea and Dilhar Jinadasa, Stephan Falk, Germany and Lal Gomes, Australia (Rs. 89,600 ; 121,000/-). As he had built his house with a loan from the National Housing Development Authority, we would allocate only Rs.10,000/- for improvements. We will allocate the remaining funds for his cultivation as he has big extent of land. This will help him to repay the loan.
6. H A Thilakaratne (Rs.120,600/-) - we have received Rs.110,500/- from Tilak Abeyrama in Melbourne (Rs.60,500/-) and N H Chandrapala and his wife, Lalitha, and daughter, Amila, in Riverside CA (Rs.50,000/-) to Adopt this family. Work can now start on their house and cultivation.
7. M G Nilmini Kumari (Rs.112,100/-) - Friends-for-Friends from Germany has already sent EUR 500.- (Rs.79,180/-) to support her and will send more after it holds a fleamarket to raise funds. She has built her house with a grant (Rs.100,000/-) from the National Housing Development Authority after she appealed to H.E. The President and a Belgian NGO building houses in the area. We will support her to dig a well to get water for domestic needs and electricity.... and for her cultivation.
2 G M G Chandrasiri adopted by Sudharma and Vimal Dias (Rs.130,700/-). He has cut bricks and was preparing to lay the foundation. He had cultivated some vegetables but we did not support it as there was little chance of it succeeding because there was no assured source of water to irrigate it.
3. H M Piyaratne adopted by Erika Jr., Isabella, Katherine and Agashan Dias (Rs.138,850/-). They had got the bricks ready and were already building their house when we visited. They could not cultivate vegetables as the sides of their agro-well had collapsed during the excessive rains at the beginning of the year. This will be repaired. Their elder daughter, Shanika (15), is preparing for the GCE "Ordinary" level exams; her tuition in Maths, Science and English costs Rs.1,200/- a month.
4. P H Sarath - (Rs.108,520/-) Shihana Mohamed, W M Leelasena, Beryl Lokuge and Indika and Upekha Leelasena have Adopted this family. He had prepared most of the bricks needed for his house at the time of our visit and will start building soon. He has a agro-well and pump and had cultivated brinjals, chilli, gotukola (Centella asiatica) and thibbatu (Solanum tovum). He had harvested some brinjals and was selecting them to take to market. Unfortunately, the market has a lot of brinjals now and he will get only Rs.10/- per kg which hardly covers his costs of production and transport to market.
5. E H Henderson - adopted by Andrea and Dilhar Jinadasa, Stephan Falk, Germany and Lal Gomes, Australia (Rs. 89,600 ; 121,000/-). As he had built his house with a loan from the National Housing Development Authority, we would allocate only Rs.10,000/- for improvements. We will allocate the remaining funds for his cultivation as he has big extent of land. This will help him to repay the loan.
6. H A Thilakaratne (Rs.120,600/-) - we have received Rs.110,500/- from Tilak Abeyrama in Melbourne (Rs.60,500/-) and N H Chandrapala and his wife, Lalitha, and daughter, Amila, in Riverside CA (Rs.50,000/-) to Adopt this family. Work can now start on their house and cultivation.
7. M G Nilmini Kumari (Rs.112,100/-) - Friends-for-Friends from Germany has already sent EUR 500.- (Rs.79,180/-) to support her and will send more after it holds a fleamarket to raise funds. She has built her house with a grant (Rs.100,000/-) from the National Housing Development Authority after she appealed to H.E. The President and a Belgian NGO building houses in the area. We will support her to dig a well to get water for domestic needs and electricity.... and for her cultivation.
We provide only Rs.50,000/- towards the cost of the house but it costs much more. Berendina Development Services is providing the remaining cost from funds granted by the Berendina Stichting (Foundation) that a compassionate and generous Dutch lady, late Mrs. Berendina Borst, founded in 1987.
It is encouraging that so many have come forward to help people in distress and we are sure there are others waiting to come forward. Check out my YouTube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f78z_OyHl6s
