Wye Valley Tsunami Fund - Update February 2007
Since the last update we have been to Sri Lanka twice together and Sally once on her own in early February this year. Here is link to our latest pictures.....
Our visit in June 06 was going to be a ‘holiday’ as we were both in need of a break. Kelvin had not been well and continued the burn the candle both ends; Sally was working and also getting tired of telling Kelvin ‘not to work so hard’.
June is supposed to be the wet seasons but the weather for the fortnight was fantastic. It seems that the weather world wide is changing. What are we doing to the planet?
All our friends were delighted to see us and Unawatuna was very quite. On some days we had the beach just about to ourselves and restraunts opened specially to feed us.
We had been invited to a wedding and were the only 'light bulbs’ among 300 Sri Lankans. Honoured guests indeed and a nice experience.
We also managed (at last) to have a few days in the hill country. Beautiful scenery wonderful weather and fantastic people. We had some amazing walks and a trip to a tea factory. Total chill out
THE MISSIONS JUNE 06
Holiday or not it is impossible for us not to do a few missions!!!
Saratha and is family had done nothing to there new house since we sorted out the floor tiling lin December 05. We sorted out the paint and a painter so that it was completed before we returned home.
Saratha’s daughter Chathurangi who suffered from bad asthma when they lived in their old leaky roofed house is so much better and going to school full time. Thanks to our friend Bryan who has donated to the fund monthly we were with his agreement able to pay for 13 months (12 months actually but got 1 extra month free) private English classes. She is doing really well and so happy.
Books pencils pens etc were bought for the children still living in a refugee camp near to Galle. I find it hard to believe with the British public donating over £300 m to DEC that we have yet to see anything done by the UK in Sri Lanka other that what Sally and I have done with similar small organisations.
Your donations have enabled us to do so much Thank You
FUND RAISING
Following the promises auction in Llandogo we were able to present the Anula Davi School Scholl with 100 000/- (about £540). This will be used to buy equipment for the new school that is currently being built in a safer place further inland.
Below is e mail we received from the English teacher
Dear Mr & Mrs Doble and all the thoughtful Ladies & Gentlemen in
Wye Valley South Community.
It really took me nearly ten days to send you this letter. I hope you will tolerate my delay.
I am very happy that we have been able to step into a common flat from to achieve one genuine aim. "To help the needy people".
We are quite proud to say after the tsunami we have been able to rise from the rubble. It’s only because of the Kind hearted Ladies and gentlemen around the world.
In this genuine effort you deserve a very significant place as your contributions have helped Anula Devi Balika Vidyalaya to get many a needs full filled.
I think that my students are so lucky since you have not let them feel that the are isolated.
Here the effort taken by Kelvin & Sally is praise worthy. We are thankful to all the people who toiled hard to raise money at the auction.
Please extend my gratitude to all your friends at Wye Valley.
And let them know how we feel, and think about them. Let them know that we all at Anula Devi Balika Vidyalaya are grateful for every thing they have done to help us.
Hope you all always keep in touch will us.
Roshan Kaluthotage
Anula Devi Balika Vidyalaya. Galle, Sri Lanka
Our good friends Ian & Julie (responsible for the web site) live in Llowes near Hay on Wye (still the Wye Valley) and the village organised a social evening.
We sorted out a pig roast and at the end of the evening Lyn Williams the organiser of the event presented us with a cheque for £250 for the tsunami fund.
Following Whitebrook Village Bar b Que £100 was donated by the village hall committee.
We have at last ventured into the retail market and sourced Cotton Shopping Bags. The suppliers The Clever Baggers did us a really good deal and we are most grateful to them for their support. We bought and have sold 250 bags and the proceeds will enable us to buy books for schools when we return. If you would like some bags (see link) let us know and if sufficient people are interested will get some more printed.
Thanks to all those who made these events so successful and all donors can rest assured that there money will be well spent. Sri Lanka will need help for a long time.
Christmas 2007
The second anniversary was much lower key than the first. Nevertheless it is impossible not to feel moved as 9:30 on the 26th December draws near. Circ 40 000 people died in Sri Lanka died and for some reason Sally and I survived. All of our friends survived ~ we are indeed ‘special’ people we were not meant to die and are members of a very exclusive club ~ The Tsunami Survivors Club only one chance to join and I am so grateful that we are members.
Once again it was utility bill time at the school for children with learning difficulties We had sufficient funds available and we once again able to pay for one year electric telephone and water. A full day to sort out but good fun. We also bought sewing materials for the girl’s class and some stationery etc.
Saratha and his family were settled into there house and working hard to build an outside toilet. They needed some money for materials so we leant them 3000/- (about £15) to buy all that they needed to finish. They were really happy with this and will be paying us back as soon as they can.
December / January are an expensive time if you have children who go to school in Sri Lanka. As each child has a list of things that they need for the year ahead which costs about 2500/- Big expenditure if you father only earns 500 – 600 /- per day. We were, with the funds available able to sort out the goodies for a number of children.
What next
It is over two years that I wrote ‘an e mail from 35 000 feet’ written on our way back from Sri Lanka. Never in our wildest dreams did we ever imagine that what Sally and I had seen on Boxing Day 2004 would have such an effect on us. We said life would never be the same again. Never is a long time but still our lives are nothing like they were before.
For 657 days my head was in turmoil and at last I had had enough ~ I resigned my Directorship and left work. Not an easy decision having been so committed and was hanging in there for rewards that were promised. None were forth coming and the costs to Sally and I was too great. The road that we have chosen has rewards far greater than money can buy.
Very shortly we will be going to Sri Lanka for an extended visit.
Sally will teach English and I will look after the building of 11 houses for tsunami victims. We visited these families in December 2006 in the pouring rain. People should not have to live like that in appalling conditions.
Funding for 10 houses is being provided buy a UK based charity Helplanka www.helplanka.co.uk and we would really like to be able to fund the 11th house.
The cost of a house £2000. Additionally we would like if possible to be able to provided furniture, cooking equipment and the basic necessities of life at a cost of approximately £150 per family. You would consider sponsoring a family. These people lost everything except their lives
We are both very excited about going. It is something that we have wanted to do for two years. Who knows what the future holds but we are both totally committed and with your support know we will be able to spread a little happiness.
The following is the transcript from Wogan’s thought for the day. It struck a chord with me Please read it
From Revd Ruth Scott, Anglican Vicar in Richmond
The tourist shops in Berlin are full of tiny packaged bits of painted concrete. They're remnants of the Wall. I guess a cynical part of me wonders if these fragments will become like relics of the cross of Jesus which, at one time, were said to be so vast in number that a fleet of battle ships could be made from them!
Very little of the Wall now remains standing. In most places, a double line of cobbled stones is all that marks its original path. There seems to be no rhyme or reason about its route. Perhaps that's just an indication of the chaos surrounding its erection. It must have been a tremendous scar, not only on the city landscape, but also on the psyche of those who lived in its shadow.
I can well understand the joy of the people of East and West Berlin, when the Wall was breached in this month of November, 17 years ago, marking the end of the GDR and the beginning of German reunification. I was moved by the story of one Berliner – a big burly train conductor who, when asked where he was when the Wall 'fell', said, "I was in Stuttgart. I wondered whether to catch the next train back to Berlin to join in what was happening. But I had a job to do and a family to feed, so I just carried on with my work." He hesitated, and his eyes filled with tears. "That's my biggest regret: I never got to dance on the Wall."
I suspect he's not the only person who gets on with the daily grind, and forgets to live. How many opportunities do we miss because of 'oughts' and 'shoulds' and 'have tos' that in reality, are not as unyielding as we think? Christianity teaches that faith is about bringing people into the fullest experience of life. We're not to settle for some kind of treadmill existence, but to take risks, to breach those barriers that others place in our path, to seize the moment, and, when our turn comes, to 'dance on the wall'
Sally and I are going to ‘Dance on our Wall’
Kelvin
Thank you to our sponsors and all who have assisted with this fund.