Recent projects

Rebuilding Homes and Lives
Bikes. Bicycles are the most common form of transport on the east coast of Sri Lanka, but many were destroyed or damaged by the tsunami. We have delivered over 300 bikes to help adults get to travel from refugee camps to their work and for children to get to school.

Block workshop. After the tsunami, which destroyed 95% of Komari, victims simply wished to return to their villages and rebuild their homes. There was a scarcity of reasonably priced building materials. We funded the equipment, materials, training and labour for a local builder to establish a concrete block workshop. The workshop employs villagers and has supplied SOS Children’s Homes with blocks to rebuild homes in Komari.

Supporting Local Needs
Thambatai School. Thambattai School was destroyed by the Tsunami. We supplied the temporary school with teaching materials, revision books, storage cabinets and a photocopier for the temporary school.

Komari Playground. Our partner in Komari, built a playground for the children of Komari with funds raised by sponsored runs and walks in the UK.

Developing Communities
Lahugala Irrigation Project. The Lahugala irrigation system serves up to 50,000 people and 20,000 acres of agricultural land in the south east of Sri Lanka. For years sand and silt deposits had blocked the canal from the river and so the main reservoir could only be fed with river water for five months of the year. For the rest of the year, rice could not be cultivated on the unirrigated land. Our project dredged the blocked canal, built a weir, repaired the locks and re-instated the links between the reservoirs. This has enabled rice to be grown all year round, providing food to some of the communities worst hit by the tsunami and lifting farmers out of poverty.

Thambiluvil School Girls Hostel. Due to the tsunami 25% of the 1,500 pupils at this secondary school are living in refugee camps many miles from the school. There was a need to house up to 20 A-level student girls as weekly boarders, as they were living in cramped huts where pressures from conditions and demands from their families were disrupting studies. We converted an old house within the grounds of the school, equipped it beds, furniture, cooking and washing facilities and turned it into a hostel. We have employed two wardens and a cook to supervise and care for them.