Roman Catholic Parish of St Anne: Tsunami catastrophe help to Sri Lanka.

You all have been moved by the earthquake catastrophe in Southeast Asia. Sri Lanka is one of those nations that have been affected most. The disaster caused by this natural catastrophe is beyond our comprehension. Needless to say the whole country is in deep shock. Many have lost their family, relations, friends and colleagues and co-workers. The other result of this disaster is that millions have lost their homes and possessions and also their livelihood. In Sri Lanka alone nearly 33.000 people are dead and millions are left homeless by the force of the Tsunami waves. The need for these people is so enormous that many countries and many charity organizations have already sent help. Their need for healthcare, food, clean drinking water, clothing and shelter is an enormous task. Everything that has been destroyed has got to be rebuilt. They need medicine to the sick and injured, nets for the fishermen to fish, pillows to sleep, and clothes to wear books and toys to the children since the people have run from their homes with empty hands. This list of needs can be endless. At the onset of the disaster we felt that we could not only comfort them in our prayers but also help them in their hour of need. We initiated St. Anna Catholic parish Tsunami catastrophe help to Sri Lanka. with out knowing how much support it would receive or how the whole organization will function. .The main motto and intentions are that 100 crowns donated here in Sweden will be 100 crowns to the poor and needy in Sri Lanka.

The Roman-Catholic parish of St Anne in Nyköping has been involved in supporting various small help projects in Sri Lanka in the past. We have a well organized reliable direct contact in Sri Lanka. We also know from our past experience that the donation goes directly for the intended purpose because of the generous volunteer contribution. At this hour of need we have started a help project to help the needy in Sri Lanka called “ St.Anna Catholic parish Tsunami catastrophe help to Sri Lanka”. In the Church we have a special donation collection box at the entrance. During the Sunday mass and other special occasions the collection and the donation from the parishioners have been allocated for this purpose. Since the need for help is so enormous the volunteers have helped in collecting donations from friends, colleagues, from various work places and also directly from the public. The local news paper has published an article on the front page describing our help project to encourage the public to help with the donation. We have also informed the public to contribute to our help project to Sri Lanka by donating money however small to the St. Anna Catholic parish account number 63 81 83-4 specifying “Help to Sri Lanka”. It is amazing to witness how every man and woman young and old are contributing towards this cause. However it is not sufficient. We from the R C church of StAnne in Nyköping are helping with the funding by collecting donations. The donation transfered to Sri Lanka to the Kitu Dana Pubuduwa Sri Prasansaramaya,walpola-Ragama and received by the Catholic priest Rev Fr. Oscar Abeyratne . Under his guidance and supervision they have organized the Kithudana pubuduwa national disaster relief committee. They have opened a new account which is Kithudana Pubuduwa Charitable trust A/c No: 7135-316-1-65-003232-5 Peoples Bank.

We are so happy and encouraged by the generous help we have already received and also continue to receive from the public all around Sweden. We send our sincere thanks to the Nyköping hospital staffs and all the primary care units for their support. We have left donation tills in different work places where the staff members are responsible for the safe keep of the donation. We also wish to thank all the donors who contributed money through our Church account number PG: 63 81 83-4. At the Church entrance there is a donation collection box and a poster informing the congregation that one of our plans are to collect as much money as possible by monthly church coffee organized by the different nationalities. The first church coffee was organized by the nationality group Sri Lanka in January and the collection was very encouraging.

The money that is collected is properly documented by our Church committee under the supervision of Rev fr, Jan Buczkowski the parish priest in Nyköping and Dr. Emmanuel Peiris (from Sri Lanka) who are responsible for the above project to Sri Lanka. Part of the donated money has already been transferred to Sri Lanka .The relief work is in progress and will continue as long as the need exists. We will have to keep on collecting donation because the need is still enormous.

We have already seen the sincerity and dedication they have on the other side, Pubuduwa in Sri Lanka who have done a lot by themselves. They have gone begging in the streets and knocking door to door to collect money and clothes from the Sri Lanka public. Through this action they have already collected LKR 700,000.00 -. It is also really very commendable that they provided help to all the needy irrespective of their religion or political belief or creed. Since the north eastern parts are controlled by the Tamil tigers, affected people have not received sufficient help; they also have plans to extend their help to that part of the country. We hope that a good coordinated help to the needy where ever they are would create a friendly environment suitable to bring peace and harmony to this divided country. They have already done some work which includes the cleaning up of wells to provide fresh water As you already know the Tsunami flood not only brought sea water but also water from the toilets and drainage and made the water in the wells dirty and contaminated.

Please help us to make this project a success. We really need your assistance and cooperation. We will keep you informed of everything we do. We are planning to add more pages to our website www.sanktaanna.org with pictures and details so that every donor could see what has happened to their donation. We wish to inform you what we have already achieved and what we are planning to do in the future.

The tragic sum dead or displaced persons

1. Along the whole costal area people have used wells for clean water for drinking cooking washing clothes and also bathing.
   Now they have become contaminated. Cleaning the existing contaminated wells, rebuilding the damaged wells, water pumps and other necessities for providing clean water would be one of the priorities. Some work has already been done which includes the cleaning up of two types of wells: one to provide clean drinking water the other for washing and bathing purposes. People cherished this work which brought much appreciation relief for years to come.
2. To contribute to help the needy children: Many children have lost their parents, relatives, and friends and loved ones.
   The sea water has destroyed their books and other school equipment and taken away their toys and the things they used to play with. A part of the donation will be to provide the poor children with their school necessities like books pens and papers as well as to give these children a chance to overcome the grief caused by this disaster by helping them to play and put a smile on their faces. We could provide balls of all kinds like footballs, cricket equipment like bats and balls and wickets together with toys and games etc. The relief team from Pubuduwa already helped the children with donation with Milk powder and feeding bottles to the small children for a sum of LKR 75,000.00.
3. The disaster has left affected areas to look like a war zone with destructions of properties everywhere.
   To start the rebuilding process first the cleaning up has to be done.: The Relief Committee organized many volunteers to help in the cleaning up of the destroyed houses and the surroundings around the area of Moratuwa. - Recently 250 people went down to Matara for the clean up of the Matara church, the convent and the school. – The sea waves swept through just after people received Holy Communion. Most of the people were outside the church building and praying in the garden. They were all taken by surprise by the force of the Tsunami waves and many lost their lives, including a nun and many children who were playing in the school ground.
4. We know that many poor who lived along the costal line of Sri Lanka have lived in Cadjan Houses (Made of coconut palm leaves), or wooden houses or houses made out of corrugated plate.
   These houses were totally demolished by the Tsunami waves. These houses often belong to the poorest and the neediest. They do not have sufficient financial means to rebuild their homes.Local relief comities who have a thorough inside knowledge of the affected people. They will do a feasibility study of the disaster relief and then submit the action plan which will have to be approved before money is distributed. The team from the National Committee has gone round the coastal area to study the effected areas to collect information about the needs and how they could contribute. After analyzing all the information we have decided to help Vavuniya. , Mullativu, Pulmoddai, Kuchchaveli, Nilaveli, which are some of the most badly affected areas on the eastern coast.The affected victims are living in camps at Vauniya. They realised that the Sinhala and the Tamil people are badly neglected. The Government is handling over the aid through the MPs. This is a Muslim area. So, it appears that the Muslims are taken care of very well and not the others. This is a very sad story. People are deviating from the real truth of helping human beings irrespective of their language, religion, creed etc.., Therefore, Pubuduwa has decided on this area. We are really very happy to inform you that they are going to build temporary houses for those who are living in the camps using the funds they received from Sweden. It is important that they find suitable living places for them immediately, if not, there will be spread of various diseases and serious health problems which may cause more deaths.
5. Counselling
   We all know that after such a disaster with so many loss of lives most people are traumatised by these events and they need not only financial help but also help to cope with the psychological problem to heal their pain and mental suffering. Everybody acknowledges the great need for this This is one area where even the Church is asking for their help. They have already started training sessions for the volunteers. Around 50 youths who are well educated young men and women have committed their time and energy for this purpose and they plan to l start with the counselling by the 1st February. However, this is already in progress unofficially.

We sincerely thank each and every one who has helped us with their kindness and generosity. We already know that Sri Lanka is surrounded by so much sorrow and destruction. It is not so easy to forget them after a few days. So we need your continued financial help to make our help project in Sri Lanka a success. We have witnessed how much love and compassion we have already shown and we could continue to do our part. The best experiences of living will come through our giving. We are sure that the kindness we have given to others will return many times back to you.

We promise that the contribution you give to us will go directly to the needy in Sri Lanka. We will keep all the donors advised of the action taken via our web site and separate e-mail with details.

Yours sincerely

Dr. Emmanuel Peiris & Pater Jan Buczkowski

Some pictures from the life of the suffering Sri Lanka

The WAVE!!	Colombo	Hikaduwa railway	Wave=death
The hard time= to bury the dead	Clean water is neaded	The work goes on	How long time does it take??

Some pictures from the life of the parish of Saint Anne in Nyköping, Sweden

Project- and churchcoffeetable	Coffee after Mass	Mr&Mrs Peiris counting	Mr Emmanuel & F Jan
Holy Mass	The parish of St Anne	Friendly chats	Familiar atmosphere

Tillbaka!

Sidan uppdaterad senast: 2005-02-07, © Bengt Engstedt