Rebuilding a Broken World
– a unique opportunity!
Paul Bowtell, Transform Newham
Rebuilding for a Future in Tsunami torn Sri Lanka
This is an opportunity for the Church in Newham to identify with those seeking to rebuild shattered lives in one of the poorest parts of Sri Lanka and, for one village, to help ‘make poverty history’.
Vakarai has always been a poor village, not favoured by the Sri Lankan government. It missed out on electricity when other villages were connected to the grid. It lies in a grey area over which the Sri Lankan Army and the LTTE Tamil Tigers have fought – indeed there was one time in the past when the Army controlled the area by day and the Tigers controlled it by night!
It is on the East coast between Batticaloa and Trincomalee and felt the full fury of the Boxing Day tsunami. The village was destroyed and many lives lost – sons, daughters, husbands and wives – hardly a family is without loss. But there is also the loss of home, infrastructure and livelilhood.
Oxfam reported : ‘Vakarai is a very poor district, north of Batticaloa. Before the tsunami, 90 percent of the people were fisherman. Many of them have lost everything – their homes, family members, fishing boats – their livelihoods. Before, people here lived in houses, in some cases more basic than the tents they now have. Now there is nothing to see – as if no one ever lived there. Many can’t return to rebuild as the government has declared that no resettlement will be permitted within 200 metres of the shoreline. Others are too afraid to return.’
Paul Watson a CMS mission partner working in Sri Lanka recorded ‘Voices from an Island in Turmoil’ which includes this cry ‘I am a fisherman … I just want to go back to sea and earn a living.’
But the boats were destroyed along with the houses – nothing was left! This time it was not the civil war but the very sea from which they gained their livelihood.
Why our help is needed . This is one the worst affected areas and yet little help has reached them. It was badly affected by the civil war before the tsunami and because it is Tamil controlled it is very unlikely to get any government help.
Why this village has been chosen. Bridge of Love have a network of trustworthy contacts across the north and east of Sri Lanka. Maran BOL Tsunami Relief Coordinator based in Colombo (the capital) and Rev Karunanithi (Karu) based in Batticaloa have recommended Vakarai. Karu has developed relationships and has sought to establish a Christian presence there (Batticaloa is 2 hours drive from Vakarai). Together they recently met with representatives of the local fishing associations; the head of the organisation under which they operate; the local fishing inspector (a Catholic) and the LTTE (Tamil Tigers) leader for that area.
Rev Ebenezer Chair of Bridge of love Trust and leader of the Tamil church has just returned from Sri Lanka.
Peter Watherston, Director of Transform Newham, and his wife Hannah Watherston are preparing go to Vakarai next week to assess the long term needs in this area. They will be visiting Batticaloa and Vakarai meeting with Maran and Karu amongst others to assess the situation at first hand.
When the tsunami struck, in identification with the considerable Tamil population of Newham and particularly with the Tamil Church in Manor Park, support from the churches of Newham with money and goods was immediate. However Transform Newham saw straightaway that there would need to be a more important longer term response as part of the reconstruction of the devastated communities.
If we could provide a boat, outboard motor and nets, not just one, but four families could share that boat and equipment and so return to fishing and provide nourishment and a livelihood for those families.
Provisional costs:
Fibreglass boat Rs 114,000 £629
Motor (Yamaha 9.9) Rs 125,000 £691
Nets (Adasa fishing nets) Rs 97,500 £539
Total package £1,859 but to cover local costs say £2,000
‘God loves a cheerful giver’ (2 Corinthians 9 v.7.) and here is an opportunity for the church in Newham to give … and to do it together!
