Spending 2 months living in tents, the Sri Lankans have made adjustments to a refugee lifestyle. A common complaint living in such conditions was that there are many occasions of friction between each other.

　

For some Sri Lankans, the refugee shelters are located close to the sea. These shelters are susceptible to flooding during high tides.
The rainy season in Galle will be starting soon. We hope to be able to do something about the living conditions of the tsunami victims here.

Interviewing the people living in tents on a corner of the temple grounds. The Sri Lankans living here told us that at first they were promised shelter in the temple, food and other supplies. But as a result of a dispute, they were told to evacuate the temple. Since their currrrent location which is far from main road, they do not receive the aid supplies that other shelter areas receive.

Interviewing C.W.W.Kannanngaara Vidyalaya school. On December 27th, the school associates started to clean up the debris and other damages left by the tsunam. This was, supported by US army. After the school reopened on 10th of January, the teachers have place more emphasis on interaction with the children. They have included more games and dances into the curriculum. The principal told us that they are focusing more on mental care for the children.

　

The tsunami destroyed the school wall (above left). With the new reconstruction of the school, the new location will be inland, at least 100m away from the beach which is set as buffer zone of the tsunami. Since this plot of land is bigger, there are plans to build a junior high school too.

Interviwing Sambodhi Home for the disabled. When the tsunami entered the home, half of the inhabitants (40 people) were drowned. The survived inhabitants were not able to run or swim away as a result of their disabilities and had to hold on to the pillars until they were rescued.

　

On 10th March, we held a workshop with 25 participants. The participants seemed strong at first, but started breaking down one by one as they started introducing themselves. When they were recalling the tsunami incident, many of the participants had a shaky voice.

　

" My Post Tsunami Recovery", "The Community Rebuilding Plan", "Support Needs" were themes in the workshop. The participants split up into groups and wrote down their thoughts on placards.

　

Leading the workshop were our local staff member Ms Puthrika Moonesinghe and ICA Japan staff member Shizuyo Sato.
　In the recent months, there have been many overseas people who have come to Sri Lanka to offer their assistance but there have also been many no shows by people who have promised help. As a result, the local people are very suspicious whether they will actually receive help. This was raised at the workshop with Ms Puthrika.

Issues like rebuilding a sound economic foundation., strengthening relationships locally also came up in the workshop. The solutions that were proposed to solve these issues were certainly valuable. However, let's not overlook that the participants also learnt how to listen and discuss different views and opinions. With this, we can be sure that the rebuilding of the community is soundly on its way to progress.