News Update 14

25 Mar 2005

News Update 14 – 25^th March 2005

www.friendsofunawatuna.org.uk

Update on Friends of Unawatuna

The following is a message from Ange Doxey, who was caught up in the Tsunami on Boxing Day. She has just returned from Unawatuna after a short stay.

“Was really surprised by the amount of clearing work that had taken place, the beach looked very clean and inviting again.

I was not sure of how I was going to feel going back after such a traumatic event, anxiety, sadness and fear spring to mind, in fact I seemed to feel the opposite, a sense of calm and happiness to be back there.

Though the signs of what happened are there and always will be, there seemed to be an air of positivity, strength and determination. Most of the local people are desperately trying to turn things around and open up again, which a number of places have done, they just need people to return.

I really enjoyed meeting up with people again, local and foreign, it was hard to believe that my life was so close to ending in Unawatuna and that so many did, I had a few quite moments at the temple thinking of those that had been lost.

On the Saturday Bill, Helga & I went to the orphanage to take some supplies of toothbrushes, toothpaste, soap, colouring books, crayons and loads of underwear. Had a tour around the orphanage, amazing work has been achieved; I can’t imagine what life for the children must have been like before. Spent all afternoon there, holding babies, colouring and playing with the older children, it was great to spend time giving the children attention. Michelle Curry, director, commented that help from Friends of Unawatuna had been a godsend & instrumental in improving the lives of the children by providing much needed medical, sanitary and feeding supplies, also toys, cots, mattresses, bedding, mosi nets, fans, and of course some strong bodies who helped with improvement work. It really made the head shaving worthwhile!!!! If there is one positive thing that has come out of such tragedy is the fact that these children’s lives have been dramatically changed for the better.

I caught up with Jake Zarins and spent a day out with him on Project Galle.” (Jake is doing working for Project Galle 2005, as well as doing the Friends of Unawatuna work) “We delivered food and supplies to camps in the surrounding area, this is where you see the scale of the devastation and loss, it is going to take a long time before some of these areas recover and people are able to live in houses again. The thing that is making it difficult for these people to start rebuilding again is the 100 metres no build zone issue, this seems to be really holding things up and no one is sure when it will be resolved, let’s hope soon!!

With Ange’s headshave (see http://www.friendsofunawatuna.org.uk/PicturesMisc.html )

raised £860 of which £60 was spent on buying supplies for the orphanage

Thank you to Ange for allowing us to use her story. Ange hopes it will encourage people to be brave and go back after such an awful experience. See some of Ange’s photos of the orphanage by visiting http://www.friendsofunawatuna.org.uk/PicturesFoU.html

A message to the survivors out there

The trustees of Friends of Unawatuna are very fortunate to have found a network of survivors in our area to talk to and come to terms with what happened. We are not counsellors or therapists ourselves, but the trustees have all found it a real comfort speaking to others who have experienced the disaster at first hand.

We are, though, very aware that there are people out there who do not have that network of survivors to be able to call-on. Whether you would feel you need to talk to fellow survivors; or are coping well and would be happy to talk to someone as one survivor to another; or if you have ideas on how all of us, as survivors, could help each other, we would love to hear from you. All ideas and comments welcome.

General

For those of you in the UK, a documentary about the Indonesian tsunami will be
broadcast this Easter Sunday at 6.35pm on BBC1. Called “Tsunami – Anatomy of a Disaster”. Further details of the programme can be found on http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/4381395.stm

Changes to the WebSite.

We have made a start collating projects into one particular area on the website. It is still in a very raw format and incomplete, but please keep visiting our website over the coming weeks to see updates on what is happening in Unawatuna. The new page can be seen at http://www.friendsofunawatuna.org.uk/Projects.html

Fundraising

Donations are still coming in, which we find overwhelming. Thank you so much to….

The Customers and Staff from the local pub The Star in Pucklechurch, Bristol raised over £1000 and have donated a third of it - £305, to Friends of Unawatuna. Many thanks to Simon Hedges and all involved.

Louisa Bain has been extremely busy fundraising in Leamington Spa:
- Abbotsford School in Kenilworth have contributed £755.81 through various fundraising activities - collecting pennies, cake sales, donations, etc.
- Round Oak School in Leamington Spa have contributed £150 in addition to the £127.96 donated previously.
- Our raffle and Virgin V evening raised £625. Thanks to Sue Harris for organising the evening, Obsessions in Birmingham for donating an Ayurvedic treatment, JoJo Norris for donating a Swedish massage, John Richards for donating a book to be bound, Maddy Kerr for donating a three course meal for 2, Virgin V for donating a bottle of bath essence, Di Sinclair for donating a yoga lesson, Chantal Pottage for donating a facial and some Forever Living Products items and finally Richard Lane for donating a bottle of Cava.
- I think we have already mentioned the £1155.46 raised by a cake sale and donations at the various Law Society offices in Leamington Spa. Worth a second mention I’m sure!!

This makes the grand total raised by friends of Louisa a whopping £2814.23! Well done and thank you so much.

Adrian Jones writes: “My name is Adrian Jones and I live in Colchester, Essex and work for an IT Services Company called Xansa Plc.

My Brother in law and his family live in Unawatuna (they own the Blue Swan inn), and following the Boxing day disaster I made an appeal at work to raise funds for his local community - and promised to shave my beard off (a beard which I had had for more than 25 years) in return for their pledges.

The response I had was fantastic, with nearly £3,500 being promised if I did indeed remove my beard in public at work, and then remain cleanshaven for a month.

The beard was duly removed at the Xansa London offices in mid Feb, and a month of me having to apply the razorblade each day has now passed. These funds are being donated to the Friends of Unawatuna.” I am donating these funds to the Friends of Unawatuna.”

Thanks Adrian!

Fellow trustee, Teen Desoutter has been fundraising like crazy, getting friends paying for lunch, having coffee mornings, (so far raising over £750)
- She and husband, Tarquin did a presentation at Bedgebury school and they donated £500.00 from funds raised - fantastic!
- Vinehall School, attended by the DeSoutter children, Max and Freya have busy filling up their smartie tubes with 20 pence pieces earned from doing jobs for their families. The amount raised has reached almost £2,000. Thanks to all the pupils for your hard work!

Marina Pepper, Mayor of Telscombe, East Sussex, donated £250 from coffee mornings she has been holding. Thanks Marina.

And Finally….

If you have transferred money directly into the FoU bank account and have not had an acknowledgement, please email us at support@FriendsofUnawatuna.org.uk with the amount, approximate date, and your bank sort code to enable us to record your donation. Unfortunately we are unable to identify the sender of some of these “anonymous” transactions.

Kind Regards

Jake Zarins

Claire and Jamie Wilkinson

Tanya Smart and Jon Walter

Tarquin and Tine Desoutter

Matt Rose

Nick Keegan

Friends of Unawatuna