Proud of Our Progress !

The Foundation of Goodness staff, volunteers, Village Management Committee and Seenigama community have worked tirelessly for over 6 months and we are incredibly proud of our achievements since the tsunami.

We are taking this opportunity to briefly describe our major accomplishments, as you can see they cover a wide range of areas and are truly comprehensive of all the village needs. We started way back in January managing a camp at the Seenigama Temple fro 750 people. By the end of February the camp was no longer needed but since then and we have gone from strength to strength in providing hundreds of people with the essential support to get their lives back on track.

Housing has clearly been a focus for us. Most Seenigama residents were displaced, their homes being completely washed away. Beyond the 100m zone (on families' existing land) 81 houses have been rebuilt. We are also providing grants for the repair of 160 Partially Damaged Houses, certified by a technical officer. For people who lived inside the 100m zone, we have already secured excellent areas of land and are well into the planning for new residential developments funded by 3 major donors. All houses also receive a family shopping list which includes all the items needed to fill the new home and allow a return to 'normal' life.

167 individuals have been gifted various items which allow them to generate their own income and get the local economy back on track. These include everything from sewing machines, carpentry tools, grocery stores, cows, coir machines and fishing equipment. Employment has also been generated through village programs, such as our cement block making and clean up projects etc.

Fifty five of the most needy children have been sponsored by donors as well as all needs of the 05 Schools in the area met, through support from Schools in other countries. Uniforms, books and repairs to buildings are amongst the many other contributions made. Our numerous international volunteers have also entertained and developed the children using art therapy, drama therapy and numerous sports and games which the kids absolutely love to take part in. We have also set up a children's library and provided for the Seengiama Daham Pasala (Sunday School).

Our most significant achievement in this area is the opening and ongoing running of the Pediatric Rainbow Clinic. We have also started health seminars and a maternity clinic. Early on we facilitated an eye clinic to test slight and provide spectacles for the many people who had lost their glasses.

The Foundation had been working in Seenigama for six years prior to the tsunami, during this time English and Computer training were a key component of the Foundation's work. We were delighted to get these programs back up and running. We currently hold at least 20 sessions per week in these areas for youth aged 6 - 25 years.

We have assisted the community host an amazing 4 day New Year festival, volleyball and cricket matches. We have built a volleyball court at the Foundation head quarters (previously Kushil's holiday bungalow) and each evening the community gathers here to talk and play. We have also helped establish a handicrafts centre, where local items can be displayed and sold. In terms of community healing we have also facilitated many 'psycho social' needs of the people. Experts from Disaster Psychiatry Outreach and Sumitrayo have regularly engaged with the community and helped them slowly recover from this traumatic event.

The Foundation provides support for individual families on a needs basis and many specific items have been granted in special cases. We have also cleared and distributed over 12 containers of outstanding and much needed items facilitated by Murali and donated by the Just Enough Faith Organisation in Australia.

We have worked with USAID, Danish Development Co-operation Office, Mercy Corps, the City of Perth and Rotary to undertake some large scale projects in the area. These have included clean up campaigns which have employed hundreds of local people, drainage programs, housing and industry development projects.