Dharmavijaya Foundation donates houses for
tsunami victims

Ramani D. Wickramaratne

Religious observances before the handing over of the houses. March 7 was a happy day for 28 tsunami victim householders who lost everything on 26th December 2004. Those victims had no hope of getting back decent housing according to their liking but Dharmavijaya Foundation of 380/7, Sarana Road, Baudhaloka Mawatha, Colombo came forward as their saviours.

Madihe East is the home town of the late Most Venerable Madihe Pannaseeha Thera - Maha Nayake of the Amarapura Nikaya, their patron. They coordinated with Ven. Wilpita Sudharmalankara Thera of Sri Dharmavansikaramaya, Madihe East, Matara in this housing project.

Dharmavijaya Foundation received funding for this housing project from Sri Lanka Disaster Relief Fund - Melbourne, The Buddhist Vihara Temple of Queensland and the Samadhi Trust of New Zealand.

The cost per house was Rs. 650,000 of which Rs. 400,000 was from the Dharmavijaya Foundation from funds received from the above- mentioned organisations and the balance Rs. 250,000 was received from the Government of Sri Lanka through the Consortium of Swiss Organisations.

The total expenditure incurred for this project was Rs. 14,032,000. The Memorandum of Understanding with the Swiss Consortium of Organisations and Dharmavijaya Foundation was signed for this project on 28th August 2006.

The victims were lucky as they could build on their own land where their original houses were situated and the construction and coordination work commenced with the fullest support received from Ven. Wilpita Sudharmalankara Thera.

Special mention needs to be made that the speciality of this project was the fact that the residents were permitted to build the house according to their wishes with the funding provided by Dharmavijaya Foundation. These houses turned out to be amazing examples of dedication and participation of the resident victims in constructing their own houses and from the funding organisation. Within a mere 7-8 months beautiful houses arose in the originally devastated sites.

The Most Venerable Weligama Gnanaratana Maha Nayake Thera of the Dharmarakshita Nikaya of Amarapura Maha Nikaya chaired the handing over ceremony.

The chief guest was the Governor of the Southern Province and the guest of honour was Dr. Greg French, High Commissioner for Australia in Sri Lanka. Special invitees who participated in this auspicious ceremony were Dr. Dasarath Jayasuriya - President, SPUR - Australia and Mr. Rolf Schleyer from the Consortium of Swiss Organisations.

The welcome speech was made by Deshabandu Olcott Gunasekera, President Dharmavijaya Foundation and the vote of thanks was given by Ven. Wilpita Sudharmalankara Thera.