Houses for tsunami affected

  

They all need new houses

PRESIDENT Mahinda Rajapakse is resolutely determined to render a valuable service to the country and therefore the masses must make the best use of that spirit and cooperate with him in every possible way.
 
This was the observation of Ven. Walpola Piyananda Nayaka Thera,
the Chief Incumbent of the Los Angeles Buddhist Temple who is also the Chief Sangha Nayaka of America.

The Venerable Sangha Nayaka of America made their observation at a ceremony where he handed over the keys of 10 newly built houses to the beneficiaries who lost their dwellings in the tsunami devastation of December 2004 in the Southern coastal village of Galagodawatta, Hikkaduwa.
 
These are the first 10 of the 36 houses undertaken to be built by the Los Angeles Vijaya Buddhist and Hollywood Artistes Forum of America to resettle helpless families whose dwellings within the 100 metre limit of the sea-shore of Akurala were swept away in the tidal waves.

The American donor delegation led by Ven. Piyananda Thera also included a group of Vietnamese ladies who were refugees from Vietnam now domiciled in America.
Pointing to the now prosperous vietnamese ladies, the venerable priest said that they

 
 
 
  are a good example of turning adversity in to prosperity and that they migrated to America in a tug boat with only the clothes that they wore.

These Vietnamese contributed in large measure to augment the fund for constructing this housing complex in Sri Lanka, the venerable priest said.
He urged the beneficiaries to make proper use of the benefits they gain out of this gift. He also promised to give each house hold a Buddha statue. The Project Director Vijith Gunawardena and several others also spoke on the occasion.