Sri Lanka Humanitarian Relief
The decades-long military conflict in Sri Lanka between the government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) has ended. However, the humanitarian crisis has not, and is increasingly coming into focus. People displaced by the fighting – mostly in the northeastern regions – have fled from their homes and are now in refugee camps.
More than 265,000 ethnic Tamils who fled the war zones of the north are now in overcrowded camps, according to the United Nations. The government fears that thousands of LTTE fighters have mingled with the civilians, and has promised to take no more than six months to clear civilians and allow them to return to their homes. In the interim, the Sri Lankan government, private voluntary organizations, and international relief agencies are trying to cope with feeding and sheltering the large number of internally displaced people. They need your help.
Give2Asia is partnering with the Sarvodaya Shramadana Movement and the Chefs Guild of Sri Lanka to provide food for people displaced by the conflict who are now living in camps. This emergency relief project provides the following:
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Three meals a day for displaced families: Every $20 donation feeds a person three meals a day for one month
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Empowerment of displaced communities: Your donation helps to actively involve people living in these camps by training them in food preparation, thus encouraging their participation in relief efforts
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Post-conflict livelihood training: Your donation provides culinary training to displaced people, which will give them income-earning skills for when they resume their lives outside of the camps.
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Give2Asia has been working with charitable groups in Sri Lanka since being founded by The Asia foundation in 2001. Following the 2004 tsunami, which destroyed communities and killed thousands along Sri Lanka’s eastern coastline, Give2Asia has worked with individual, corporate and foundation partners who have made possible immediate relief and long-term recovery in Sri Lanka, as well as other affected Asian countries. Since 2001, Give2Asia has granted $2.6 million to Sri Lankan communities, supporting child services, vocational training, school construction, microfinance and other needed programs.
Working closely with our advisors and NGO partners in Sri Lanka, we continue to identify ways for international philanthropy to support displaced people and families affected by the recent civil conflict. The Sri Lankan Humanitarian Relief Fund brings together two strong Give2Asia partners.
Sarvodaya Shramadana Movement
The Sarvodaya Shramadana Movement is the largest people's organization in Sri Lanka. Sarvodaya is Sanskrit for 'Awakening of All' and Shramadana means to donate effort. It began in one village and has grown to more than 15,000. Give2Asia and Sarvodaya have partnered together to build vocational training centers and to support children orphaned by the tsunami. Today, Sarvodaya is working to provide food, clean water and sanitation for civilians displaced by the recent conflict.
The Chefs Guild of Sri Lanka
The Chefs Guild was founded in 1988 and nominated as the 37th Member Nation of the World Association of Cooks Societies in 60 countries. In the aftermath of the 2004 tsunami, the Chefs Guild cooked at camps providing the displaced with hot meals. The Guild has also helped young Sri Lankans to find employment opportunities by training them in culinary arts. Today, the Chefs Guild is helping to deliver hot meals to the displaced living in the camps.
In the coming weeks and months, Give2Asia will be launching an initiative to help strengthen Sri Lankan communities. After 30 years of conflict, these communities will need support from international philanthropy to rebuilt their lives and create a new era of peace.
One of our primary partners for longer-term rebuilding will be The Asia Foundation, which has been operating in Sri Lanka for over five decades. The Asia Foundation in Sri Lanka has close ties with local and national government, business communities and other international organizations that are supporting and promoting a peaceful and prosperous Sri Lanka.
For more information on Give2Asia’s longer-term efforts to support post-conflict Sri Lankan recovery, please contact Nishita Bakshi at Give2Asia by emailing nbakshi@give2asia.org.
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