Sunday Times 2
Aloka Foundation collects 2500 kg of flood relief donations
View(s):By Minushi Perera
Having seen the utter devastation caused by the floods in May this year, architect Chami Waduge now a British citizen was moved to help. She along with her husband Pradeep Samaratunga took the initiative to collect donations from London and send them to Sri Lanka. They launched the Aloka Foundation to conduct this effort.
On May 18, Chami put out an appeal on her facebook page asking people to donate towards the flood victims in Sri Lanka, making it clear not to offer any financial donations. The post she published went viral, reaching people across the UK including Scotland and Wales. Donations were brought to her house and if the donors could not physically bring them to her house they would make arrangements for the donations to be delivered to the house. Just one day after her appeal they managed to send three boxes of highly essential items to Sri Lanka by airfreight, which had weighed more than 150 kilograms with the help of a private donor, who had offered to bear all the cargo costs by himself.
The donations had been coming in non-stop, Chami and her husband had to take the decision to stop accepting donation by May 21. “It was a tough and sad decision, apologies for the ones we had to turn away,” the founder Aloka Foundation says. The process of sorting, packaging and boxing began the next afternoon. With the help of neighbours and friends they had managed to pack 54 boxes, each weighing more than 50 kilograms. Overall they raised more than 2500 kg of flood relief donations. As there were a lot of boxes, they asked donors to contribute for the cargo costs.
Chami has taken the full responsibility of all donations and said that she would make sure it reached those in need. She also assured donors that distribution would be done through trusted and independent volunteers and extends her thanks to all those who had helped and supported her in this cause.
A 33-year-old architect working for United Nations in London, Chami is a member of the Lions Club of London 105a and is involved in various charities locally and internationally. The Aloka Foundation was begun to help those affected by floods in Sri Lanka and she hopes to extend that help to building a library.
To see the work done by Aloka Foundation visit their Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/Aloka Foundation/?fref=ts