Financial Times

Sarvodaya offers ‘Corporate weekend’ help opportunities
Sarvodaya is offering companies in Sri Lanka the opportunity to help rural village communities in Shramadana-styled campaigns. In a statement Sarvodaya said it believes this unique opportunity can provide a highly effective form of team-building, reawakening and a sense of achievement for groups of up to 24 people. Groups might include entire staffs of smaller companies or sales teams, management teams and entire departments in larger companies.

Each weekend Shramadana will be organised within a two hour drive of Colombo so that participants can leave work on Friday evening and return home on Sunday evening having worked together throughout the weekend to leave a lasting benefit for the community.

The first Weekend Shramadana will take place in Moratuwella in early February. This is a fishing village of 900 families located directly on the coast southwest of Moratuwa; 60 families directly rely on the fishing industry.

Since the tsunami, they have received little aid other than the repair of a shelter close to the beach. Many of the simple dwellings were damaged but have not been repaired and the area is an eyesore with a bad litter problem.
In spite of this, when the villagers were consulted by Sarvodaya through the Sarvodaya Village Society, their main and urgent priority was to provide a secure fenced area in which to protect their fishing boats, nets and fish stocks.

They also needed a communal deep freezer in which to store fish. 100 villagers will work alongside the participants to build the fenced area and clear the rubbish. Lunch will be cooked by the village women and served on the beach each day, Sarvodaya said.

The group will be accommodated at Sarvodaya's Moratuwa headquarters in simple twin-bedded dormitory rooms with all meals provided from dinner on arrival to afternoon tea on Sunday. No technical skills are required.
The cost is Rs.14,000 per person including all accommodation, meals and transport between Moratuwa and Moratuwella as well as a donation to pay for the materials for the work, the deep freezer and lunches for the 100 participating villagers.

Sarvodaya is able to put together a series of similar Shramadana camps based at Moratuwa and Bandaragama and would be interested in talking to organisations about creating a longer-term programme. Contact: Jagath Wijesekara, Sarvodaya Community Tourism Initiative on 266 7362, 0722802720, email: communitytourism@sarvodaya.lk.

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