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Rekindling hope The Pattakannu Foundation’s Village of Hope is about bringing love and security to tsunami children The devastating tsunami in December 2004 was a wake-up call to humanitarians all over the world. Those in Sri Lanka, who witnessed the widespread destruction, were moved to help in one form or the other. While this addressed the short term need for shelter and food, there were long-term plans which needed to be put in place to reconstruct homes, families and livelihoods.
Having worked on numerous charity projects in the Eastern Province over the last five years, the Pattakannu Foundation was well positioned to carry out this work. Founder of the Pattakannu Foundation S. A. Thiagarajah formulated the idea of an orphanage – Village of Hope – to house the displaced children of the tsunami. The idea developed into detailed plans, cost estimates and building blueprints. Within a month Mr. Thiagarajah contacted the Huppertz family in Germany, and briefed them on his plans of building a “Village of Hope” for the displaced children of the tsunami. The Huppertz family were close friends and no strangers to Sri Lanka, the late Mr. Huppertz having been the Chief of the German Technical Institute in Katubedda for over a decade, and along with his wife travelled extensively in Sri Lanka helping the needy. Mrs. Huppertz not only extended help via the charitable organisation she had set up in Germany (The Sri Lanka Hilfe), to help the poor in Sri Lanka, she also identified a foundation called Kinderhilfestiftung of Frankfurt that was interested in being a major partner in this endeavour. Among the other benevolent donors are The Kazakastani Orphanage Fund and the Lend a Hand Charity (USA). Mr. Moratti of Italy and the AMU of Italy were introduced by the lay sisters of the ‘Folkalare Movement’ in Italy. The AMU of Italy is funding the village with grants received from BMW dealers in Italy. Ciano Lorenzo of Italy and Blythswood Trading of UK too sent in useful contributions as did Mrs. Mowjood and Matt Ward of the US. Making it a reality In September 2005, a ten-acre plot was purchased in Mylambaveli, ten km from Batticaloa, and the foundation stone laid on September 20, 2005. The building blueprint was originally designed by Mr. Sivaraman, a close architect friend of Mr. Thiagarajah and later revised by another friend, Mr. Ranjan, an architect by profession, involved with many buildings for the Missionaries of Charity. The concept The concept of the Village of Hope is modelled on the SOS Villages, which have been run successfully in Sri Lanka. The Village will have ten large, four bed-roomed fully furnished houses with all necessities. There will be about eight to ten children in each house, initially, between the ages of six and nine and an infant. A trained mother will care for these children. Her role will be to take care of all the needs of these children, and give them the love and security a real mother would give. Every mother will be paid a sum of money (per child) monthly to take care of their needs such as food, clothes, books, etc. The children will remain in the village, till they complete their schooling. Current status The initial setting up cost of the village will be around Rs. 70 million including the land and buildings for stage one for which monies have been received. It is estimated that the monthly expenses to maintain the children and the village will amount to Rs. 650,000 to Rs. 750,000. The project has been planned in three stages, prioritising the most important needs and facilities, and developing them according to the resources at hand. The Village of Hope is depending on generous benefactors to complete stages two and three, which will cost a similar amount. A few of the initial overseas benefactors have pledged to meet a part of this cost. For more information More information could be obtained from S. A.
Thiagarajah, No. 102, New Chetty Street, Colombo 13, Sri Lanka.
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