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| Special Report: The European Hostels Tsunami Appeal |
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Overview
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After the horrific events in South East Asia following the earthquake and tsunami
last December, a number of hostels and the EHC came together to raise money
for an appeal. Originally we wanted to give the money raised to Medecins sans
Frontieres. However, they told us very quickly that they were unable to take
any more donations for their tsunami appeal, such was the massive response
from people from around the world.
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We were then approached by Mathias Schwender from the Sir Toby’s Hostel in Prague,
who knew of a project in Sri Lanka which needed help following the impact of
the tsunami on that island. We approached the hostels involved with the appeal,
and Mathias offered to pay for himself to go to Sri Lanka to bring the money,
and make a report as to how the money that was raised by the appeal was being
spent.
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Sri Lanka Relief Program
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Mathias had a personal contact in Sri Lanka, Pastor Devapriya, whom he met
a few years ago when he was in Sri Lanka. The tsunami had a devastating effect
on the village of Korallawella where Pastor Devapriya has his church, which
included 30 families house that were wiped out. In the aftermath of the tsunami,
it was decided that there were three important steps that needed to be undertaken:
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- Immediate Relief – included daily food supplies, plus medicines and toiletries,
especially for those whose homes were completely destroyed.
- Resettlement Relief – Supplying those whose houses were not totally destroyed
to clean-up, repair and get back to work. Also, there was a need for uniforms
and books so that the kids could go back to school.
- Long-term Help – Land and housing for those who lost everything, plus
equipment to allow the fishermen to go back to work, materials for new houses.
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Throughout the hostels in Europe that took part in the tsunami appeal we managed
to raise €3500 which Mathias took to Sri Lanka last month to contribute to
the relief and re-building effort in Korallawella. Below you can see some photos
of the work that is being done there with the money that we raised, as well
as a short film that Mathias made in Sri Lanka that can also be downloaded.
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Photos and Film Download
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If you would like to watch a short film that Mathias made to explain
exactly how and where the money was used in Sri Lanka, then you can do
so here as a Windows Media Files
lowest quality - 12 MB |
low - 30 MB |
medium - 54 MB |
high quality - 114 MB
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| building project for Tsunami affected families |
at the refugee camp of families that lost their houses by the beach |
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| Beena is showing Mathias the completed houses of Tsunami affected families |
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| The house of this family got totally destroyed. Inside their new house |
Beena, Pastor of the church there and Mathias' host during his time in Sri Lanka |
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| talking about the EHC and the appeal at Beena's church |
In Beena's church |
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| Sany, a carpenter. He is telling the story of when the Tsunami came. He lost his house at the beach. |
This is where many members of Beena's church lived before the Tsunamis |
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| Children at the Montessori kindergarden |
Beena is telling the families from the Montessori (kindergarden) about the food donations from the EHC |
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| New houses for Tsunami affected families are being built |
the site where the Tsunamis hit the hardest |
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Picking up food donations that were bought with money from the collection of the EHC |
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Special Thanks
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Of course, the EHC would like to thank Mathias from the Sir Toby’s
Hostel in Prague for going to Sri Lanka and making this report of how the
money that was raised was spent, but most off all we would like to thank the
following hostels who took part in the appeal and raised money for the Sri Lanka
Relief Program:
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City Hostel (Geneva, Switzerland), New International (Antwerp,
Belgium), Lazy Duck Hostel (Nethy Bridge, Scotland), Krumlov House (Cesky
Krumlov, Czech Republic), Circus Hostel (Berlin, Germany), Lausanne
Guesthouse (Lausanne, Switzerland), Sleepy Lion and Central Globetrotter (Leipzig,
Germany), Kinlay House (Cork, Ireland), Backpackers Villa Sonnenhof (Interlaken,
Switzerland), Lette’m Sleep (Nuremberg, Germany), Kabul Hostel (Barcelona,
Spain), Heart of Gold and Helter Skelter (Berlin, Germany), Ashlee
House (London, England), and the Bern Backpackers (Bern, Switzerland).
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Thanks again for raising so much money!
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