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| Friday, 9 April 2004 |
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The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) celebrated the rehabilitation of ten flood-affected rural health centers in the Matara District yesterday. Timothy Bertotti, Executive Officer for USAID in Sri Lanka, attended the opening of a health center in Pallegama. The complete rehabilitation of the Pallegama health center was part of a $ 18,000 grant to the Southern Province Health Sector Authority of Matara. This grant also provided essential pre- and ante-natal maternity equipment, including scales, blood-pressure meters and examination beds, to nine other health centers in the Deniyaya-Kotapola region. Approximately 30,000 Sinhalese, Tamil and Muslim people will benefit from this grant, which was administered by USAID's Office of Transition Initiatives. Many members of the local community also contributed to the project. Ten youth volunteers assisted in the reconstruction of the Pallegama health center, while a group of 60 Sinhalese, Tamil and Muslim women helped prepare the health center site for construction. For six months, area Buddhist and Hindu temples donated their space to construct rafters and beams and to safeguard building materials. Area bus drivers showed their support by providing free transportation for the volunteers. "This might look like a bricks-and-mortar project, but it's also about building relationships among diverse groups of people committed to a common cause," said Bertotti, at the inauguration of the health center in Pallegama. "The level of enthusiasm in the community - particularly among the volunteers - is truly impressive." USAID's Office of Transition Initiatives supports efforts to end the long-standing conflict in Sri Lanka by demonstrating tangible benefits of peace, increasing the exchange of information and diverse points of view on peace issues, and reducing or preventing incidents of violence in conflict-prone communities. |
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