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| Thursday, 22 July 2004 |
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From Belgium to Wana Mee Kanda It is shrouded in the thick jungles and it was almost neglected by the rest of society. But since the end of the year 2000 this village called wana Mee Kanda situated on the top of a hill 65 kilometres away from Colombo, very close to the city of Mirigama is emerging to recognition. When the social service section of the Sri Lanka China Society, visited this village in the month of May in 2000 it was a neglected backward poor village, with a population of nearly 360 belonging to 46 families who did not have the basic amenities enjoyed by the other people in our society. There was no school for the children, no place of worship for the people and they had no source of employment. Like any other hill-top-village, wana Mee Kanda also possesses an attractive atmosphere with pleasing scenic beauty but on the ground it is shrub jungle with sharp terrain of uncultivable hard rocky land. Generation after generation they have been living on this top of the hill without basic amenities and without being noticed by the more affluent class at the bottom of the hill and away in the towns. Sri Lanka China Society after the very first visit to this village noticed that an appropriate development program will help this neglected community to develop their standard of life. A program was drawn to construct a new building for a pre-school with a fully equipped play ground to accommodate nearly 40 school-children in the village. A free meal with a glass of milk in addition to free books, shoes and clothing was included in this program. Another series of steps was taken to arrange a scholarship scheme for the young children already attending schools outside the village. As many as 52 students were to benefit with a monthly cash payment. Two drinking water schemes were installed to solve the problems of the supply of water. A bo-sapling was brought from the Sri Maha Bodhi in Anuradhapura and planted near the pre-school which is now a place of worship. While these programs were going on a group of local philanthropists from Colombo volunteered to construct ten new houses for the most deserving ten. In fact only about seven or eight families out of the total of 46 had a decent dwelling place. All these projects, excepting the construction of the ten houses, were funded by a Belgium NGO named Adoptie Sri Lanka. The total cost by now is over four million rupees. The latest project was to construct 13 new houses, renovate 12 houses and construct 28 lavatories. This costs about three million rupees. All these contributions come to wana Mee Kanda from Adoptie Sri Lanka in Belgium. The Sri Lanka-China Society and now the Sri Lanka-Belgium Association provide these facilities to wana Mee Kanda with assistance received from Adoptie Sri Lanka. This organisation is headed by a philanthropist from Belgium named Gaston Dillen. Since 1976 he has been visiting Sri Lanka at least once a year to assist many village level development programs. His contribution to this sector to assist the poor in Sri Lanka is a silent but very praiseworthy act. John Vandijeck and his wife Line are the kingpins of Adoptie Sri Lanka. On July 25 the twenty-five houses and the twenty-eight lavatories will be gifted to the wana Mee Kanda community. The Dilenatharu Sarvodaya Society at village level will be in charge of all these activities. Amaradasa Gunawardana, President, Sri Lanka Belgium Association. |
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