25 families settled in new houses

Kandy South Spl.

WHEN the recent tsunami disaster took place the most Venerable Wattegama Dhammawasa Nayaka Thera, the Viharadhipathi of the Sri Subodharama Buddhist Centre, Peradeniya and the Sri Lankaramaya, Brisbane, Australia immediately headed for Hambantota with a team of followers for providing aid to the victims.

It was decided to build 25 permanent houses under thera's direction by the Sri Subhodharama Sasana Seva Society and the Sri Subodha Foundation, Peradeniya.

An extent of government owned land from Siribopura at Gonnoruwa in Hambantota district was obtained for this project and the house construction work was entrusted to the government sponsored construction agency - the CECB.

Each house containing 2 bedrooms, a common room, a kitchen and a toilet was built at a cost of Rs. 450,000.

On the 10th of last month 25 families selected from the refugee camps at Hambantota were settled in these houses which were built in 50 days. The special feature of this projet is the selection of the settlers without distinction of race or religion.

These houses were built from the kind donations received from patrons of the Sri Lankaramaya in Brisbane, Australia and from some philanthropists from Sri Lanka. The members of the Sri Lanka-America Association of Southern California too have contributed.

The High Commissioner for Australia in Sri Lanka, Greg French was present at the simple ceremony held for settling the victim families in these new homes.

Speaking at this occasion the High Commissioner said that he is highly pleased that the people of his country have come forward to help in projects of this nature and that he too along with them is always ready to extend his support.

Ven. Wattegama Dhammawasa Nayaka Thera said that this is one of his very happy days in his life and thanked everybody who helped in making this project a success and invoked his blessings on them.