US Government renovates schools, hospital in East

To improve the lives of Sri Lankans affected by the conflict, the US Government through the US Agency for International Development (USAID) and the US Pacific Command, is rehabilitating five schools in the Trincomalee District and one hospital and two schools in the Batticaloa district.

US Government officials joined national, provincial and local education and health officials, community leaders, school and hospital staff, students and their families, and local residents this week for the official ground breaking ceremonies to mark the beginning of the renovation and expansion projects in eight communities in Trincomalee and Batticaloa. All projects are scheduled to be completed by July 2009.

The buildings chosen for renovation provide essential social services to civilians whose lives have been repeatedly disrupted by armed hostilities for as long as two decades. In several of the communities, residents were displaced and not all have returned to the area.

"The US Government is pleased to support the people of the Batticaloa and Trincomalee Districts whose lives have been disrupted by the conflict," US Ambassador Robert Blake stated.

"In villages such as Amman Nagar and Arafa Nagar in the Trincomalee District and Pulipanjakal in the Batticaloa District, some residents have not yet returned because they are waiting for the schools to fully reopen. At other schools, such as Arasadithivu Vigneswara Vidyalayam in the Manmunai Southwest Division on Batticaloa, facilities are overcrowded because classrooms have been badly damaged or destroyed.

And at the Navatkadu Hospital, facilities for in-patient care are extremely limited, making it difficult and impossible for community members to get the health care treatment they need close to home," Blake continued.

With funding from the US Pacific Command, part of the US Department of Defense, USAID is rehabilitating these facilities as part of the US Government's humanitarian outreach to improve stability and quality of life in the region. Since 2003, USAID has supported more than 770 small-grant activities promoting community reconciliation and tsunami recovery in Government-controlled areas of the country.