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| 'Fish
for Life' helps Hambantota Rick had been on a short-term assignment with Singer Sri Lanka a few years ago and having travelled down South, was familiar with the areas hit by the tsunami. When he saw the scenes of the disaster he hurriedly summoned a few of his friends and discussed how they could help. Apart from rushing in medicines straightaway, they wanted to do something in the long-term. A committee was hurriedly formed and having decided to help the fisher-folk, a project was launched to buy a few fishing boats. They called it the 'Fish for life' appeal. "The response was amazing," Rick said when he came down last week to hand over the boats. "Numerous programmes were held like toddlers' races and raffles. Old ladies wrote cheques from their funds. An auction was held at a salmon lunch where about 60 items donated by various people were auctioned. Numerous things like garden furniture, wine and pictures were auctioned. A lady organised a bridge party where each participant had to pay 60 pounds to enter." The appeal raised a little over 11,000 pounds (around Rs. 2 million). Rick then contacted Singer to find out whether the company could help in obtaining the boats and selecting the recipients. They readily agreed. The funds were sufficient for five fibreglass boats as well as motors, nets and other paraphernalia. While Singer's Commercial Division set about the task of obtaining the boats, the Sales Division set the ball rolling in selecting tsunami-affected persons from the Hambantota area. The field staff met the Grama Sevakas and Fisheries Department officials in affected areas and interviewed the relevant people. Police reports were obtained and the most deserving persons were selected. Three were from Hambantota and two from Tangalle. Coordinating the whole operation was Hambantota Singer branch manager Lakshman Samaraweera. At a simple ceremony held on the beach opposite the Hambantota rest house, the five boats were handed over by Rick. The recipients turned up with their families. Every one of them had lost their boats and fishing gear. Some had lost their family members. One of them related how the water came gushing into his house. He had just returned from the beach having sold the morning catch. He had held on to his 11- year-old daughter (a Year 5 scholarship winner) but the current was so strong that she was washed away. "We had a hard time during the past nine months. Now that we have got the boats, we will start life again,” they all said. Rick Bailey was happy. "How satisfying to see that we were able to help these unfortunate persons even in a small way," he remarked. Equally happy were the Singer staff in the South. |
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