Project Galle 2005

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» Projects Katagoda Story

The Katugoda Story.

Katugoda is a suburb of Galle, situated just to the south and along the coast. Driving there from Galle you have to cross a river using a temporary Bailey bridge, a symbol of Sri Lanka’s regenerative state. Once over this bridge, and driving towards Katugoda the resilience of the people becomes apparent as you are hit with all the images of the different stages of the rebuilding process. When passing busy restaurants you can see the ocean through a back wall that still hasn’t been rebuilt. For being one of the worst affected areas in Sri Lanka, the residents of Katagoda can be proud of the steps they have taken to rebuild their lives, just as we are proud of the assistance we’ve given them.

The destruction wrecked on Katugoda by the tsunami is hard to imagine now. The community was largely flattened, the loss of life horrendous. The destruction was so powerful it removed the ability to think. “Where to start?” and “what to do?” were not even considerations. Most people had blank expressions or were unable to deal with anything past their own grief. It was in this climate that on the 29th of December, that Keith Belassie-Page and Olivia Richli convinced the Mayor to put one JCB, 5 tractors with tipping trailers and 20 operatives under Keith’s management to start the rubble clearing process in Katugoda. The rubble was strewn everywhere, 8 foot high in places.

With the conception of Project Galle 2005 on December the 31st, Keith became a founding member and became the Project’s representative in Katugoda. Our work there has covered every area of our involvement and was often used as a testing ground for technical procedures and project implementation.

We have gathered information on the IDP’s in Katugoda from the fist days, this information becoming a part of our first IDP database.

We’ve assessed and cleared drains and wells. With the donation of a water pump from Friends of the South and a generator from Hilfswerk, a team of locals were trained up for the job and 161 wells were cleaned. The quality of the water had to be tested after each visit and most wells had to be pumped 3 or 4 times before they could be used.

Deliveries of rations and family packs to IDP camps in Katugoda had to be coordinated and implemented. We worked closely with community leaders and the Mosque committee to see what the needs were, to cross reference the work we’d done and to plan future work. Project Galle 2005 were able to build a relationship with in the community enabling us to ask how we could best get the community back on it’s feet.

Through the generosity of Friends of the Galle Project 2005 (FrOG) and Friends of the South our first livelihoods programme was set up. The programme was implemented through the Mosque; they identified members of the community that needed help and distributed the items needed to get businesses back bringing in an income. To date over 50 beneficiaries have opened up their business as a result of this programme and it hasn’t finished yet.

Around the same time a warehouse was found in which we could start the manufacture of transitional shelters. FrOG gave us our first funds for the construction of these shelters, 41 of which have been put up in the Katagoda/ Dewata area to date with a planned further 26 to be put up shortly.

A temporary classroom has also been contributed by Project Galle 2005 to a Katagoda school to help ease the problems of over-crowding the school was suffering due to the extra students taken on from schools that are no longer fit to be used.

FrOG also funded the majority of our permanent housing rebuilds in Katagoda. The clearing of the rubble had shown us the foundations and floor plans where houses had stood before. There was a clear need to rebuild the houses outside of the hundred metres buffer zone that had been destroyed. So far 18 complete rebuilds have been completed and the families that own them have moved back in. In total 23 rebuilds have been funded, largely by FrOG but also by a some of our volunteers. A huge thanks to Jo, Heather,Adam Farhan and Greg Jackman, who donated enough cash for one house to be rebuilt- £3500.This money was raised by doing a 42 mile sponsored walk! In addition there are 61 partially damaged homes that we will rebuild, 10 of which are being worked on at the time of writing.

Another first for us, (although due to difficulties in implementation is unlikely to be duplicated), is our New Homes Project. This was first discussed in mid-march with the Salvation Army who initially said they’d be interested in funding building the new homes and later said they’d buy the land as well. Good on them for stepping forward and breaking the usual NGO policy of not buying land! We have been happy to take on the responsibility for managing the project. There are a planned 26 homes to be built. A.D.R.A (Adventist Development Relief Agency) have revealed a willingness to fund the septic systems and CHF (Community Housing Finance) have said they would look at funding the mains drainage pipe work, so that when mains drains comes to that area it’ll be easy to hook up. Rainforest Rescue International has expressed an interest in landscaping once the construction is completed.

We can not mention the rebuilding work in Katagoda without saying a big thank you to the local contractor, Shibly, who has taken on far more than the average contractor would ever consider- Thank you Shibly.

FrOG has stepped forward again to provide funding for another worthwhile project. The Golden Feathers kinder-garden school was structurally badly affected by the tsunami, and 21 pupils have been learning in temporary accommodation ever since. In Solihull in May, a Sri Lankan night run by Walter Goonewardane, the cricketer Phil Tufnell and Virgin Interactive, raised enough money for us to go ahead and build a new school. Some land was bought behind the Mosque in Katagoda and the roof went on this weekend. The new school will have the capacity for 50 pupils. Thank you to all those who got involved.

A lot of stuff to read through, but it shows how busy we’ve been in Katagoda. The positive attitude of everyone involved, even those who have suffered so much is reflected in what you see about you when you enter the neighbourhood. Working with people keen to rebuild and get on with their lives has made our involvement there so much easier. We look forward to the day when our involvement there is no longer necessary with mixed feelings as Katagoda has become such a large part of how we define what we are doing here.

The initial funds FrOG put into Katugoda (around £40,000) were largely the proceeds of a brilliant gig at London’s Cargo in February, at which Paul Weller played for nothing, supported by Beth Orton. This was organised by Rob Bateman, Susie Scourfield and Sarah Feeney and the funds donated to FrOG. A huge thanks to all involved, especially Rob Bateman and the mighty Paul Weller - it was their hard work and motivation that allowed us to start the process in the village.
Click here to visit the Frog website
Click here see pictures from the "Golden Feathers" project
Thanks also to Friends of the south