A typical Indian meal in Tsunami India.…
The Tsunami reconstruction work of 178 houses at C. Puthupettai in Tamil Nadu, has been completed in less than 2 years. All the houses are now occupied by the people affected by the tsunami. This is one woman's story of how the tsunami changed her life and how SOS Children's Villages helped her:
- Lisa
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A typical Indian meal in Tsunami India.
The Tsunami reconstruction work of 178 houses at C. Puthupettai in Tamil Nadu, has been completed in less than 2 years. All the houses are now occupied by the people affected by the tsunami.This is one woman's story of how the tsunami changed her life and how SOS Children's Villages helped her:
Tamilselvi, a young fisher woman from Nagapattinam, lost her husband in Tsunami. The poor woman was left alone to feed her two children. With a meager income of US $ 25 per month it was impossible for her to give a decent life to her children. In her tough days Tamilselvi found support from SOS Children's Villages of India.
"My name is Tamilselvi and I am 28 years old. I am a widow and am living with my two children in a rented accommodation. My husband was a fisherman who sold the daily catch of fish. I was leading a happy married life before the killer Tsunami hit my village and destroyed everything. My husband was badly injured in Tsunami and died after six months fighting for his life.
After my husband's death I faced lot of hardships, I didn't have any money. Whatever savings I had were spent on my husband's illness. There were days when my children slept without having food. I used to cry but nobody from my family helped me.
I started selling fish to support my family. But with a small income of Rupees 1000 (US $25) it was extremely difficult for me to afford a decent living and send my children to school. Whatever I earned was spent on payment of rent, food and other household expenses.
In those hard days SOS Children's Villages of India came to my help. I got assistance from SOS to educate my children. Presently my elder son is in class two and the younger one is attending nursery.
I was keen to increase my source of income so I joined the SOS Multi-Purpose Community Centre in Nagapattinam which runs various courses like tailoring, embroidery and handicraft. I joined a one-year course in tailoring.
My children have also joined sports classes in the centre and come here in the evening. It's a wonderful feeling to see them play and smile once again. I am really thankful to SOS Children's Villages for the support."
Last month Tamilselvi completed the tailoring course and is now planning to start her own business in a small way. The family is happy and finds hope in life.
- Mary
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SOS projects in Kayankerni Reconstruction of private permanent houses incl infrastructure such as sewage, water and electricity.
Houses handed over to tsunami victims in India.
On 14 December 2005, SOS Children's Villages handed over the first completed houses to families in the tsunami-struck village of Puthupettai.
SOS Children's Villages is building a total of 172 new homes in Puthupettai, about 300 km south of Chennai in Cuddalore District, for those families who lost everything on 26 December 2004. The village also got a new community centre which arranges classes in sewing, extra tuition and offers basic medical assistance; a playground was also built there.
Papati is one of the lucky ones who can already move into a new home. She has decorated her house with Chinese lanterns and welcomes each guest with an array of delicacies. Each of the new houses has two rooms, a porch, a kitchen, a bathroom, and a bit of green around the place.
In his address, governor Barnala praised the high building standards in reconstruction projects run by SOS Children's Villages; these houses are among the most solidly built in the context of tsunami relief projects in Southern India.
Along the Indian Southeast coast stricken by the sea surge disaster, SOS Children's Villages supports six villages in their reconstruction effort. About 800 houses and seven multi-purpose community centres, like the one in Puthupettai, are being built by SOS Children's Villages in the areas along the Indian South-eastern coast hit by the sea surge; three day-care centres are also operational. Additionally, 191 boats were handed over to the fishing communities.
The cornerstone-laying ceremony for the new SOS Children's Village in the town of Pondicherry took place on 14 December. The village is scheduled to be ready within the next 15 months. Currently, SOS mothers in a rented house care for 40 children who have become orphaned or whose families disintegrated due to the disaster situation.
The next day, a small ceremony took place in the town of Murtypudukuppam in the province of Pondicherry on the occasion of handing over the first completed houses. On 16 December, SOS Children's Villages handed over new homes to families in Akkampettai which had been completely destroyed by the tsunami.
The next and last stop of the President of SOS Children's Villages' journey through India was Nagapattinam. Nagapattinam was most hardly hit by the sea surge disaster which is why SOS Children's Villages supports the highest number of children there. A variety of social support programmes primarily targeted at strengthening families have been established to run for three years.
Komari represents the biggest reconstruction project in the context of SOS Children's Villages tsunami relief effort; 750 houses will be newly built in the village on Sri Lanka's East coast.
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