Freshly caught fish in Pondicherry province, India. The fishermen bring…

Freshly caught fish in Pondicherry province, India. The fishermen bring their catch onto the beach for sale by auction by the women of the province. Many boats here were donated by SOS Children's Villages post tsunami support.

Sometimes the charity helps people in very small ways that arn't dramatic enough to hit the news but mean a great deal to people who just want to make a living for their family. Here is a perfect example of that, it involves simply donating some fishing boats and helping to rebuild homes.

Pudukuppam was a lively fishing village with 53 boats before the 2005 Tsunami devastated the area. After the waves hit, the place was littered with remnants of boats, all over the village. This left the families with no livelihood. Their houses were severely damaged, many of them beyond repair.

The village Pudukuppam was reconstructed by SOS Children's Villages of India. There are now 160 families in this village with 214 children. First came the building of temporary shelters along with food for the families. A day care facility looked after the children of the village. SOS Children's Villages of India provided boats along with nets and other implements to each group of fishermen. In the final stage SOS Children's Villages of India built permanent homes for these families.

In a heartening and positive response, many of the residents of this village helped to clear and level the land, along with digging pits, unloading materials and fixing bamboo poles in the early stages of reconstruction.