Carry on Colachel !

Tsunami victims: Fund-raising effort for rehabilitation of Colachel in Kanyakumari (Tamil Nadu), India

Devastation of Swadhina Library	Home all gone !!	Amidst rubble

On the morning of 26 th December 2004 when the rest of the world was soaking in the fun of Christmas week Nature unleashed her fierceness in the form of Tsunami. Devastation struck everywhere– Thailand, India, Malaysia, parts of Africa, wiping out more than 1.3 hundred thousand people (and the number continues to soar everyday).

Colachel , a small area in Kanyakumari district of Tamil Nadu in India, inhabited by poor fisher-folk Community, faced a severe wrath of nature. Hundreds and thousands of little huts by the sea have been washed away and till date no one can tell the actual number of dead or missing in the area.

It has really left us devastated as that is where we have our 20 working villages, and at least 13 are directly hit by the tidal waves.

Get the idea of the water that rushed in	Swadhina team members at the Tsunami affected areas

Relief is pouring from everywhere, in varying degrees. And we are praying that each of them receive the needed relief materials.

But what is worrying us most is the rehabilitation. Because re-building is always more difficult than relief. And that is why we have begun this small effort to help Colachel and her people stand up once more and re-build their lives.

With a little help from you we can help them smile once again.

(In the past during the super-cyclone in Orissa we have helped build houses, provided agricultural and animal resource support and education materials for children in the districts of Jagatsingpur and Dhenkanal. And it has led us to believe that it is possible for people to overcome devastation and build up lives from ruins once more. All it needs is a little help.)

This New Year as you make merry with your friends and family do spare a thought for the ones who may be running around for a drop of water, shivering in this Winter cold, looking among the rubbles for their loved ones.

Help us help them and let us say in unison- “Carry onColachel. We are with you”.

You can raise funds among your friends and relatives OR make a donation yourself this New Year.

Please send your Cheque named “Swadhina” to:

1) KURVE Wustrow ‘SOKO Indien’

Konto-Nr. 6021646
Kreissparkasse Luechow-Dannenberg
(BLZ 25851335)
Germany

OR send Cheque directly to us, by registered post to

2) Swadhina
34/C Bondel Road, Ballygunge
Kolkata(Calcutta) 700019
INDIA

Thank you,