Teach a Man To Fish, and You Feed Him for a Lifetime

Assist RR in partnership with IMHO USA and Ministry of Resettlement, Sri Lanka, are now donating fishing equipment (1 set of equipment – boat, engine and 10 nets) to IDP families in the north and east. Assist RR and IMHO are funding Rs 280,000 as grant for a set of equipment (50% of the cost of Rs 560,000 for one set). Ministry of Resettlement is providing soft loans for the other 50% payable in 5 years. One set of equipment is shared by 5 families. A pilot study was carried out in Sampoor and Paadalipuram in Muthur by donating 17 boats shared by 85 families. These families are earning around Rs 4000 per day per family. As part of this boats project, we have now donated 5 sets (boats, engines and nets) in Vakarai, Batticaloa on 7th Dec at a ceremony attended by Batticaloa GA Mr M Uthayakumar, Vakarai DS Mr S Garan, and Assist RR (SL) president Eng Henry Amalraj, and Mr Pugendran from the Ministry of Resettlement. Another 6 sets (boats, engines and nets) were donated in Panadatharippu, Jaffna on 14th Dec. Jaffna GA Mr N Vethanayagan, president of Assist RR (SL) Eng Henry Amalraj, and Mr Annalingam & Mr Pugendran from Ministry of Resettlement attended the handing over ceremony in Jaffna.

Solihull School Head Master and teacher, Mr Mark and Mrs Donna Penneys, raised around £50k in the UK and USA by walking the 55KM South Coast Challenge – Eastborne to Hove on 25 Aug 2018. The funds raised by Mark and Donna is enabling donation of 40 sets of fishing equipment that will assist 200 families to stand on their own feet and to lead comfortable lives in the future. Mark’s extended family back in Ireland donated funds to donate one boat, which is named after his coastal town called Roberts Cove (Ireland) to honour his great contribution. Assist RR, at its Croydon dinner in May 2018, have raised funds to donate another 10 sets. We are aiming to donate as many boats as possible by raising more funds amongst Diaspora Tamils. Loans are available for hundreds of boats. It depends on how much funds we can raise so that the ministry will match it. Based on our experience, this is the most successful livelihood support we ever provided. By providing a grant of Rs 56,000 to a family, we are assisting them to earn around Rs 4000 per day. We can assist many more families with your support. Please remember, with your support, we built 320 shelters in Sampoor. I am sure we can do the same with this project as well.