Assist Resettlement & Renaissance புனர் வாழ்வும் புது வாழ்வும்

We are happy to inform that we have completed and handed over 25 temporary shelters in Sampoor, Trincomalee, and are in the process of completing another 10 shelters.  Some photos are given below to show the completed shelters. These 25 shelters were funded by the following organisations:

Assist RR – 5 shelters

Sivanarulillam – 4 Shelters

Shri Kanagathurkkai Amman Temple, Ealing, Middlesex, UK – 6

Funds raised through TTVK Singapore  – 10 shelters.

Ealing Amman promised to fund another 14 shelters and a number of individuals have contributed funds to build another 4 shelters. We still need funds to complete 7 shelters in the first 55 shelters that we promised to provide. We have been informed that the number of families being resettled in Sampoor has increased and we have been asked to provide more shelters for the extended families, who do not receive assistance from either the government or the INGOs, as these families were not registered as displaced in 2009. Please kindly consider contributing towards building more shelters.

Solihull Junior School pupils in the West Midlands, UK, raise funds for good causes every year. The school raised funds in 2009 and donated to Save the Children for the benefit of war affected children in Vavuniya. The school again raised £6400, which was a record breaking sum in their fund raising history, in 2013 to renovate two war damaged school buildings in Mullaithivu, following a request from Assist RR. Head of Junior School, Mr Mark Penney, invited Assist RR again this year to their assembly and asked to provide a presentation on the need for assistance to carry out cataract surgeries in Sri Lanka. During their charity week in October 2015, the pupils broke their previous record in 2013 and raised an amazing sum of £7820. Mr Penney invited  the chairman of Assist RR and handed over a cheque for £7820, which would assist nearly 350 elderly and vulnerable cataract patients to regain their eye sights. Parents of two pupils, Mr & Mrs Majithia in Birmingham, donated hundreds of brand new spectacle frames, which would be handed over to Vision 2020 to help the needy. We are indebted to Solihull Junior School staff for agreeing to support our charity’s efforts, to the pupils for their hard work and the parents for their generosity. On behalf of the needy people, who desperately need our help back home, we would like to thank Solihull Junior school from the bottom of our hearts.

We would like to provide an update on the charity walk by Dr Philomena Karthikesalingam and Dr Jayanthy Gnananandan. As a result of their fund raising charity walk on behalf of Assist RR, they have now raised more than £11,000 towards building a male ward at Puthukudiyiruppu (PTK) hospital. On behalf of people of Vanni, Assist RR would like to express its gratitude to both doctors for their continued determination and commitment to assist the needy in our homeland. Please note that, in addition to doctors’ efforts, Aavarthana UK, Children Hunger Relief Fund UK, and Assist RR, UK, are also contributing to the construction of this male ward at PTK hospital. We provide some photos showing the current progress of the male ward. We are hoping to complete this ward by the end of November 2015. The government had agreed to provide medical equipment and we have been requested to provide furniture to the ward. Anyone interested in supporting this, please kindly contact us.

Further to the appeal made by Assist Resettlement and Renaissance (Assist RR) for providing temporary shelters to the Internally Displaced People (IDP) of Sampoor, Assist RR has been building 5 shelters using funds donated by individuals. One of these shelters was handed over to a family in Sampoor on 15 Sept 2015. The remaining four houses will be handed over on 17 Sept 2015 by Mr Pushpakumara, the Government Agent of Trincomalee.  Photos of the shelter that was built by Assist RR are attached. Although UNHCR was committed to building only 134 families initially, UNHCR has now agreed to build temporary shelters to all 259 families, who were in the list of displaced people in 2006. However, there are 49 termed as extended families, who have become families through marriages since the displacement and do not qualify for any assistances either from the government or INGOs such as UNHCR. Parents of these families have given portions of their lands to these families. However, these families are not given any support towards shelters, toilets, etc by the government. Assist RR met the GA, Mr Pushpakumara, on 15 Sept 2015. He indicated that they won’t be able to make an official request to help these extended families but would not obstruct if we wanted to help these extended families.  Since UNHCR is willing to provide shelters to all in the list, Assist RR has decided to stop providing shelters to the official list of displaced people. However, Assist RR would like to continue to provide shelters to extended families.

We hope you remember Dr Philomena Karthikesalingam, who did a charity walk last year to raise funds on behalf of Assist RR. The funds raised by her part funded building a paediatric ward at Puthukudiyiruppu (PTK) hospital that was destroyed towards the end of the war. Assist RR is currently building another ward at PTK hospital for male patients with contributions from Children’s Hunger Relief Fund, UK, and Aavarthana, UK. As there is a shortfall in funds needed to complete the work, Assist RR recently made an appeal for support. Dr Philomena Karthikesalingam and Dr Jayanthy Gnananandan came forward and are embarking on a charity walk on 29 August 2015. They are walking from London to Cambridge on an epic endurance challenge. They will be walking non-stop for 24 hours across the open countryside. The money raised will aid building a male at PTK Hospital. With the completion of this male ward, PTK hospital will have nearly 70 beds for male, female and paediatric patients. This was made possible only by the generosity of many Diaspora Tamils. We would like to kindly request you to visit the following link and donate generously and support the efforts of Doctors Phil & Jayanthy. They are doing the hard walk: can we share their pain by contributing to their good cause?

Please sponsor Dr Philomena and Dr Jayanthy