austra L asia 1176
Building a house of bricks - the post-Tsunami dream
for 'Don Bosco Village'
(story sourced from Il Messaggero, Rome 28th June 2005)
NEGOMBO: 28th June 2005 -- Manjula wants to realise his
dream - to build a home where he can live with his two little
sisters. He is but 12, and the tsunami carried off his parents,
his home... and his childhood. He is one of a hundred children in
the Negombo orphanage run by the Salesians. Now Manjula has a
room, he has become someone again and wants to build his house: "but
I'm still too small" he says, "though Fr Gabriel helps me".
Fr Gabriel, as they call him, is in charge of the
Don Bosco Village project, carried out in conjunction with the Civil
Protection Department. It consists of 204 brick dwellings.
The village is being built to house those still living in tents.
The men, and the older boys, mix sand and cement to make the bricks,
working feverishly and occasionally standing back to observe the rising
pillars that will become their home.
Leaving the village to go to the new school, one crosses
the bridge from where one can see lots of fishing boats. VIS
(International Volunteer Movement for Development), which is helping to
fund all of this, has counted 40 outboard motors, 29 boats and 11
catamarans amongst its contribution.
The school itself is a white building fronting the
local cemetery. It is something Fr Gabriel is very proud
of. He speaks of the children who attend the school, of Ranga,
for instance, who has great ideas of being a builder; of Sudarsha, who
loves football. Negombo was virtually destroyed by the tsunami,
"and we are not only concerned about the children of nearby villages
who are orphans", says Fr Gabriel, "but also about those who have
nowhere to live, because they too are at risk".
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