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 On May 12, 2008, Mr. Masayuki Taga, a Japanese embassy counselor, participated in an inspection tour of one of Sewalanka’s livelihood projects in the east. Titled “Support for Agriculture Livelihood of Returnees in the District of Batticaloa”, the project is situated in a very remote part of the Vavunathivu Divisional Secretariat in Pansenai.
The project began in February 2008, and has beens funded by the Japanese government. The main feature is the rehabilitation of the village tank and its channel system, which will enhance paddy production in the region. The project also includes building six common drinking wells and promoting home gardening and perennial crop cultivation among 400 families. |
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 In May and early June of 2008, heavy rains caused significant flooding in a number of regions in the south and west of Sri Lanka. One of the areas hardest hit was Kalutara, where the rains affected 38,000 families. More than 1,000 houses were partially or completely damaged.
In collaboration with Oxfam, Sewalanka put together a relief package for distribution to 350 families in Kalutara’s Millaniya district and another 280 in Ingiriya. The packages were distributed on June 21 and focused on cleaning materials. “Initially we thought we’d give food items but with the circumstances providing food might be more problem for the family because such things as proper heating, |
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 On the second week of November, the Sewalanka Foundation opened Our Home psychosocial well-being support centers in six tsunami-affected districts. The centers provide specialized care and support to individuals, families and communities suffering from emotional, psychological and social difficulties in the wake of the 2004 tsunami.
The tsunami exacted an enormous toll in terms of human life, damage to property, livelihoods and infrastructure. In addition to the physical damage wrought by the catastrophe, the waves left thousands of survivors coping with loss and trauma on an unprecedented scale. |
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"Biodiversity contains the accumulated wisdom of nature and the key to its future. If you ever wanted to destroy a society, you would burn its libraries and kill its intellectuals. You would destroy its knowledge. Nature’s knowledge is contained in the DNA within living cells. The variety of genetic information is the driving engine of evolution, the immune system for life, the source of adaptability." (D.H. Meadows, 1990)
Sewalanka launched a new guidebook for the Sinharaja World Heritage Site on December 7, 2007 at the Lake House Bookstore in Colombo. The guidebook, targeted at travelers who want to make the most of their time in Sri Lanka ’s last remaining stand of old-growth rainforest, was written and illustrated by Sewalanka volunteer Stacy Vigallon and published by Lake House Press. |
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 The problems faced by internally displaced persons (IDPs) are well documented, however simple statistics are unable to convey the difficulty and distress faced by people who have been deprived of their homes for years.
Many IDPs have spent more than a decade in transitional shelters, constantly moved from one camp to another. Since its inception, Sewalanka has placed special emphasis on the care of IDPs. It has always looked beyond transitional and relief work to focus on moving people from temporary shelters to permanent homes. |
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Sewalanka’s community based disaster risk reduction (DRR) program underwent its first real test on Tuesday, 9 September when, following a major earthquake off the coast of Sumatra, the (national disaster warning centre) issued an official tsunami warning.
The warning sparked panic in a number of coastal areas but two groups of villages in Kalutara and Hambantota had been preparing for such an event since the inception of Sewalanka’s DRR initiative in 2006. |
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 Sewalanka Foundation has always worked with the most neglected members of society: the poverty stricken, the war affected and those suffering as a result of natural disasters. Amongst other development activities, Sewalanka offers livelihood training, cares for the mental wellbeing of community members and provides housing.
Over the years we have increasingly become aware of the environmental impacts of these activities and our ability to control just how great, or preferably, small, that impact is.
The environment program at Sewalanka, managed by a team of dedicated sector specialists looks at the organisation’s projects across the country to determine their environmental sustainability. The team provides advice on how to make activities more environmentally friendly and how to minimise impacts on the planet.
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 The Batticaloa office of Sewalanka, manages the Sathurukondan IDP camp and two IDP camps in Kokkuvil housing over 3000 people and in partnership with the UNDP, WHO and other local and international humanitarian agencies, Sewalanka staff ensure that the people have enough food, water and clothing.
Sewalanka also provides counseling and medical support services to care for the physical and psychological needs of the IDPs and provides education and livelihood training to allow them to build a secure future after their displacement.
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