26th December 2014 Colombo, Sri Lanka
For our final blog in our#TsunamiRemembered series, we turn to fiction, sometimes the best way to make sense of facts. Ramya Chamalie Jirasinghe is the author of Rhythm of the Sea and Trinity. Her 2011 book of poetry, There’s an Island in the Bone won the 2011 State Literary Joint Award for poetry. She was longlisted for […]
25th December 2014 Colombo, Sri Lanka
In our penultimate #TsunamiRemembered blog, Tesco, the MCC, an ancestral home and overwhelming compassion come together to help rural talent shine. Kushil Gunasekera describes his vision for Foundation of Goodness. I was born in the rural village of Seenigama, but educated in Colombo, and was always determined to bridge the gap between the rural and […]
24th December 2014 Colombo, Sri Lanka
This morning we held a short memorial in the office to remember those whose lives were taken away or damaged by the tsunami, and those who worked so tirelessly and generously to rebuild Sri Lanka. So it seems appropriate for our eighth blog to tell the stories of five long term members of British High […]
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23rd December 2014 Colombo, Sri Lanka
Our seventh blog looks at the impact of the tsunami on marine life, and particularly the turtles for which Sri Lanka is famous. Dudley Perera founded the Kosgoda Sea Turtle Conservation Project when he left school in 1988. He writes about recovering from the tsunami and the continuing threats to turtles. Situated on Sri Lanka’s […]
22nd December 2014 Colombo, Sri Lanka
Our sixth blog is by Lynn Stanier, a specialist travel agent to Sri Lanka, organising holiday and sports tours. Lynn turned her immediate devastation into a long term determination to support vulnerable children. Immediately after the tsunami, I visited Sri Lanka with my son Ryan to volunteer and support the Sri Lankan people. I […]
21st December 2014 Colombo, Sri Lanka
The fifth blog in our series tells of the inspiration for Indian Ocean Disaster Relief (IODR), a charity which supports especially children to survive a natural disaster, and then rebuild their lives. Chairman and founder, Tony Matharu, tells the story. Nearly 10 years ago on Boxing Day 2004, having overindulged during the Christmas period, I […]
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20th December 2014 Colombo, Sri Lanka
For our fourth blog in the series, we look in house. Gary Leslie, currently Head of UK Trade and Industry at the High Commission, but in 2004 based in London, was in the first team of Foreign and Commonwealth Office volunteers to be deployed to Sri Lanka. Here is his story. On the morning of 26 […]
19th December 2014 Colombo, Sri Lanka
Our third blog in the series tells the story of the Harrow School First XI; how their cricket tour was caught up in the tsunami, their subsequent partnership with Vidyaloka School, and the experience of their return last year. Former Master-in-Charge of Cricket, Mr Simon Halliday, reflects on the experience. Back in 2004, two-thirds of the […]
18th December 2014 Colombo, Sri Lanka
The second blog in our series describes the work of Christina Fonfé, a British qualified swimming instructor, and her mission to teach the women of Sri Lanka water survival skills. The Asian Tsunami of 2004 silently drowned a quarter of a million people. In Sri Lanka, over 35,000 people lost their lives. OXFAM reported that […]
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17th December 2014 Colombo, Sri Lanka
The 26th of December 2004 is not a day the world will easily forget. An earthquake measuring 9.3 on the Richter scale off the coast of Indonesia triggered one of the deadliest natural disasters in recorded history: a monstrous tidal wave that struck the coasts of at least thirteen countries, killing nearly 300,000, of whom […]