Under the guidance of Ven. Prof, Dhammajoti thero, I selected 5 villages in the Nothern part of Sri Lanka, 4 in Medawachchiya near the city of Vavniya, and 1 in Vavniya. All these are more than 350 kilometers away from Colombo city the capital of Sri Lanka. The total up and down distance is over 921 km. The 4 villages Medawachchiya area which borders Vavniya city, and the one village named, Bogaswawa in the Vavniya district were often attacked by the LTTE carders during wartime. People in Bogaswawa completely left it and came inside the country. People in the 4 villages were also killed many times on the roads and in their paddy fields. After the end of the brutal war, the 4-village people got relief and the people who left Bogaswawa have been resettled by the Government.
Though it is mentioned in 5 villages, the people have been selected from several other villages nearby. For example, the village is called Rambakulama but we selected people not only from it but also from adjoining villages called Palugollawa, Kubugollawa, Kudakongaskada, Weditibbagala, Tulawelliya. We donated 1000 bags with 13 essential food items to the poorest 1000 people of 5 villages dividing 200 to each village. Those items are Milk powder packets 1, sugar 4kg, tea packet 1, dall 3kg, Soya meats packets 4, flour 2kg, kadala 1kg, etc. One bag contained more than 15 kg. And also 4200 dhamma school students were given 10 writing books and 5 pens for each. 5000 HKD equal to 229000 Rs, were donated to 5 high priests of the temples of each village center. All these donations were made under the Banner of the Buddha-dharma Center in Hongkong. We hired a big lorry to carry the 1000 bags and school items from Colombo to Vavniya and also from village to village spending 4 days. The Divisional Secretary of Medawachchiya, Miss M. C. Malaviarachchi, personally participated in the donation to Paranahalhillawa village center and she made a speech too. The Divisional Secretary of Vavniya could not participate due to his common day for people but, he appreciated these via telephone. OICs of the areas, The Deputy Commander of the Civil Security Authority in Vavniya, the gramasevakas, principals, and teachers of the Dhamma schools also participated.
All the recipients of these donations are poor living in a rural areas far away from the cities. The roads to villages have not been properly maintained. it happened for us to go over the bunt of water tanks (vave bamma) to reach the few village centers. kindly see the photos and videos.
The people gratefully told me this is the first time they received such a big dry-rations bag in their life as a donation. They continuously passed the merits to donors, and they appreciated the kindness and compassion of the Buddha-dharma Center, Glorious Sun Company, and the Buddhist Association of Hong Kong. They wished you all to have health, wealth, and prosperity by the power of merits generated from these meritorious deeds.
Reported by
Ven. Snr. Prof. (Chair) M. Dhammajothi
Director/PGIPBS
See the video of RfP Sri Lanka activities.
<Distribution of Dry-Rations alpitiya 2022>
https://youtube.com/watch?v=2vjohcb5ZuM&feature=share
<Dry-Rations at Bambalapitiya>
https://youtu.be/td-Kmfc2ixo
<Nutritious Food Facts for Pregnant Mothers at Colombo Southern Hospital (Kalubowila)>
https://youtu.be/X06Ux7h7FRo