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Emergencies and Rehabilitation
HOPE International Development Agency continues to help Sri Lankan families rebuild their lives years after the killer tsunami.

The Situation:

Thousands of Sri Lanka’s poorest families continue to rebuild their lives after a killer tsunami smashed into their tiny villages just a few short years ago. The families we’ve been able to help now live in modest homes, earn income from their small businesses, and send their children to school. This is nothing short of a miracle when you consider the death and destruction that had entered their lives.

What HOPE International Development Agency donors are supporting:

Field workers continue to identify thousands of Sri Lankan families in areas that continue to struggle even today, years after the tsunami. We continue to establish loan funds that provide modest, ultra-low interest loans to families who have the skills to earn a living but lack the funds needed in order to restore their livelihoods - like the fisherman shown above. Modest loans enable families to buy the tools and supplies they need in order to re-establish their small businesses and begin earning a sustainable living.

The Results:

Wasanthi and her family are a wonderful example of what is being accomplished.

Wasanthi and her children live in an area of Sri Lanka where our post-tsunami efforts to restore people’s livelihoods have helped thousands of families rebuild their lives.

After the tsunami, Wasanthi and her three surviving family members, Niroshini, Kumara, and Damayanthi had absolutely nothing. They had lost loved ones, friends and everything they owned, including their modest home and small business selling household utensils and basic food items. Hunger and suffering were the only certainties in their shattered lives until HOPE International Development Agency donors responded to our call for help and gave generously to Wasanthi's family and thousands others.

Today, Wasanthi has all the household necessities, has rebuilt her modest home, and has accessed ultra-low interest loans that have enabled her to re-establish her vending business selling small packages of spices and household items at the local market. Wasanthi has repaid her loans and continues to earn enough income to buy supplies for her business, maintain her modest home, buy food and basic necessities, save for the future, and most importantly from her perspective, send her children to school.