Ceylon Christian Care

Community Development

Community Development

Ceylon Christian Care runs the following Community Development Projects on Sri Lanka:

· Murokkodanchenai

· Central Camp - Rural Area

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Murokkodanchenai

In this village about 450 families live under very poor circumstances. Their houses are made of mud and palm tree leaves. People sleep in these huts just on the sand. They drink water from the ponds in the village. The water of these ponds is also used for washing clothes. And it is used by the animals too. Due to this unhygienic situation many villagers have diarrhea, worms and other problems. A high percentage of children die in their first years. There are no sanitary facilities. People go into the bush to do their call of nature. At night this gives other problems. It has already happened several times that young women are attacked, raped and murdered.

Start of the project

During the visit of March 2006 this village was analyzed and a high level plan was designed. This plan consists of 4 phases which will be realized in three years time.

During this visit Rev. S. Jeyanesan appointed a project manager for this village. His name is Srikanth. Srikanth is an electrical engineer who worked for several years in Saudi Arabia. He speaks English sufficiently (this is an important prerequisite for projects like this). The first action of Srikanth was to draw a map of the village. After this he visited every family and wrote down their situation. This information is the basis for the actions to be taken.

Fishing with boat and nets from the beach in the ocean

A widow fishing for shrimps in one of the ponds

Fishing by casting net in the lagoon

This village has also suffered from the civil war and the tsunami. There are almost 100 widows. Their husbands were killed in the civil war. In several huts we also found photos of killed child soldiers. The tsunami hit this village in an indirect way. Most families have their income from fishing. Although the waves did not reach their village, the fishermen lost their fishing boats and nets. Till today no organization has helped them. To start their work again they have taken a loan to purchase new nets. Until they have paid back the loan the fish they catch has to be delivered to the person who gave them the loan. He pays below the market price. Average income per day is between 50 and 100 Sri Lankan rupee (0.5 to 1 US$).

The houses of Murokkodanchenai

Action Plan

 

An action plan is designed for this village. This plan has four phases which will be carried out during the coming three years. Goal is that at the end the people of this village are out of their extreme poverty situation, that the quality of life has improved (clean water, sanitation, health care, etc) and that children get the change to go to school, which will help them to get better jobs in the future.

 

 

 

Some Village Statistics

 

Below some of the statistics gathered by Srikanth are shown.

 

Murokkodanchenai Village Map, including project progress till July 2007

In this village three kinds of fishing can be distinguished:

· Shrimp fishing in the ponds around the village

· Fishing by casting net in the lagoon

· Fishing with a boat and nets from the beach in the ocean

See the following pictures for these different kinds of fishing.

 

 

 

 

 

A young family in front of their hut

Killed child soldier - 12 years old

The progress of the activities in this village will be published on this page. See also the following reports:

 

 

Mobile clinic service: A family visiting the doctor

Progress of the Projects

 

The pictures below show the progress of the project:

 

The phone booth

The project three-wheeler

Construction of Wells

Sewing Training

Public Market Place

A woman by her new well

A woman showing her new toilet