JDC Opens First of Four Community Centers in Tsunami-Ravaged Sri Lanka

Community center to serve as centerpiece for new planned community of dislocated survivors; Sri Lankan president expected to attend dedication

New York---The American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) today announced the opening of the first of four community centers it has helped finance in tsunami ravaged Sri Lanka. The center, built in partnership with Sri Lankan NGO Sarvodaya, will serve as a centerpiece in the Lagoswatte Eco-Village, a new community of homes that will house 55 families dislocated by the 2004 tsunami. The tsunami devastated coastal regions of Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Thailand and India.

The community center includes a village bank with a micro loan program, a community hall, a vocational training facility, a pre-school, a communications center and a library. It will serve more than 5,000 people in Lagoswatte and surrounding areas. A dedication ceremony for the center and the village is scheduled for Tuesday, March 28. Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaske is scheduled to attend.

The village itself was designed to provide a model for a self-contained, sustainable village life. Livelihood support and conservation remain the driving principles behind the project. Beneficiary families participated in the planning, construction and design of the physical plant and will continue to contribute their skills to income-generating activities, such as carpentry, fishing and masonry, as well as unskilled labor. Houses in the village have been designed according to United Nations Environmental Protection standards, employing renewable energy sources, rainwater collection, permaculture practice and recycling of non-biodegradable waste.

"Lagoswatte Eco-Village's uniqueness and importance is because it is not simply about building houses for tsunami survivors, but it is actually about creating a brand-new community," said JDC's Sri Lanka rep, Mandie Winston. "This reflects the very essence of JDC's approach to development.