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Update Update: I think the www.sarvodaya.org site is pretty good now. I spent all night getting Visa and Mastercard organized thru a local bank gateway. International calls got PayPal setup through via Sarvodaya USA. Amma (my mom) wants to set up an interactive map that shows trucks going down and requests coming up. IBM has volunteered some programmers and I’m going to go meet with them in a few hours useless. Talk talk talk. The IBM guy told me blogs were useless and he started drawing a diagram of some arrows pointing to boxes. I walked out. There’s more on Sarvodaya around this site, recent post or related posts below. They’re an established Sri Lankan organization with I think over 15 stations around the country, even in Jaffna. They are good people. But think before you donate! Where does your money go? Do you see any results? Google around before you click any button. Sri Lanka doesn’t need money. We need relief. Oh, and look around for other countries. Try to distribute your donations. We all got pretty tagged.

Again, I reiterate that Colombo is fine. I’m fine and my family is fine and if you’re wondering about someone in Colombo they’re probably fine. If you are having difficulty reaching your loved ones in Sri Lanka due to congested telephone lines, send an email to Udara Soysa (udarasri ‘at’ sltnet.lk) in Sri Lanka with a message and the phone number of your loved one. He will then call and relay the message.

That said, Sri Lanka is not fine. There are over 15,000 people dead and millions displaced. The main concern is that the saltwater, sewage, and rotting bodies have made the water undrinkable. There are not enough shovels or cloth to bury the dead and there is not enough medicine to help the living. The whole country is trying to help, but any International Aid would be greatly appreciated.

I’m helping the Rotary Club set something up at reliefforsrilanka.blogspot.com, and they are accepting food donations through credit card.

The Lanka Academic is diverting all the funds from its payment gateway to disaster relief. It’s the most reliable payment gateway, in my opinion. I link to it below. I’ve also mentioned others in my previous post.

As a note I’m putting a direct link to The Lanka Academic so you can donate ‘now’. The issue is that I have no control over their operations, and I can’t tell you where the money goes or show you what it does. The process of rebuilding is a very long one and the heavy cost are in the future – houses, schools, hospitals. So, to my friends – who are with me for the long-term – I’d advise you to hold back on donating until I’m sure that the money is being spent wisely. My family is working with a Milinda Moragoda organization which has proved responsible, and the Colombo Rotary Club has also proved itself. Sarvodaya is also a moral and wise organization, so if you can send a bank transfer go with them. Those are the organization that I, personally, will fund-raise for. But by all means, donate now. LacNet (Lanka Academic) is an excellent organization and they will spend the money wisely. Your friendship, however, is the real commodity. It’s friendship that will be there when Sri Lanka is not in the news.

Update: Sarvodaya’s Gateway is open, after Diyath Ariyaratne pried it open – much thanks to him and Virtusa. I’m in the Sarvodaya office now. With the Gateway open I can sorta start to build a website and get some information.

They have sarvodaya.org, which I didn’t design. I’m working on a new one. Thank you, and God Bless.

PS – i forget if that was on this post but somebody said something about God in a comment. I believe that God is love, and that God is everything – good and bad. Everything. I think he is everywhere. Even in the stuff I hate – cause everywhere means everywhere. Humans divide into like and dislike, right and wrong. God just is. That’s why I love God.

Posted on Tuesday, December 28th, 2004 in Photography, Sri Lanka.