A Guernsey charity founder reveals how two years after Sri Lanka’s tsunami, vital international aid is failing to reach those most in need. Sarah Griffith tells Nick Mollet about the shocking scale of the problem but reveals how islanders here are making a difference THE founder of a Guernsey-based Sri Lanka charity has spoken out about the desperate situation still facing the tsunami-torn country where many of its people are still struggling to survive.

Bridge 2 Sri Lanka’s Sarah Griffith, who recently returned from a visit to the area, today exclusively breaks her silence in the Guernsey Press.

She reveals how, two years on from the disaster, families are being forced to live without the basic essentials. And she says she is increasingly concerned that money and aid via some other charities is still not finding its way through to thousands of those in most need.

Sarah is speaking out because she wants the world to know what is and is not being done.

Since it was founded less than 18 months ago, Bridge 2 Sri Lanka has raised more than £100,000 to help fund vital community projects. But the work is far from over and is continuing in earnest following the Guernsey charity’s latest delivery of aid at Christmas.

Bridge 2 Sri Lanka managed to distribute 550 food parcels and 500 toy parcels to a camp that has received no aid since the tsunami. It took a team of 25 people from 7pm on Christmas Eve to noon on Boxing Day to pack the parcels for the Frederick Hill site, set up after the disaster. They were delivered on Boxing Day – the second anniversary of the tragedy.

All food was bought wholesale, packed into three trucks and driven to the camp, where an eager crowd of about 1,500 Sri Lankans were waiting for the hand-delivered parcels.

‘When we arrived at the camp the reception was unbelievable,’ said Sarah. Even a high-ranking local councillor who had planned to attend the unveiling of a huge tsunami memorial statue by the Sri Lankan president, chose instead to meet and thank the charity for its delivery.

Each family was given a parcel containing a fresh chicken, 10 kilos of rice, two kilos of lentils, onions, garlic, cashew nuts, curry powder, dry chillies, tea, salt, sugar, raisins, toothpaste, toothbrush and soap. The parcel will last a family of four to six people about a month.

Sri Lankans love to party and villagers had set up a stage with a loudspeaker to mark the Guernsey group’s arrival. Two days later on the day the toy parcel delivery was due, the crowd had almost doubled.

The parcels were destined for children up to the age of 14. Each included a mixture of toys and schoolbooks, with a backpack, cricket bat and ball for the boys and an umbrella, dress, shirts, towel and goggles for the girls.

As the Frederick Hill Camp had only three toilets and two wells, a major part of the charity’s Christmas campaign was to work towards building 12 new toilets and 11 wells on the vast 150-acre site.During the busy trip the charity also found suitable homes for 25 donated bikes. It was a gift that actually changed the lives of a community of fishermen who relocated 5km from the sea to the jungle. They are now using them to get to and from work.

Three young boys from the camp and a family who were helped by a team from Guernsey’s Laska bar were sent bikes.

The contents of a shop in Sri Lanka were also funded by the charity. It is currently raising more money for a building that will house a sewing cooperative.

The trip, said Sarah, was ‘exhausting and emotional’. ‘But somehow we have to persevere as these people are desperate and the world has really let them down. We knew we were giving to the right people.’

Every day the charity would come across people whose needs had been ignored. She believes that those who have donated have a right to know what the situation is really like, more than two years later.

‘The sadness is that the locals know there is still big money which has not filtered down. And some of the larger charities have admitted that they do not know how to cope.

‘If only I could get my hands on some of that money, I know how it could be spent,’ she said.

The success of a smaller charity, such as Bridge 2 Sri Lanka, is that it can be there in person to see the money goes where it is meant. The cash does not get siphoned off on the way.

‘I find it frustrating seeing big charities driving their monster four-wheel-drive trucks and paying enormous salaries to people who do not operate in the field and just get others to do it for them,’ said Sarah.

Until now Sarah has not spoken out very much. She is worried she could be thrown out of the country, but feels she can no longer keep quiet.

‘When you see the sights that I do on each trip – with people struggling to buy the basic rice ration, with medical situations that are heart rending – and yet you know the world has enough money already pledged, you get to the point of shame.

‘I am embarrassed to think of myself as part of a culture that could be so cruel,’ she said.

Meanwhile the situation in Sri Lanka is worsening with the recent attacks by Tamil Tigers encroaching into tourist areas. Previously suicide bombs had been in the north and east of the island with a few attacks on government officers in Colombo.

The latest attack happened near one of the villages Sarah has worked in. Some of the victims were at the camp that she visited at Christmas. Surviving against such a backdrop is difficult for its people, she said.

‘This island has been so damaged by 30 years of Tiger activity,’ she said. ‘And then came the tsunami.’

But she believes the world had a chance to help to make Sri Lanka better than before, to – as in the words of former US president Bill Clinton – ‘build back better’.

‘Well, we haven’t and the bombings are now turning what was left of the tourist trade into mush.’

Sarah says the signs are everywhere. Her hotel, which has 75 rooms and – even the previous Christmas – was full, was last year operating at 30-room occupancy.

She fears that is something the trade cannot sustain as the problem is two-fold.

In 2005, many people chose to holiday there to help support the island after the disaster. But when they arrived, they witnessed major devastation, with little evidence of a clear up. They had picked Sri Lanka as a romantic destination complete with long, white, sandy beaches. What they encountered were beaches strewn with debris and smashed beach huts.

Instead of coconut palms gently waving in the breeze, they found uprooted and badly-damaged trees and landscapes. On their return home they will have sadly passed this image on to family and friends.

More problems followed in October when the Tigers set off two bombs in Galle, home of the tourist industry, and that sealed the fate of an already tarnished reputation.

‘Many tour companies declare Sri Lanka as a war zone,’ said Sarah sadly.

Despite launching only in July 2005, Bridge 2 Sri Lanka has raised in excess of £100,000, mainly from Guernsey donors.

‘We have helped over 1,000 families, built 10 houses with another one started, undertaken a huge feed programme and done numerous back-to-work programmes.

‘I am very proud of the team that has helped me to achieve this,’ she said. But she has become more frustrated with what is left to do, as well as the lack of motivation by some to see what has really happened.

‘Next time a big disaster happens, people will be so reluctant to dig in their pockets,’ she predicted.

Sarah says she has been very lucky to have the help of former Bailiff Sir de Vic Carey. He visited Bridge 2 Sri Lanka’s projects last September and came back to tell the Guernsey public that their money was being used appropriately.

‘There is no doubt in my mind that people need and must have evidence of what their money goes on,’ she said.

* Anybody who can help, wants to know more about Bridge 2 Sri Lanka or can make a donation towards the charity’s ongoing work and projects should log on to www.bridge2srilanka.com

They can also e-mail Sarah on sarahgriffith@hotmail.com or telephone 07781 100159.