Tsunami Survivors

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A cricket treat for Lanka's tsunami orphans

     Colombo: Sri Lanka's devasted tsunami-hit orphans were given a rare form of entertainment over the weekend, when they were asked to play a match with their country's cricketing heroes at the picturesque Galle Stadium. The softball match was played between schoolboy survivors and a team led by skipper Marvan Atapattu on Sunday. "This is the first time that the children were able to get out of their relief centres and entertain themselves after the disaster," The News quoted the Cricket Aid chief, Thilanga Sumathipala, as saying. "For many, just getting out of the relief centre itself is fun and a good experience. They have seen their cricket heroes, now is a chance to play with them," he added Sumathipala said that the organisation hopes that it will be able to help at least 1,000 children in their education for at least 10 years under a project that will cost an estimated three million dollars. He said that Cricket Aid would soon set up cricket townships in the southern Galle and Matara districts as well as the eastern regions that were badly hit by the tsunamis. Nearly 31,000 people were killed nationwide and nearly a million were initially left homeless. There were five softball matches in progress simultaneously at the Galle ground, which could take over a year to recover from the salt water devastation. Jayananda Warnaweera, the curator at the stadium, informed that it would cost 300 to 400 million rupees to refurbish the ground to international level.
- Feb 14, 2005

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