 Rathis with a water pump that ADT has installed |
North-south divide
Even before the tsunami in December 2004, about 1.5 million people had left the country and up to 800,000 people were already living in displaced people camps due to the civil war that started in 1983. A fragile cease fire was established in 2002 but because of the ethnic and political tensions between the largely Tamil population in the north and the majority Sinhalese population in the rest of the island, investment in infrastructure in the north and post-tsunami aid is much lower than compared with the south. This is why NCEASL and we were keen to support this area.
Water of life
ADT runs projects to bring clean water and sanitation to villages by drilling wells and installing manual water pumps. Many wells were poisoned by sea water during the tsunami so new ones have to be dug or existing ones cleaned up. ADT has the experience and technology to do this and can test the water for purity. Hygiene education goes alongside this in schools and they use games to teach the children about it. Drilling for water and hygiene lessons also give opportunities to talk about Jesus as the water of life.
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