“A lot of merit should be given to Caritas SED-Galle!” says Mrs. Dayawathi. Today her children, grandchildren and she live in a new house constructed by Caritas SED-Galle in the Balapitiya Divisional Secretariat.

However, three years ago, Vidanagamage Don Dayawathi, 63, a widow, was one of the hundreds and thousands of people who were affected by the Tsunami. Her house which she had been living in since 1944 was completely destroyed by the Tsunami, except for the front wall.  

She and her children built a make-shift small cabin about ten feet behind the front wall of her old house until she could find a suitable place for her family to live in. Her next biggest task was to request for compensation for her damaged house, so that she could plan out her family’s future and think about a new home.

However, she was worried that she would never be able to build again because of the landlords. “The landlords were trying to sell this land where we have built this cabin. We thought would have to go to the streets.” says Dayawathi.

She requested for compensation from the Gramasevaka (Village officer) and the Divisional Secretariat office in order to get compensation for ‘partly damaged or fully damaged houses’ from the government. “I had to walk so much to get this done until my feet hurt.” says Dayawathi. Compensation of hundred thousand rupees (LKR 100,000) for a partly damaged house was approved for her.  She received the first installment of LKR 50,000 because she did not have legal ownership of the land. However this fund was insufficient to build a new home.

Various institutions volunteered to rebuild or construct new houses for houses damaged by the tsunami. Mrs. Dayawathi requested Caritas SED-Galle for a new house.