Story
NEWS UPDATE
The expectations were that the rebuilding of the Chinnakuppam village would be completed earlier this year. Unfortunately due mainly to substantial increases in building materials the cost to complete the project rose from £340,000 to £500,000.
My personal web page target has not been reached yet but there is still time. The hopes now are that the village will be completed by February 2011 with £75,000 still needed and there will be an official opening ceremony.
To see this little fishing village completed at such a cost from people giving generously will be truly remarkable and bring much happiness to these people who lost everything in the Tsunami.
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Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page and the little fishing village of Chinnakuppam.
Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving – they’ll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they’ll send your money directly to the charity and make sure Gift Aid is reclaimed on every eligible donation by a UK taxpayer. So it’s the most efficient way to donate - I raise more, whilst saving time and cutting costs for the charity.
So please dig deep, donate now and help rebuild not only a village but lives and hope.
My Experience
My first experience of the tragic impact of the Tsunami followed one of my visits to Thailand in December 2004 as a director with HarperCollins Publishers where I was organising the printing of a block buster U2 book. Having chosen a Thai team of nine in early December to oversee the book production, all of them with their wives and families went to Phi Phi island for the Christmas break. On Boxing Day I lost 4 of the team and one of their little daughters as the Tsunami struck south east Asia and this for me was devastating.
In January 2009 I was invited to visit Chennai, India with a group of 5 businessmen to see the phenomenal work of a Christian Charity called CMCT. The impact of this visit is almost too difficult to describe other than to say it was a very special and moving experience for me. Seeing the range of work being done by CMCT in helping feed people in direst poverty, clothe and provide education to over 1,000 children from the slums in the schools CMCT have built and supplying these kids with their only meal of the day. Providing extensive free medical care to hundreds every week, running an orphanage for over 250 children, running soup kitchens in the slums and managing 20 other similar ministries with the help of 400 workers, paid meagre salaries. The Charity has no government assistance of any kind and relies totally on gifts and donations from individuals and some Churches predominantly from the UK.
On boxing day 2004 a small fishing village, Chinnakuppam 80 miles south of Chennai was hit by the Tsunami and they lost everything, boats, nets, homes and personal belongings but no lives were lost. CMCT, under the leadership of a remarkable lady Dr. Colleen Redit, were unable to ignore their plight and started to help by renewing their boats, nets, providing very basic rations of food and built a community centre. They later committed to the villagers that they would build 140 basic little houses at a cost of £3,700 each and at the time of my visit 34 had been built with 106 still to build at a total cost of around £392,000.
This short visit could only be described as life changing and extremely emotional and I felt unable to leave as if I had merely been there as a tourist. Thinking of how well off we are here in the UK and the appalling need I had seen first hand I had to do something. I suggested to my 5 colleagues that we should commit to these people that as a small group of men we would go back to the UK and try to raise funds by March 2010 to enable the completion of the Tsunami building project and also to encourage build teams to go out and help in the actual building, free of charge. As a result teams have gone out, worked in 40 degrees heat, with employers giving paid leave and there is now a further 40 houses almost completed. My small group have also been instrumental in raising just under £80,000.
In addition to my other efforts and on a more personal level I now want to raise funds as an individual, with the help of colleagues in an effort to complete another 3 houses costing a total of £11,000. To help in this I have registered my page on the Just Giving Web Site in the hope that business colleagues will rise to this challenge with me and either personally or corporately help me raise this total of £11,000.
Donations of money to ‘CMCT Tsunami Village’ are easy to make on my web page and the actual fund donations can be with CMCT in Channai, India within 10 days of any donation being made and have the further benefit of gift aid added to each amount. Each donation is recorded on the page and I will keep you updated with progress.
Thanks,
Andy