We're Getting by with a Little Help From My Friends
By John Dingwall
Daily Record
Jan 21 2005
Scots pop boss Gordon Duncan was on holiday when the tsunami hit Sri Lanka... but instead of heading for the airport, he has stayed on and, along with 40 friends, has set about making life better for the people of Galle...
With the railway line reduced to bent fragments of discarded metal and the road into Galle washed away,the relief agencies had no chance of getting to the population of the coastal town in the immediate aftermath of the tsunami.
But a Scot caught up in the disaster has helped set up his own charity, Friends Of The Galle Project 2005, which is saving lives and rebuilding communities in the remote part of Sri Lanka.
Music PR to the stars, Gordon Duncan, from Cardross, Dunbartonshire, was holidaying in nearby Dalawella and had been enjoying a blissful sleep on Boxing Day when the quake hit and three tidal waves followed.
Having survived the first wave, Gordon saw neighbouring homes sweep past both sides of his house before he fled to higher ground.
As the toll of what had happened sunk in, Gordon's reaction was not to return home from the devastated region, but to stay on with 40 of his friends - a growing ex-pat community who quickly turned themselves into an emergency aid organisation.They sprung into action by helping to co-ordinate an immediate relief effort.
They established a headquarters, store rooms and even a chill-out room for stressed volunteers, but, most importantly, they have created a distribution network to get supplies to those who matter - indigenous Sri Lankan people who have survived the tsunami which has claimed over 150,000 lives throughout Asia.
Gordon said: 'We were all expecting the authorities to arrive and sort things out, but it became apparent in the first couple of days that just wasn't going to happen.
'We teamed up with the locals knowing that we would have to fend for ourselves while we waited for the relief effort.
'Nine thousand people's houses have been destroyed.They have no income and their water is contaminated.We needed a concerted effort to make a difference.
'The main thing has been hygiene because it is vital that there is fresh water, decontaminated wells and hygienic toilets.
'The Galle Project has been there from day one and now the Red Cross is on its way, but we're not waiting for aid to come in.'
The charity makes daily trips to the Sri Lankan capital Colombo to buy food, water and supplies for the locals and the inclusive effort is in direct contrast to the problems global relief agencies are facing.
Some have been hindered in their effort in Asia by political interference, while others have found their distribution corrupted by racial, religious, gender, economic and ethnic discrimination.
As such, to the people of Galle, the fact that the charity is small is beautiful.
As Gordon, 34, recounted his message of hope, the images of bodies in the roads and fields came flooding back.
At one point, he stopped and broke down in tears as he recalled aSri Lankan friend's loss. But the Scot's tale is a positive one.
Thanks to his efforts there is hope for people like Amal, 33, who had made an eight-hour round trip to a textile mill every day for 10 years.
Amal's hard work had enabled him to plough his life savings into an extension to his home weeks before the tsunami struck. He planned to use the two basic rooms as a holiday letting concern, giving him a chance to spend more time with his family.
Now the Sri Lankan stands amid the rubble, all that is left of his dream.
Gordon said: 'We are helping people get back on their feet with their businesses. On a daily basis I'm taking calls from people who want to go over and lend their skills.'
Gordon - who handles public relations for the likes of Darius and Wet Wet Wet - admitted the experience has changed him. He said: 'It has changed my life in terms of running the charity. I feel responsible to the people who donate money to make sure it is used efficiently.
'I am incredibly privileged in that I have seen a side of human nature you don't often see, but it has been difficult.
'There is a lady who has been in touch who lost her five-year-old daughter in the tsunami. Her way of trying to cope is by looking for a children's project to support, whether it is an orphanage or a school.
'This is her way of trying to find some good out of what happened.'
Gordon knows he could use his showbiz contacts to pull together a string of charity concerts at some stage in the future.
The first of the benefits is already planned, a gig by Paul Weller at London's prestigious Cargo venue on February 2.
Gordon said: 'The money from that will go to a village on the outskirts of Galle called Katugoda, where over500members of the community have been buried already.'
Back in Sri Lanka, British friends, such as Alex Barratt, make sure the money gets through to where it is needed most.
Alex, a chartered surveyor, is the operations manager for Project Galle. He had moved to Sri Lanka from London 18 months ago and now finds himself central to the co-ordination of day to day aid to 50 camps and 20,000 displaced people.
Henri Tatham, working as the manager of Galle's Sunhouse hotel when the tsunami hit, helps to identify people who need help on the ground. Others include Keith Tattersall, a former tour manager for Meatloaf, who is concentrating on rebuilding the nearby village of Katugoda.
Gordon said: 'None of us knew each other that well before, but we've formed a real bond around the central purpose of helping the people of Sri Lanka who have been so good to us over the years.
'They are so appreciative, it gives them strength to know they are not in isolation.'
The events of December 26, 2004, have had a huge effect on Gordon.
He said: 'I still feel exactly the same as I did in the first few hours after the tsunami - extremely fortunate that I happened to be in a building that didn't fall down. I'm lucky to be alive.
'I can't imagine what it would have been like if I'd been in the place I'd stayed in last year .
'The couple who occupied that building this year woke up under water with the building collapsing.They survived, but the girl had broken ribs and her face was badly bashed up.
'It wasn't a near-death experience for me, but to be faced with that randomness of your own mortality is something that will take time to come to terms with.
'I count myself very lucky that I didn't lose anyone and I didn't get injured.
'I feel a responsibility because I was lucky. I'm in a position to help, which is the driving force behind what I am trying to do with the charity.'
For more information on the Galle Project, or to make a donation, log on at www.galleproject2005.co.uk
British holidaymakers set up their own aid agency
By Andrew Gilligan In Galle, Sri Lanka
Evening Standard
5 January 2005
At the Galle Fort Hotel, the swimming pool is tastefully backlit, the urns of tropical lilies are in place and the blackclad residents are dining on won ton soup, red snapper and lychee coconut sorbet. This may be Base Camp in the gradual takeover of Galle's historic Dutch fort district by the Cond頎ast Traveller set, but it is also part of a remarkable, spontaneous aid effort from British holidaymakers and expats to give something back to the people who have hosted them so generously.
When the big wave came last week, dozens of holidaymakers and expats - overwhelmingly British - emerged from their minimalist merchant house conversions in Galle, began phoning round their friends and contacts and started, from scratch, their own aid agency, Project Galle 2005. Yesterday alone, they say, it fed nine thousand people.
Simone Grace, a film production co-ordinator on holiday from Weybridge and now one of the leaders of the aid effort, said: "We came here for a few weeks to look at property and we found ourselves caught up in this. It's been awesome."
"The official aid agencies have still only just got here and it's been more than a week," said Ivan Robertson, a property consultant originally from Finsbury Park, ticking off supplies on his clipboard in a 17th-century Dutch warehouse in the old town.
"The only things that came in straightaway were planes and helicopters to take the tourists out."
Meeting to help clean out a friend's house badly damaged in the tsunami, the expats quickly found themselves asking why nothing was happening to help their Sri Lankan hosts, some of whom were in serious need.
Galle was one of the worst-hit towns in Sri Lanka, though the huge 17th-century ramparts in the Fort district protected most of the expats' homes. "I sent an email to all my clients asking for funds," said Mr Robertson. "They are reasonably rich people and they responded immediately. My partner and I also put in $60,000 [£32,000] of our own money, which we will reclaim from the donations."
He added: "We've been buying food in Colombo and shipping it down here. It costs about text,000 to fill a truck and bring it down - and that will feed a hell of a lot of people.
"For the first few days, we and the locals were the only people doing anything."
Used to organising things, taking the initiative and getting their own way in their former careers as investment bankers, media people and advertising agency executives, the expats quickly established a network of offices and storage spaces in the old town, outpacing the sluggish response of the official aid agencies.
They have department heads, a secretariat and a medical centre, together with a chill-out room complete with abstract artwork and free papayas, for stressed volunteers. Several large storage spaces in the Fort are now filling up with food parcels, spades and other hardware needed to get the area back on its feet.
"We went out to all the displaced persons' camps and asked people what they wanted," said Mr Robertson. "Then we went and bought it.
"There is quite a lot of organisation, although there have also been a few temper tantrums along the way."
Another leader of the group, Alex Barrett, an investment surveyor formerly from Chelsea, said that the expats had the crucial combination of local knowledge and western resources.
But he added: "We will carry on for as short a time as possible, until the official aid guys are providing an adequate service."
The aid agency consists of about 40 western volunteers - 80 per cent of them British - plus dozens of local helpers, many of whom have lost families and friends. "They've been so good to us and it's nice to help them back," said Mr Thompson.
Paradise turned into hell
Eastern Daily Press
4 January 2005 10:22
On Christmas Day, Norwich ex-pat Alex Barrett couldn't have been closer to paradise.
Sitting in a bar on a sunny beach, he exchanged presents with friends, swam and played games with the local children.
But just hours later, the 32-year-old watched in horror from his beachfront home as giant waves flattened houses, picked up cars and devastated the village he called home.
Mr Barrett, who moved to Galle in South-west Sri Lanka in 2003 to let holiday villas, has undertaken the massive task of ensuring vital aid reaches many remote villages along the coast. With the help of friends and family in the UK, Mr Barrett is setting up a charity called the Galle Project 2005 which will help more than 5000 Sri Lankan people who have lost their families, homes and businesses.
Speaking from Sri Lanka, an exhausted Mr Barrett said: "These people need aid now, there is no time. We have not seen any international aid yet but there are people here who need food, shelter, water," he said.
"From living here we know where these places are and most importantly, who needs what. There are people with homes intact with nothing to eat; in another village there are people who are being well looked after in a temple but have no homes.
"If the people in the temple get a truckload of rice, it doesn't do anyone any good. It is about getting aid to the right people," he said. "If a man needs a shovel to clear the road, we want to get him a shovel. This area is going to need a lot of money, the effects here have been catastrophic.
"There are streets I have walked down 100 times that I now wonder where I am. On the way here I walked past a boat 1.5km inland . . . There are bodies everywhere and no one to clear them up. It is not the police or the army's responsibility so we have been left taking bodies out of the water and taking digital photographs of them for identification, so children don't see them," he said.
In England, Alex's friend Gordon Duncan, 34, is working round the clock registering the charity.
Mr Duncan had been five days into a month-long holiday to the area when disaster struck. "We had had such a beautiful day the day before," he said. "It was such a shock to see the devastation, realising that everything had changed in five minutes.
"The bar we had been sitting in the day before was gone, houses and cabanas were gone, the railway line had been moved, the road was covered in rubble and all the villagers had fled for the hills," he said.
Speaking from the family home on Unthank Road in Norwich, Mr Barrett's father, John, said: "Alex has been deeply affected by what he has seen. You can't describe how bad it is when children are being washed up on the beach.
"Many children were killed because they were playing beach football when the wave hit. Alex is a big Norwich City fan and used to go out in his City scarf and shirt to play with them. It is very sad."
He is also keen to hear from anyone with specialist skills who could join the aid effort in Galle.
