On Boxing Day 2004 the world reeled at the devastation wreaked by the most catastrophic natural disaster in living memory. Over 150,000 lost their lives and millions were left homeless in a disaster that spanned continents.

One year on the situation is still bleak for many who are still living in temporary accommodation; refugee camps and tents, lives and livelihoods lost. The press often home in on the negative stories, telling of government bureaucracy, international apathy and the missing millions of aid whilst people still eke out an existence in refugee camps.

Yet there are many positive stories of people who are now on the road to rebuilding their lives. And Explore customers and staff have helped do just that.

In the immediate aftermath of the tsunami many customers contacted us wanting to help people in the areas they had travelled to. Explore, its staff and customers pulled together to raise over £28,000.

Accepting to distribute money on this scale carries a huge responsibility. After all, Explore is a tour operator and not an aid agency. There were many other organisations people could choose to give money to. Yet our strength is in our presence on the ground and thanks to our tour leaders and local agents we were able to identify key projects on the ground that were delivering direct support to families and communities affected by the disaster. Fishing boats, nets and engines to small villages close to Mahabalipuram in South India; a community and education centre for a fishing community in Thailand; temporary and permanent housing in Sri Lanka. We discussed with the project managers and learned exactly who would benefit and how. Customers have been able to read about the progress of these projects via regular updates on the website and in newsletters.

Fabio Perselli's report in the June 2005 newsletter gave detail on Colombo's Gangaramaya Temple project to construct temporary shelters for families who had lost their own houses. In the immediate aftermath of the tsunami we had channelled £7,200 to fund 60 such shelters. In total the temple funded over 900 shelters along the length of the coast. The shelters are erected on the foundations of the original house, enabling the family to keep a hold on their land and maintain some semblance of their lives pre-tsunami. In December I returned to Sri Lanka to see how the families were getting on. Accompanied once again by our ground agent Nishad Wijetunga and the venerable Pallegama Ratanasara from the Gangaramaya Temple we visited Lalini who Fabio met in March. Though too small to accommodate all the family, her shelter had enabled her to resume her business selling curd and treacle by the roadside. Further down the coast at Polhena near Matara, Nandalatha Samarawickrama was running her Sinhala classes from her shelter. Following the tsunami all she had left was her bed and a chair. Too scared to use her own land so close to the shore, she had been granted land by neighbours on which to build her shelter. Having been widowed some years earlier, this ability to maintain her income was vital. Some families had been granted funds and were rebuilding but many had simply taken up where they left off and resumed their daily business.

How long the families will be living in these shelters is still unclear. The government ruling against rebuilding within 100m of the shore is being discredited and ignored in equal measure. Thousands are on waiting lists to receive permanent houses and some are still living in tents. For a family on low income who have lost all they have to be able to save enough money to rebuild their home can be no more than a very distant dream. It may be convenient to blame governments but reconstruction on a scale required post-tsunami will not happen overnight. The Gangaramaya Temple are now embarking on the next stage of their post tsunami reconstruction and have started work on a permanent housing complex near Hikkaduwa. 100 two-storey houses feature a workshop area are being built and are targeted specifically at self-employed trades-people to enable them to get back to work and build a thriving small business community.

The highlight of my visit was to attend the handing over ceremony of 20 houses we had helped fund through the local Rotary Club of Colombo West of which our agent is an active member. The Rotary Club were granted a plot of land in Habaraduwa. Explore funds paid for three of these houses. The first foundations were laid in June and on December 3rd, in a colourful ceremony attended by Rotarians and major donors, the recipient families received the keys to their new houses and a new community was created. The presence of an Explore group at the ceremony made the day so much more meaningful for me. It was after all customers who had donated so generously and to be able to see the work we had together supported was amazing. As we chatted to the families, some told us of the horrors they had been through, of their miracle escapes. For most though we got the sense that this ceremony would be the start of closure on the past, no longer looking back but forward to a new and happier future.

Each house comprises two bedrooms, a kitchen and a living area and is supplied with electricity and basic furniture and utensils. They are spacious and bright and families were already starting to make them into a home. Each house has its own separate toilet out the back and though there is only water by communal pipe at the foot of the road, there are plans to bring water to the houses in due course.

The families who benefited did not own their own land or houses. With landlords unable to rebuild and a huge shortage of places to rent, how these people were re-housed was very much at the mercy of the authorities. But how and where? The coastal belt is densely populated and most of the land is already in private hands. Add to that the uncertainty surrounding the 100m rule means that finding new land to build on is not a straightforward matter.

The land accorded to the Rotary Club is in Habaraduwa, located some miles inland from Ahangama to the south of Galle. The village, called Addhunkele, occupies a stunning location with spectacular views over the surrounding countryside. It is however a reasonable distance from the road and thus not suitable for everyone. Some families offered houses in the new village declined as they would not be able to keep up their living from this location. Others had trades which translated easier to new locations such as Mrs Ramani, a seamstress who lives in house number 21 with her daughter, son in law and grandson. She is hoping to get back to work from her new home. It should not be forgotten that though there has been much focus on fishermen, there are many other people and many other tradespeople along the coast who lost stocks, equipment and their livelihood. For all, adjustment following the tsunami is an ongoing process. The tsunami has already forced some to change professions. Before the tsunami K. Gayan Manjula at house number 5 worked as a chef in a seaside hotel. Now he earns a living as a carpenter, making coconut rafters, to support his wife, two young children and mother.

In order to smooth the transition process, the Rotary Club are continuing to work with the new community to address their needs. Counselling needs are being investigated, as are needs for transport - would a bike help a villager get back to work? -tools and bringing water directly to each house. The process is democratic and a welfare society for mutual support and fellowship has been formed with the members of 20 families in the new village now known as Addhunkele Rotary-pura. The Rotary Club aims to provide them with continuous support for community development. A key focus in building the new community is the construction of a Community Centre, which is expected to complete by the end of January 2006. In a country such as Sri Lanka where many live in poverty, such prioritisation of the tsunami victims could create great divisions in communities. In Habaraduwa neighbouring communities' needs are also being taken into consideration and three families so far will be receiving new houses. Enterprising locals have already set up a new village shop so the help will hopefully be mutual.

We at Explore and you our customers and friends who gave so generously should be very proud of what we have been able to achieve. We raised money quickly and spent it wisely. Many families have been brought from uncertainty to some sort of security and we have been able to see with our own eyes the good work that has been done.

Fran Hughes
Responsible Tourism Manager