Wednesday, August 31, 2005

 

செய்தி: டேவ் மேத்யு வின் சுனாமி பணி.

(2005-08-29) Dave Matthews Band Joins With CARE To Fight 'Tsunami Of Poverty' In Sri Lanka.
NEW YORK (Dave Matthews Fans Website) - Out of deep concern for the long-term needs of impoverished communities affected by the tsunami and conflict in Sri Lanka, Dave Matthews Band, through its Bama Works fund, has committed an initial $250,000 to CARE, one of the world's leading humanitarian organizations. These funds will support CARE's poverty-fighting programs in two villages, Echchalampattu (Tamil population) and Seruvila (Sinhala and Muslim populations), located in the northeast district of Trincomalee, one of the hardest hit stretches of coast in Sri Lanka. With additional support from fans, more villages can be reached.
"Together with CARE, we encourage our fans to join us in this long-term effort to make a serious and lasting impact in the lives of people in Sri Lanka," said Dave Matthews Band. "It's critical that we continue to help people overcome their everyday tsunami of poverty and elevate their standard of living beyond where they were when the tsunami struck."

Dave Matthews Band and CARE are calling on fans to support this long-term effort by encouraging them to make donations directly through the band's website www.davematthewsband.com. Donations made by fans will be matched 100 percent by Dave Matthews Band. Fans are encouraged to return to the Web site over time to receive updates about the people they are helping in Sri Lanka as well as to check for special promotions they could enter to win by making a donation.

Fans and friends of the band are already answering the call, sending in donations at a steady rate and even holding benefit concerts in Charlottesville and New York City. Earlier this year, the rock band moe. raised more than $75,000 in a single night, funds that were matched by Dave Matthews Band.

Funding from Dave Matthews Band and their fans will be focused in a part of Sri Lanka that was hard hit by the tsunami and where communities continue to suffer from the effects of conflict and poverty. In Trincomalee, the tsunami claimed more than 1,000 lives and drove over 30,000 families from their homes. The disaster occurred in the wake of a two-decade civil war that claimed approximately 65,000 lives, and fragile three-year-old cease-fire between the government and rebels in the area. People there now live in a state of extreme poverty with little or no access to income generating opportunities and basic necessities like nutritious food that they produce themselves and clean drinking water.

In the villages of Echchalampattu (Tamil population) and Seruvila (Sinhala and Muslim populations) in Trincomalee, CARE will initiate the following work starting in January 2006:

* Provide small loans and train people, specifically women, to start up and manage small businesses;

* Distribute nets and other equipment to fishermen so they can resume their trade;

* Assist farmers by providing them with the seeds, tools and technical support they need to restart agricultural production and feed their families for the long term;

* Provide families with animals to raise and reproduce to sell in local markets;

* Build 500 public sanitation facilities and the 35 wells and other sources of clean water to help ensure the health and well-being of thousands of families;

* Identify opportunities to bring together village leaders to support dialogue for promoting peaceful collaboration among people of different ethnicities.

"CARE is heartened by the support of Dave Matthews Band and their fans. Together, we can contribute to the reduction of poverty and vulnerability in Sri Lanka," says Peter Bell, president and CEO of CARE. "Rebuilding communities and livelihoods from scratch cannot occur in a matter of months. It will take years of hard work and commitment. In doing so, it's imperative to incorporate the wishes and protect the rights of people of all ethnicities whose lives have been turned upside down."

CARE has worked in Sri Lanka since 1956, responded quickly to the tsunami, and understands the cultural and political challenges faced by many communities. In carrying out development programs in Trincomalee and in other parts of Sri Lanka, CARE will continue to give special attention to the needs of displaced people of all ethnic origins that have suffered from the effects of the tsunami, conflict and poverty.

Dave Matthews Band – Carter Beauford, Stefan Lessard, Dave Matthews, Leroi Moore and Boyd Tinsley – and their Bama Works Fund, established in 1999, have supported a variety of organizations and campaigns and donated millions of dollars in grants to a variety of organizations in their hometown of Charlottesville, Virginia, and around the world. Beneficiaries have included public education, community parks, youth community clubs, the Amazon Rain Forest and AIDS organizations.
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