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THE TIME IS NOW |
Sri Lanka suffered its darkest hour yet when it was struck by the Tsunami which wreaked havoc right across the country leaving a trail of devastation, destruction and despair in its wake. Within minutes peoples lives were transformed forever and this beloved country of ours was turned upside down.
This horrendous tragedy has affected almost every single citizen of this country in some way or another. Whole families have been wiped off, most people have lost family, friends, loved ones, colleagues – and that is just the human side of it. Peoples’ livelihoods are gone forever, generations of sweat and toil were reduced to nothing in an instant. The country’s precious infrastructure – our roads, railways, business houses, scenic tourist destinations are now all rubble.
As Rotarians we must take the lead in providing humanitarian assistance in this hour of need. Rotary is ideally placed to play a leading role in this effort as we have the best support infrastructure already in place in all the affected areas. Our Rotary Clubs located in these areas and their members are a rich source of vital local knowledge and can provide key logistical support to all the Aid agencies. We can also draw on the wide International network of Rotary for donations of urgently needed medicines, food, shelters etc We also have a wide pool of Doctors, and disaster management experts who could assist the local teams in the field.
We owe it to ourselves, we owe it to our families, we owe it to the people who paid the ultimate price. Most of all, we owe it to future generations – who would want – nay perhaps demand - to know what we did as ROTARIANS to help rebuild our beloved country and put the smiles back on the faces of our genteel people. The time for action is now! |
| Dion Schoorman |
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