Kirinda Refugee Camp, September 2005 - June 2007

 Yala Fund was born out of a one-off project to help a tsunami fishermen's refugee camp in Kirinda, a mixed Buddhist and Muslim coastal community close to Yala National Park in south eastern Sri Lanka. The stretch of coast from Yala to Hambantota was hit hard by the Boxing Day 2004 tsunami and much of Kirinda was wiped out. Survivors from a fishing village at the southern end of Kirinda were living in tents on a hilltop near their old homes when Jon Ashworth first came across them in February 2005. The big aid organisations provided the basics but it was clear that the villagers would struggle to replace what they had lost. Fishing boats could not be replaced without paperwork which had itself been destroyed in the Tsunami. Bureaucracy threatened to compound the villagers' plight.  

The original Yala Appeal 2005 raised £17,000 to get the villagers back on their feet. The money replaced three boats, provided nets and fishing gear for each family, bought a Landmaster tractor and trailer for the community, purchased sewing machines for housewives and provided bicycles.

The village headman died in the disaster; the charity helped his widow, Sisilin, open a shop. Items provided included iceboxes for storing freshly caught fish to allow the fishermen to wait until market prices were most favourable. The charity hired a bus and took the villagers on an outing to Kataragama, Sri Lanka's holiest religious site, 45 minutes from Kirinda.

Two years on from the Tsunami, the villagers were finally put into new homes on the site built by GOAL, the Irish charity. Kirinda has been rebuilt and life is slowly returning to normal.