April 21 is a date that will remain in the hearts of all Sri Lankans. The deadly terror attacks not only took away many lives but it also left many people devastated with the sudden loss of their loved ones. Today, if you happen to visit Katuwapitiya, you can come across many people recalling that horrific incident. For July 21, it will be three months since the incident happened and people’s lives are at a standstill. At the onset of the attacks, the Voice for Voiceless Foundation, a non-profit initiative founded by Moses Akash De Silva came forward to help those victimised by the incident. 

“From April 22 onwards we were working with affected families in Batticaloa and Katuwapitiya,” said Akash in an interview with Daily Mirror Life. “Work went on three phases – immediate relief, how work was progressing and post relief. For immediate relief we looked at giving basic needs for family members. We were able to donate medical equipment to Batticaloa and Negombo hospitals worth Rs. one million. Through our friends and donors we even donated equipment to ICU at Colombo General Hospital. They weren’t prepared to face such a situation. Many people didn’t go home since April 21 morning and they were in hospitals. So we bought them food and dry rations. Especially for Colombo accident ward we donated white bed sheets, water, cooked food, adult diapers etc. while we were working we visited over 30 families in Batticaloa and in Negombo we visited over 50 families. We got the villagers and local community to help us reach out to the people. Therefore we were able to analyse what they needed. There were issues with sanitary facilities too.” 

When the Daily Mirror Life visited Katuwapitiya, we witnessed how VforV Foundation has helped them. From refurbishing rooms to constructing attached bathrooms, donating new beds, buying scooters etc., they have done quite a lot of work to assist affected families. People described Akash and his team as ‘God-sent’. They were able to clean houses, do floorings, paintings and buy an air conditioner. The entire project at the Milroy had cost them Rs. 475,000. “Then we were discussing about long-term support with them,” he continued. “With an air conditioner there will be an additional electricity bill. The father was unemployed as his employer was killed in the blast. On our way out we saw an abandoned three-wheeler and when asked he said it doesn’t function. So we got it fixed for him and now he goes on hires to earn money. We thought of taking one family at a time and helping them.” 

“In another family, the mother had a split liver and we built a commode and upgraded their toilet,” Akash further said. “The mother would get up at 4.00 a.m and look after the cattle, get milk in the morning, put them to the shops etc. But in this condition she couldn’t handle the cows. So we bought the cattle and found a family in Batticaloa who lost their children. When we asked how we could help them on the long term they said it would have been better if they had some cattle. So we bought the cattle from Indika and handed them over to three families in Batticaloa.” 

According to Akash, many people have lost work after the attacks. “The hardships faced by most people are heartening. We managed to raise funds through FB. We have a project code for all projects. So we have listed them with the respective amounts and whoever who want to donate money can refer to them through the codes. When someone comes forward to help we send them details of the project and then they would say how they like to contribute. After we receive funds we will update the list and post on FB. It’s a combination of funds and we have told this to the recipients. On the other hand reconciliation needs to happen. We were able to do projects worth Rs. six million over the past few months and we are continuing.”

One of their main challenges was to get accurate information. “Not even the government had the proper information. Many people came to Katuwapitiya from different parts of the country. We were looking at helping people in the long term.”

 

VforV Foundation has continued a transparent procedure in accepting and utilizing funds. 

Those who wish to contribute could follow them on Facebook or log into https://vforv.org/