Welcome Dharmavijaya Buddhist Vihara!

Hollywood Artists Alliance and the World Trust Foundation join Dharma Vijaya to build houses for the Tsunami Victims of Sri Lanka.

Bhante Walpola Piyananda went to Sri Lanka on February 15th. Working with government officials, including the Prime Minister and other cabinet members, he traveled from place to place in search of a suitable site to build new homes. The government had restricted construction to areas beyond 100 meters from the shoreline.

The site was found, in Galle District, near the town of Ambalangoda, at Gallagodawatta (a government owned coconut plantation) in the Southern Province of Sri Lanka. The government has planned a community development for the Tsunami victims that have been displaced by the 100 meter rule.

Presently we have an agreement with the Urban Development Ministry to build 36 new homes and a day care center. Mr. Vijith Gunawardena and Mr. Sunil Shanta have graciously agreed to donate their time and energy to being our Project Directors in Sri Lanka. Our ultimate goal is build a total of 100 houses.

We have decided to work with the contractor Mr. Mangala Jayasinghe and his company, D. P. Jayasinghe, Inc. We have plans for the construction of the house at an estimated cost of $5,500 per house. Although there are houses being built for $2,700.00, under our agreement with U.D. we must construct better quality housing. (See floor plan below.)

On March 22nd, Ven. Pannila Ananda and the Maha Sangha of the local temples and Ven. Chao Chu with other members of his Rosemead Buddhist Monastery attended our ground breaking ceremony. Participants included;

	Ven. Walpola Piyananda	Abbot of Dharma Vijaya,
	Ms. Camille Cellucci	Hollywood Artist Alliance,
	Ms. Tess Cacciatore	World Trust Foundation,
	Ms. Paula Hutts	Designer from Boulder, Colorado
	Mr. Michael Jewell	World Shelters,
	Dr. Patch Adams & clowns	Gesundheit! Institute and Airline Ambassadors,
	Sir Arthur C. Clarke	Author of 2001,
	Mr. Piyasena Gamage	Minister of Vocational and Technical Education,
	Ministers of the Southern Province,

The ground-breaking event garnered enormous publicity and media coverage. During the ceremony letters sent by American children to Sri Lanka were read, showing the love and compassion of American youth for Sri Lanka and its people. The Prime Minister issued a special certificate to thank the American school children who helped our project.

Ven. Piyananda and representatives of the Hollywood Artist Alliance and the World Trust Foundation met with the Deputy Speaker of the House, the Hon. Geethanjana Gunawardena, the Urban Development & Water Supply Minister, the Hon. Dinesh Gunawardena, the Minister of Power & Energy, the Hon. Susil Premajayantha and the Minister of Housing & Construction Industry, the Hon. Ferial Ashraff , and the Prime Minister’s Political Advisor, Mr. Basil Rajapakse.

Michael Jewell, representative of World Shelters, brought two shelters that the company donated that were sent to Galle and Hambantota District.

On March 17th, The Daily News published Lokubanda Tillakaratne’s beautiful article explaining how we have been fund raising and what we want to accomplish for the tsunami victims.

Dharma Vijaya received donations from people who wanted to help the temples that were damaged by the tsunami. Ven. Piyananda visited several of these temples in Galle District and Matara District giving them much needed funds and supplies.

Ven. Piyananda visited refugee camps in the Galle and Matara Districts distributing school supplies and toys to the children.

Ven. Piyananda organized a group of 10 Buddhist nuns to visit the houses of the tsunami victims in Hikkaduwa area to give trauma and grief counseling. Ven. Piyananda gave a one hour talk that was aired twice on the 20th of March over the Ceylon Broadcasting Corporation. And on the eve of the 3 month memorial day for the Tsunami, Ven. Piyananda gave a 1 hour live radio talk, Ruhunu Broadcast Service

THANK YOU, EVERYONE FOR YOUR GENEROSITY

OVER $180,000.00 HAS BEEN SENT TO US FOR OUR PROJECTS & WITH YOUR CONTINUED HELP WE WILL BE ABLE TO REACH OUT GOAL

DHARMA VIJAYA & HOLLYWOOD ARTIST ALLIANCE & WORLD TRUST FOUNDATION
**SCHOLARSHIPS NEEDED FOR MEDICAL STUDENTS ORPHANED BY TSUNAMI**

Dharma Vijaya wants to sponsor nine medical students who lost their families in the tsunami.
Despite the great loss that has befallen them, we would like to help them complete their education.

PLEASE CONTACT BHANTE PIYANANDA FOR DETAILS.

[email protected]