News in Review:
Oversight committee launches ‘Saving Grace’ effort

We’re pleased to distribute this edition of “Through Their Eyes,” especially in light of our recent friends who have come to consider life from the perspective of the children and elders of Grace Care Center. Last month’s dinner (see “Grace Review”) attracted more than 10 new sponsors of children and elders, plus numerous new donors, to help the children of Grace Home, and we’re proud to report of the Grace Review report how well the donations are being used.

Obviously, such an effort can only be accomplished when many come together in common cause. As reported on this site, oversight of VeAhavta’s Grace Care Center orphanage in Trincomalee, Sri Lanka was transferred last month to a southeast Michigan executive committee headed by Ann Arbor Dr. Naresh Gunaratnam. Similar to when he played tour guide in February 2005 to a post-tsunami team of more than a dozen volunteers, Gunaratnam will oversee forming other committees that will include Cheryl Huckins, Lynn Helland, Gina Amalfitano and others in Michigan.

So much has changed in Sri Lanka since the historic Indian Ocean disaster nearly four years ago, on Dec. 26 2004. At the time, there was an active truce in the 20-plus year civil war between the national forces and the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam; that agreement began fading by 2006, and in early 2008 the Government of Sri Lanka formally withdrew from the terms of the cease-fire. Since then, the conflict has returned to all-out levels, with the government pledging to resume military and security control of the few remaining areas considered “held” by the LTTE in the island’s north, home to Trincomalee and Grace Care Center.

Survivors of one of the longest-running conflicts in the world have struggled. Supply channels and distribution are often impeded by security or war, fishing is often limited due to maritime threats, and severe acts of war add to the region’s already-tragic number of refugees. The many challenges in this region make the work of VeAhavta more important, yet more challenging, than ever.

VeAhavta welcomes new sponsors and old friends to ask questions, via info@you-shall-love.org, on the situation in Sri Lanka, progress at the orphanage, or to make suggestions for helping us preserve these seven acres as an island of hope protected from the tragedies just outside its gates.