BMS partner, the Lanka Evangelical Alliance Development Service (Leads), used a relief grant of £15,000 to facilitate its feeding programme for displaced people in the northern town of Vavuniya, which was on the frontline of the fighting.
Almost 300,000 people are reported to have been displaced since October 2008 due to intense fighting between the army and rebel Tamil Tigers forces. The government declared victory over the rebels in May, ending 26 years of conflict.
Leads is working in Menic Farm, a large camp in Vavuniya and, in May and June – with support from BMS – managed 30 kitchens, which provided food for 47,904 people.
It continues to feed over 11,000 others, including 100 people discharged from hospital.
Additionally, Leads is providing 300 families in the camp with seedlings of seven varieties of vegetables, which will provide them with a means of supplementary food. Leads is not concerned solely about food aid. It is also providing educational material for 11,000 children in Vavuniya who are facing public exams and has started the groundwork for the construction of transitional shelter for up to 200 disabled people.
Elsewhere, Leads workers are present at nine camps in Jaffna, providing food aid, nutrition advice and temporary kitchen and medical facilities for thousands of people there.
And in Trincomalee, Leads is distributing tea leaves and milk powder to families and hygiene packs for children and the elderly.