Sri Lankan 'Hampton Village' Gets Underway

12.16.53pm UTC (GMT +0000) Tue 25th Jan 2005

Hampton residents have already raised £14,000 towards the building of a village - to be called Hampton - in Sri Lanka for those left destitute by the tsunami. The Lions Club in Sri Lanka will supervise the project.

At a social evening in Hampton on Saturday local members of the Sri Lankan community, other Hampton residents and Twickenham MP Vincent Cable, patron of the charity, launched the next stage of the project: raising a total of £40,000 which will enable the construction of 40 homes for villages plus a school.

The founder of the Hampton appeal, Dr Upali Wickrama-Sekera, said that he had grown up in the village of Galle, which had been devastated, and wanted to do something positive to help its re-birth.

Vincent Cable said that he was "delighted to be a patron of the charity. Donors have already been very generous and the project is practical and immediately relevant. I hope a real link can be established between Hampton residents and schools and the new Hampton village in Sri Lanka. This is what humanitarian aid should be about".

Contact Dr Upali Wickrama-Sekera 8941 5054