Posted on Sep 28, 2005 | by Staff

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (BP)--Southern Baptists have given more than $16.6 million so far to aid Asian tsunami survivors through the International Mission Board’s disaster relief fund.

These gifts -- distributed through missionaries, volunteers and local Christians -- have helped tsunami survivors throughout southern Asia. The following is a partial list of ways relief donations have helped people rebuild their lives in the island country of Sri Lanka:

-- $3.25 replaced a school uniform.

-- $4.65 bought a mosquito net to cover a double bed.

-- $5 bought 20 large banana trees to restart an orchard.

-- $8.75 provided a family with a sanitary kit that included a large trash bin, a small bucket, a toilet brush, a bottle of liquid soap, a laminated sign explaining the need to wash hands and a plastic jug for carrying water.

-- $10 provided a family with a packet of rice, sugar, lentils, salt, Soya meat, dried fish, canned salmon, tea, soap and toothpaste -– enough to last five days.

-- $10 bought tools for a carpenter.

-- $12 provided a family with a cooking set that included a rice cooker, teakettle, small pitcher, butcher knife, coconut shredder, tea strainer, dishpan, four plates and four cups.

-- $14 bought a concrete cylinder used to repair wells or build new ones.

-- $20 bought a machine to help village women make coconut twine.

-- $25 bought a double mattress for a family.

-- $200 put a woman back into the spice-grinding business.

-- $240 bought a zigzag sewing machine for a seamstress.

-- $285 bought a machine for making concrete blocks.

-- $1,564 built a chicken coop and bought 300 baby chicks.

-- $2,500 built a permanent house.

-- $3,255 rebuilt and stocked a bakery.

-- $7,500 helped solve a whole community’s drainage problems.

-- $8,543 refurbished a fishing boat that employs five fishermen.

Donations for ongoing tsunami aid efforts can be sent by check, payable to the International Mission Board and designated “Asia Earthquake Disaster Relief” on the memo line, to International Mission Board, World Hunger & Relief Ministries, P.O. Box 6767, Richmond, VA 23230.
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