October 28, 2006

Floods

"Heavy rains has been a huge disaster to Gokulam for these two years. We thought the November 2005 flood was the last we would ever see here. And even after the precautionary works such as raising the ground level etc, the flood has not only returned unexpectedly but it has exceeded the previous level by two folds" (Nandarani Devi, Principal)

At 11pm on the 28th October 2006, in a matter of a few hours the water level rose rapidly to 4ft inside the ground floor buildings. The children and the caretakers in the ground floor dormitory had to hurriedly shift their belongings to the upper dormitories. However, no proper action could be taken until the next morning.


Doors, furniture, cupboards, books, washing machine, refrigerators etc has been damaged by this flood.


This flood has not only been a disaster to Gokulam, but also to the whole area including hospitals, schools, residencies etc situated, for many of who this flood was a first experience. The flood level was so high that even the main airport road on which Gokulam is situated was not accessible for a day.


After lasting for 4 days, the flood has finally gone down. However, Gokulam wont be back to its normal state for another week or so, as there is the cleaning and disinfecting. And after that the damages have to be repaired which is estimated to cost at least SLR 1 million (USD 10,000).

October 26, 2006

Dwight Englewood's continuous support

Dwight Englewood continues to sponsor 5 children from 2007-2009 and have given US$4000.