CHRISTMAS came five days early for Sri Lankan Mr Upul Hettiarachi, 31, a nurse in his country's navy. His son was 23 days old when the tsunami struck on Dec 26 two years ago, wiping out his village. Since then, the family has lived in temporary shelters and huts.
Last week, as he and his family moved into their new two-bedroom home in a compound called The S ingapore Village in Ahangama, Mr Urul's joy was reflected in the faces of 160 families who also received new homes.

Backed by donations from Singaporeans, the Singapore Sinhala Association built new homes in Ahangama, and the Mahakaruna Buddhist Society new homes in Peraliya, for some of the Sri Lankan communities devastated by the December 2004 tsunami. These were handed over last week.

Tomorrow, on the second anniversary of the disaster that killed about 220,000 people in 12 countries, another Singaporean-led project opens in Matara, an old fort town on Sri Lanka's south coast. A new youth centre houses an orphanage and will offer counselling and vocational programmes.

The three projects, which cost over $3 million, were funded from the $88 million collected from Singaporeans for tsunami victims. Of this, $1 million was donated by the Singapore Government.

About $4 million was spent during the emergency response in the immediate aftermath of the tsunami, leaving $84 million for reconstruction projects.

About 70 per cent - $62 million - of the Singapore Red Cross' Tidal Waves Asia Fund (TWAF) has been committed to 61 humanitarian projects led by Singapore voluntary welfare and non-governmental organisations (NGOs).

More than half the projects are in Indonesia, the rest in Sri Lanka and the Maldives. Some are multi-million dollar projects, while others are small but equally necessary.

In Indonesia, Aceh has received the lion's share of the aid, mainly because of its proximity and similarities in culture and language, said a Red Cross senior operations manager, Mr Christopher Chua.

Most of the funds from the TWAF were channelled through the Singapore Red Cross (SRC) Society, Habitat for Humanity Singapore and the Singapore International Foundation (SIF).

Habitat Singapore is building 1,500 houses in Aceh, of which about 800 are complete.

SIF has focused on community services and education in Indonesia and Sri Lanka, building community centres, an orphanage and schools, and sending in volunteers to interact with the children.

SRC is active in health, education and economic recovery projects in Indonesia, where it has built maternity and dental clinics. It partnered the Singapore Government to build a pier in Meulaboh, and water distribution networks in the Maldives. It is helping to build a $5 million 'Friendship Village' in Aceh Jaya.

Singapore's smaller groups have been just as active. Life Community Development donated library books and mango seedlings in the Maldives. The Singapore-based World Toilet Organisation kick-started sanitation education, and built public toilets in Banda Aceh and Meulaboh.

Rebuilding lost capacity over the long-term is also a priority.The Alexandra, KK Women's and Children's and Singapore General Hospitals have formed a technical assistance team to train health-care professionals and help re-establish health services in Aceh.

Backing the efforts of NGOs and VWOs in the stricken areas are hundreds of volunteers from Singapore, comprising retirees, students, professionals and religious groups.

Retired prisons officer Abdul Wahab Tahir, 58, the Mercy Relief liaison officer in West Aceh, is among the handful of Singaporeans who have relocated to disaster territory.

His Mercy Relief office in Meulaboh is open 24/7, and locals drop by often to learn how to improve their lives, he said. 'They haven't forgotten that Singaporeans were the pioneers who opened up the west part of Aceh, cleared the ground for other humanitarian relief groups to come and built the pier so that they could get supplies of building materials.'

And, amid the suffering, love has also blossomed.

It was while helping out in Aceh that Singaporean volunteers Chia Song Yuan, 29, and Neo Chia Ying, 26, both teachers, fell in love - first, with the Acehnese children traumatised by the disaster, and then with each other. They were married in July and are spending Christmas with children at a school rebuilt using donations from Singapore.

Speaking from Aceh, Ms Neo, who is expecting their first child, said: 'If not for these volunteer projects, our paths would not have crossed. I'm thankful we share a passion for communitywork.'

the Straits Times/Asia News Network