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In January and February, Caterer joined forces with United Nations charity Unicef to raise money for the victims of the Indian Ocean tsunami. The fundraising effort Unichef, the brainchild of two-Michelin-starred chef Philip Howard, raised £330,000. Last month, nearly six months after the tragedy, Caterer visited Sri Lanka with Unicef to see how the money you raised was spent. This week and next, James Gamer reports on how the country, the people and the tourism industry are recovering
On Boxing Day 2004 the biggest tsunami in living memory ravaged the countries that surround the Indian Ocean. Sri Lanka was one of the countries hit hardest by the tragedy. Once a developing holiday paradise, it was ripped apart by the giant waves that took more than 31,000 lives and left half-a-million people homeless.
The harrowing TV coverage of the disaster at the beginning of this year can prepare you for what you see there, but the pictures don't give any indication of the scale of devastation.
The reality is that mile upon mile of wreckage and other visible reminders of the aftermath remain. The coastline is littered with houses reduced to rubble, and dotted by emergency camps filled with thousands of homeless people.
But it's not all despair in Sri Lanka. There is hope, and it's thanks to your help in contributing more than £330,000 to Unichef that the country has not suffered more. Despite the challenges that face them, I saw hope in the eyes of children who had lost brothers, sisters, mothers and fathers. As they sat in crowded classrooms with Unicefbranded schoolbooks, the smiles on their faces said it all - they were clearly grateful that their lives were returning to some sort of normality.
The immediate post-tsunami period saw an enormous relief effort, which was hugely successful: no more children died, and 85% of 200,000 displaced children were back at school by the end of January, within a month of the disaster. These successes were thanks to phenomenal efforts within the country by non-government organisations (NGOs) such as Unicef and huge numbers of Sri Lankan volunteers.
Unicef moved quickly to set up temporary schools for the 200,000 children who had attended the 184 schools that were destroyed. The temporary schools...