KENYA:
 American donors to help Nakuru school...
Student gives back in kind...
Group plans to raise $50,000 for Kenyan students...
KATRINA:
Relief effort isn’t lost in the storm...
SRI LANKA:
State Is Well-represented Among Tsunami Volunteers...
UW-Whitewater Group Seeks to Make a Difference in Sri Lanka...
Delegation headed for Sri Lanka...
Volunteers To Lend Hand In Sri Lanka...
Asian tsunami’s devastation extends to college students...
UW-Whitewater Group Plans Humanitarian Mission to Sri Lanka...
 | KENYA |
American donors to help Nakuru school
(Published Saturday, April 26, 2006)
Steven Mkawale/The Standard
An American organisation has raised $50,000 (Sh3.5 million) for a secondary school in Nakuru District.
The assistance to the school, which was founded by a former Starehe Boys Centre student, comes two weeks after The Standard highlighted the plight of 760 needy boys and girls who cannot afford fees for Government secondary.
In its website, Wrestling the World organisation says it will help to build 10 permanent classrooms at Hopewell High School founded by Vitalice Kahendah.
A group of 12 volunteers will arrive in the country in early August to commission the project, said Phill Klamm, a board member with the organisation.
Wrestling the World hopes to pay for construction of new permanent brick buildings, and buy a 48-acre farm where the school can grow beans and maize, Klamm said.
Yesterday, Kahendah confirmed that work had already begun, adding that students were excited about the project.
"Wrestling the World has shown practical love to those who are in need, and we are truly in need," Kahendah said.
Recently, another group of donors sunk a borehole and commissioned an electricity project at the institution located in the sprawling Barut slums in Nakuru.
Wrestling the World has been to Sri Lanka twice to help rebuild the country after it was devastated by the tsunami in December 2004.
It also sent relief supplies to the southern US states, helping those displaced by hurricane Katrina last year.
Student gives back in kind
Steven Mkawale/The Standard
When Vitalis Kahendah left Starehe Boys Centre in 1992, he felt like he had a debt to repay society.
And like his mentor and role model, the lat Dr Geoffrey Griffin, the 32-year-old food science graduate from Egerton University decided to open a centre to offer free education to the increasing number of KCPE candidates that were unable to join Form One due to lack of fees.
Kahendah, who left college in 1998, first came up with the idea of opening the centre when he was a member of the Nakuru Youth Club.
What started as a pastime at Menengai Social Hall in Nakuru has now grown into a secondary school with 710 students, most of them from poor backgrounds.
Hopewell High School in the sprawling Baruti slums, six kilometers from Nakuru town, relies on volunteers to provide staffing, both as care givers and teachers. The 32 teachers are university graduates and are all unpaid volunteers.
You won't catch Kahendah asleep in front of a television set. When others go for a drink at a local joint, Kahendah is busy preparing lesson plans.
Otherwise he thinks about other ways to help his students by sourcing for financial and material assistance from his friends abroad.
Simply put, Kahendah has a service mentality that does not leave much room for idleness.
"I'm giving back to the community that made me what I am today," said Kahendah when we caught up with him at Hopewell during the commissioning of a school borehole that was sunk with funds from the Latter Day Saint Charities.
Kahendah teamed up with Nelly Muthui, a United States International University computer science graduate to offer hope to the students, who otherwise would have dropped out at Class Eight.
Kahendah, who was amoung the founders of Tumaini House School in Nakuru that the Government took over three years ago, is from a humble background.
His parents died when he was seven years old. He was brought up by relatives in Siaya District.
He attended Segere Primary School and later joined Starehe where he says he learnt to serve the poor and always admired Griffin, who was the director of the centre.
The father of one said after starting Tumaini House School, his urgeto make a bigger impact in the lives of the bright boys and girls did not stop there.
"I knew I was only scratching the surface. I needed to do more, but I had no funds to turn around the lives of hundreds of students who were dropping out of school," he said.
And after the Government took over Tumaini, Kahendah moved on and started Hopewell from scratch.
"I had to do what I had to. I made many contacts in a bid to support many of the children who decided to walk out of the school after the Government took over its running," he said.
Parents were against the Government's move as the Sh1,000 they were paying per term per child shot up to Sh4,500.
"I go assistance from friends to rent a piece of land in Baruti and put up some tin structures to act as classrooms and most of the teachers who I started with followed me," he said.
Kahendah looked for contacts both locally and abroad. "Whenever I got an opportunity to meet influential people, I would mention to them about the bright students from poor families who could not access secondary education due to lack of fees," said Kahendah.
And his efforts bore fruits as people abroad, including a teacher at Hanford West High School in the United States of America who visited Kenya for the first time in the year 2000, offered to help.
The teacher, Darleen Johnson, visited the school where volunteer teachers thaught the promising children for free. She was so impressed that she started the "sponsor-a-teacher" programme when she went back to the United States.
Employees of the Hanford Joint Union School in America have a certain amount of money deducted from their salaries per month to pay allowances to the volunteer teachers at Hopewell High School, says Kahendah.
He says currently 80 teachers in America are donating between $5 and $50 a month, enough to support 20 Hopewell teachers.
The school's parents have also decided to pay Sh1,200 per student per term to enable Kahendah and his team buy learning material.
The school was formally registered last year as an examination centre and produced one A- and two B+ students in the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Education examination.
Latter Day Saint Charities, an America charitable organization, has installed electricity at the school at a cost of Sh1.23 million. The organization has further donated computers worth Sh45,000, bought office furniture at Sh261,000 and cemented the floors of the iron sheet classrooms at a cost of Sh100,000.
Kahendah revealed that the institution had received pledges for the construction of permanent classrooms from another charitable organization know as Wrestle The World and work on the project will begin in August this year.
Kahendah's dream is to see Hopewell grow into a reputable institution like Starehe Boys Centre where children from needy families would benefit through quality education.
And why does he do it? That's a question that doesn't make much sense to Kahendah.
"Why not free secondary education? If everybody found little interesting things to do for the community and focused on it, we would make a considerable difference," he said.
Group plans to raise $50,000 for Kenyan students
(Published Saturday, March 4, 2006)
Mike Heine/The Janesville Gazette
It has been to tsunami-ravaged Sri Lanka twice to help rebuild a devastated country.
It has sent truckloads of supplies to the southern United States, helping those displaced by Hurricane Katrina.
Now, the Whitewater-based philanthropic group known as Wrestling the World is ready to tackle poverty problems in the African country of Kenya.
The organization plans to raise about $50,000 in contributions, using the money to assist Hopewell High School in Nakuru. The school teaches 760 poor Kenyan boys and girls who cannot afford to attend private schools.
"Wrestling the World's mission will help establish Hopewell High School as a permanent center where poor boys and girls from our city of Nakuru and other hardship areas of our country, Kenya, will perpetually get academic refuge and get foster care with the love and attention that they most need," wrote Vitalice Kahendah, Hopewell High School director, in an e-mail.
"What Wrestling the World is doing is practically showing love to fellow human kind who are in need, and we are truly in need," Kahendah wrote. "It is loving your neighbor as thyself."
A group of about 12 volunteers will leave for the school in early August, said Phill Klamm, a board member with the organization.
"It's one of the rare, free schools" in Kenya, Klamm said. "Over the years, they've pieced things together there."
The school is five small, corrugated steel buildings. There are doorframes, but no doors, windows or glass, Klamm said. They recently got electricity, but all plumbing facilities are outside.
Wrestling the World hopes to pay for construction of new brick and mortar buildings, rebuild the school's well system, and create a 48-acre farm where the school can grow beans and maize for student lunches, Klamm said.
"Another group dug the well, which was only set up to provide water for the school," Klamm said. "People from the town and city are using it, as well, and it's taking more of a beating then it's meant to."
For $12,000, Hopewell can rent 48 acres of land and set up a continuous farming operation. Students and staff can then grow their own food in perpetuity and sell the extra harvest for profit on the open market, Klamm said.
"If we get a good harvest, we could be able to give small rations to excessively desperate families whose kids are learners at Hopewell," Kahendah said.
Most of the remaining money will go toward construction of new classroom buildings, Klamm said. Five new classrooms can be built for $4,500 each.
Any money left over will pay for sports equipment for students.
The trip to Kenya will have a deeper meaning for Matt Werner, another Wrestling the World board member.
Werner, a gym teacher at Milton High School and the Red Hawks' wrestling coach, has Kenyan roots. The 27-year-old Werner was adopted as a child, but his birth father is from Kenya.
"I always had a goal of going over there before I turned 30 to try and find out more about my family history," Werner said.
He will head to Kenya with his adopted father about a week earlier than the others to follow his personal quest.
Werner is happy to be helping the country of his heritage, but the excitement hasn't really sunk in yet.
"We thought, 'Why not Kenya?' That's the better question," Werner said, explaining why Wrestling the World chose the Hopewell High School for its next trip. "People tend to gravitate to things that are immediate. Africa has had ongoing problems for how long and nobody really talks about it."
| KATRINA |
Relief effort isn’t lost in the storm
(Published Wednesday, September 7, 2005)
MATT COLBY/UW-Whitewater Royal Purple
With death tolls rising daily in cities across the southern coast following the arrival of Hurricane Katrina’s devastating force, relief efforts have poured from across the country in all forms.
With National Guard forces continuously stretching to the bounds of their capability between the reconstruction of Iraq, and now the reconstruction of our own nation, those able have opened their hearts to the victims of Mother Nature.
Not everyone can give the millions of dollars offered by organizations such as the National Football League; nor can we all be in these cities to assist in the arduous tasks of evacuating, cleaning, and rebuilding entire communities. However, in times of devastation, like that left as Katrina subsides, it is just as important in our state of Wisconsin to offer whatever support we can.
The University of Wisconsin-Whitewater is taking its own stand.
University officials recently agreed to accept students displaced by Hurricane Katrina into UW-Whitewater, offering assistance in finding off-campus housing if dormitories are unavailable.
UW-Whitewater, and the staff involved in the decision should be applauded for at the very least extending their hand to those who would reach out in times of need.
It is not yet known if it will be necessary for students to transfer so far away from their regular universities, but the offer should not go unnoticed.
Just as astounding is the continuing efforts of the UW-Whitewater athletic department as they continue to work in conjunction with Wrestling the World.
The international relief organization, which has already assisted in several missions following the tsunami disaster in Sri-Lanka, is working again to organize donations of clothing and other necessities for those who have lost everything these past weeks.
Movements like Wrestling the World are the foundation of efforts to restore the lives and homes of so many thousands living in close to third-world conditions
While not everyone can afford to hand over his or her college tuition, everyone has something to give. The athletic department has already organized for collections to be made at this Saturday’s contest between the UW-Whitewater Warhawks football team and St. Xavier University of Illinois.
The tsunami disaster in Sri Lanka last year brought out the best in millions, but now, disaster has arrived at the very doorstep of our nation and we, as Americans must respond. So maybe it is time to open up the closet. Even if it’s one shirt, one pair of shorts, one towel that could be passed on to someone without a rag of their own.
If you have nothing to give ask your friends; Phil Klamm, a spokesperson for Wrestling the World said, “Spread the word fast...our friends need us to show our love and care for them in this hard time.” Think of what you would want if you were in their shoes? Maybe its a bed sheet or a blanket...maybe its a favorite small animal...they need our love.
If you can’t get to the game Saturday to drop off your donation, there will be more collection dates.
Wrestling the World is asking everyone, individuals and businesses, to give what they can.
The organization already has contact with refugee camps in Louisiana and Alabama as well as transportation ready to deliver the goods south to these areas. Wrestling the World is suggesting that people donate non-parishable foods, baby supplies, water and gatorade to these camps, but money and clothing is needed as well.
If you are interested in more information on Wrestling the World and its efforts, questions can be e-mailed to Phill.Klamm@wrestlingtheworld.org or call 262-492-0303
Donations may also be made by clicking onto Wrestling the World’s website: http://www.wrestlingtheworld.com
| SRI LANKA |
State Is Well-represented Among Tsunami Volunteers
(Published Monday, June 27, 2005)
Aubre Andrus/Wisconsin State Journal
Six months after the tsunami hit Southeast Asia, students, businesses and organizations throughout Wisconsin are still hard at work raising money and donating time to help with reconstruction efforts overseas.
Two organizations have gone above and beyond fundraisers by visiting the destruction -- meeting victims of the disaster, rebuilding towns and creating blueprints to give Southeast Asia hope for an improved future.
Whitewater-based Wrestling the World formed in January when three wrestlers set a goal to raise $50,000 and travel to Southeast Asia to "take down the tsunami" and help victims of the natural disaster.
Now less than 6 months old, the nonprofit organization has raised almost $100,000 and is planning its second trip to Sri Lanka at the end of July.
Organization co-founder and UW-Whitewater assistant wrestling coach Phill Klamm said support for the group now comes from seven states, and it has gained popularity through e-mails, phone calls and its Web site, wrestlingtheworld.org.
The organization is not limited to wrestlers but is for "anybody and everybody" who would like to get involved in the cause, Klamm said.
The group raises money by selling T-shirts and bracelets and through fundraisers at schools.
During the group's trip to Sri Lanka over spring break, 15 members completed projects at six schools including cleaning up garbage, building a swing set, doing electrical work and buying instruments and track uniforms.
"We did basically whatever was needed," Klamm said.
During an upcoming 12-day trip, the group plans to visit an orphanage.
Madison civil and environmental engineering company BT2 was already set to travel to Southeast Asia to analyze environmental and engineering needs of the area before disaster struck, but their plans took on a whole new importance after the tsunami.
BT2's focus was "rearranged" from long-term needs such as clean water, better urban planning and new waste management practices, to reconstruction efforts, said Ray Tierney.
Tierney traveled to Southeast Asia for two weeks in April and is planning another trip in September.
Although there is a "crushing" need for reconstruction in Sri Lanka, the country is working to not just recreate the past, but to improve the area, Tierney said.
"I give them an awful lot of credit. The country is on the cusp of great things happening to it," Tierney said. "I'm hopeful for it."
UW-Whitewater Group Seeks to Make a Difference in Sri Lanka
(Published Wednesday, March 9, 2005)
Tom Pattison/University of Wisconsin Whitewater
For the average college student, spring break is normally a time to get away and reenergize before the homestretch of the academic year. For a UW-Whitewater-based group, however, getting away over spring break means traveling halfway around the world in an effort to aid Sri Lankan tsunami victims.
The group Wrestling the World is poised for its humanitarian mission to the tsunami-ravaged country of Sri Lanka, The group, spearheaded by UW-Whitewater assistant wrestling coach Phill Klamm, is taking a proactive approach in assisting residents of the Indian Ocean nation. Klamm, along with former UW-Whitewater wrestlers Matt Werner, Tony Wright and Tony Graziano, organized the non-profit organization just days following the Dec. 26, 2004, tsunami that killed more than 31,000 people on the island nation located just south of India.
The nonprofit group set an ambitious fundraising goal of $50,000 to make their spring break mission to Sri Lanka a reality. An early March donation of $10,000 by St. Benedict's Church in Fontana pushed the group over the $50,000 plateau with continued fundraising. While receiving large donations is imperative in reaching the lofty fundraising goal, it is the grass-roots level fundraising that has set the tone for the humanitarian effort.
"We're very excited about reaching our fundraising goal," Klamm said. "Since the inception of the Sri Lanka project, we have received plenty of positive media attention throughout southern Wisconsin and northern Illinois along with phenomenal support from area schools, churches and businesses."
The members of Wrestling the World will depart from O'Hare airport in Chicago on March 16 to the destination of Matara, Sri Lanka.
There are three major Sri Lankan projects planned for the group.
Klamm says the group's first destination in Sri Lanka will be the University of Ruhuna where the group will be joined by 50 university students to help give the university a much-needed paint job.
They will then head to the organization's original destination, St. Mary's School in Matara, where they will construct a playground.
"We want to give the children a way to have fun and to let them know that there are people across the world that care about them." Klamm said.
The group will also spend two days at Sambohdi Home in Galle, Sri Lanka. A home for children and adults with cognitive disabilities, the residents have been forced to live in substandard conditions since the tsunami.
"Forty of the residents tragically lost their lives as the result of the ," Klamm said. "We hope to raise the level of expectation in our visit to the facility. We will be providing Sambodhi Home with on-site work cleaning up the facility along with humanitarian funding. We want to show them that this is the way to do it."
The group will also be taking donations such as balls, stuffed animals, candy, balloons and school supplies to deliver to Sri Lankan children in an attempt to lift some spirits at nighttime.
"We are also considering development of a scholarship that will allow one or two University of Ruhuna students to travel to the United States to meet the people that made Wrestling the World's humanitarian mission a reality," Klamm said.
The group's mission has also caught the eyes of former Presidents George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton who were named earlier this year to lead the official United States fundraising drive for tsunami victims. In a February 23 letter to Wrestling the World, the elder Bush acknowledged the group's humanitarian effort.
"President Clinton and I were thrilled when we got word about your willingness to help. Thank you for your generosity and your compassion. You exemplify what is best about our country, caring for others," Bush said.
Following the words of world-renowned anthropologist Margaret Mead, "Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed citizens can change the world: indeed it's the only thing that ever has, Wrestling the World is set to embark on its humanitarian mission to the faraway land of Sri Lanka.
To make a donation, or to learn more about this month's Sri Lankan trip, visit the group's Web site at http://www.wrestlingtheworld.org.
Delegation headed for Sri Lanka
(Published Monday, February 28, 2005)
Chris Schultz/The Janesville Gazette
WALWORTH-Matt Werner is a hard man to track down.
He's been busy lately, working with his Milton High School wrestling team and also preparing to come to grips with tsunami damage in southern Sri Lanka.
On March 16, Matt and his sister, Melea Renk, will join 12 other young professionals from the Whitewater and Madison areas on their way to spend spring break in Matara in southern Sri Lanka to help the people there recover from the tsunami that hit Dec. 26.
Willie Meyers, retired UW-Whitewater wrestling coach and athletic director, will lead the group.
Until they board the bus at Janesville for the trip to O'Hare International Airport in Chicago, Matt and others in the group will be trying to raise $50,000 in cash and goods to take with them to Sri Lanka to help clean up and rebuild.
When finally reached on his cell phone, Matt had just finished speaking to a kindergarten class at Harmony Elementary School in Milton. He was due next at Milton West Elementary School for another speaking engagement before heading back to the high school for wrestling practice.
The Sri Lanka trip was first conceived Jan. 1, Matt said. He credited his friend and former UW-Whitewater wrestling teammate, Phil Kamm, with coming up with the idea.
"We both had a professor in our freshman year (at Whitewater) who was from Sri Lanka," Matt said.
Matt and Melea, the adopted children of Steve and Patricia Werner of Walworth, were standout athletes at Big Foot High School. Melea was an All-Rock Valley Conference softball pitcher who graduated in 1995. Matt was a four-time Rock Valley Conference wrestling champion who graduated in 1996.
Matt, of Whitewater, teaches at Milton High School and also serves as assistant coach for the girls soccer team and co-coach of the wrestling team. Melea is a kindergarten teacher at Lakeview Elementary School in Madison. She and her husband, Brandon, live in Madison.
Melea said that she was interested in going to Sri Lanka because of her Asian heritage, and just a desire to help others.
But it's more than just a desire. She and the others who are going to Sri Lanka are paying their own way, she said.
The money raised will pay for building materials for the school, school supplies for the students and toys and candy for area orphanages. The tsunami created a lot of orphans, she said.
Melea said many local businesses and groups, including Rocky Rococo and Culver's restaurants in Whitewater, have had or are planning benefits to donate money to the Sri Lanka trip.
Until late last year, Matara in southern Sri Lanka was a tourist paradise. The tsunami that swept across Pacific coastal towns Dec. 26 transformed Matara from a desirable destination to a scene of devastation.
Matt said the group, which calls itself Wrestling the World, plans to help repair St. Mary's School in Matara-a K-12 school building that suffered extensive damage when the giant wave struck.
When the 14 volunteers arrive in Matara, 50 Sri Lankan college students are scheduled to join them and assist with rebuilding the school, Matt said.
While they're at it, Wrestling the World will also build a new playground and deliver toys and candy to local orphanages and buy some new band instruments for St. Mary's students to replace those lost in the tsunami.
The group will leave Wednesday, March 16, and spend about 10 days helping the locals. They plan to be back in the states by Sunday, March 27.
Professors at UW-Whitewater and UW-Madison who are from Sri Lanka helped the group select where they could help, Matt said.
This isn't the first time Matt has reached out to others.
In spring 2003, he and Kamm collected $15,000 in cash, food and clothing with the help of Big Foot High School and the UW-Whitewater community. They then drove down to Pierce, Mo., which had suffered extensive damage from a tornado.
Matt said he and Kamm were at a point in their lives when they had the time and energy to just pick up and help others. He said they spent two days working without sleep to help the locals with cleanup and repair.
"I think we did it without knowing what impact we'd have," Matt said.
Tired, unshaved and unshowered, they went to a local VFW hall for dinner and were greeted with hugs and free meals from Pierce residents who wanted to meet and thank the two Wisconsin men who came to help.
Those same Pierce, Mo., folks are now helping to raise the $50,000 Matt and others in Wrestling the World want to raise to help the tsunami victims in Sri Lanka.
Now the two are exploring the idea of turning Wrestling the World into a permanent charity that will raise money to send helpers wherever relief work is needed around the world.
Volunteers To Lend Hand In Sri Lanka
Ex-UW-Whitewater Wrestlers Involved.
(Published Sunday, January 30, 2005)
Amanda Kramer/Wisconsin State Journal
Madison teacher Melea Renk says it's time to step up to the plate.
"I've never really helped anyone outside of my circle before," Renk, a Lakeview Elementary kindergarten teacher said. "But I think I have a lot to give."
Renk and a group of 12 friends, teachers, businesspeople and former UW-Whitewater wrestlers -- one of whom is Renk's brother -- will travel to Matara, Sri Lanka, in March to help rebuild a school devastated by the tsunami that hit Southeast Asia in December.
Phill Klamm, UW-Whitewater's assistant wrestling coach, organized the effort along with former wrestlers Matt Werner, Tony Wright and Tony Graziano.
"We want to get our hands dirty," Klamm said. "And we'll go there and do what has to get done."
The nonprofit group, calling itself "Wrestling the World," is set to leave March 17 and will make a 22-hour flight, as well as a five-hour land journey to get to the town. They are planning to stay for a week, but Klamm said some group members hope to stay longer.
The group will visit refugee camps and orphanages and help repair St. Mary's School, a private facility that enrolls a large number of children now displaced by the disaster.
"The school is still standing, but windows are broken and doors and furniture are damaged," Klamm said.
Klamm said the group will donate supplies and toys to the school. They will also help build -- and finance -- a new computer lab for St. Mary's students.
To cover construction and trip costs, Klamm is hoping to raise $50,000 from donors throughout Wisconsin over the next six weeks.
He has created a Web site, www.wrestlingtheworld.org where he keeps an extensive report of work that the nonprofit is doing to get ready for the trip, as well as the status of St. Mary's and pictures of the devastated school. For a $20 contribution, Web site visitors can buy "Wrestling the World" T-shirts.
The group has distributed coin jars to a number of schools in the Whitewater, Madison and Milton districts for donations. They've also created a donation "luggage" area in the schools where students can fill up old luggage with new supplies and toys for children in Matara.
Rocky Rococo's pizza in Whitewater recently hosted a benefit buffet for "Wrestling the World." A portion of the proceeds from the 370 meals purchased at the buffet was donated to the organization. The contribution helped raise the group's current cash total to just over $5,000.
On Feb. 22, Culver's in Whitewater will host a "10-percent Day"; 10 percent of the restaurant's profits will be donated to "Wrestling the World."
Manager Stacy Stork said Culver's is more than happy to help the group.
"I think it's really wonderful what they're trying to do," Stork said. "The (Sri Lankan) people can use the help. They've just lost so much."
Asian tsunami’s devastation extends to college students
(Published Monday, January 17, 2005)
James Davison/The Badger Herald
The days following the devastation of the Dec. 26 Indian Ocean tsunamis have seen unprecedented support from around the world. This support has extended to college students from around the United States, who, despite being limited by winter breaks, have organized immense support — donating time, effort, supplies and money.
Many University of Michigan students, who began classes Dec. 5, have rapidly developed several campaigns to help aid the victims from halfway around the world.
Senior Hershey Jayasuriya developed a coalition group named Tsunami Aid with a fellow Michigan student, which has coordinated the efforts of nearly 100 organizations on the Ann Arbor campus. Jayasuriya said the group, which has also organized fundraising efforts and a vigil for tsunami victims, has drawn a tremendous student response.
They began by simply sending out e-mails to various student organizations and holding an initial meeting.
“We were not expecting to get the number [of responses] we did,” Jayasuriya said. “[Students have] a driving force to help.”
Jayasuriya, a native of Sri Lanka, decided to get involved after a large portion of her extended family lost their lives to the tsunami.
“I lost everyone on my father’s side but one aunt,” she said. “I wanted to do something to help me cope with my own loss … I like to get involved.”
Jayasuriya said university administration was instrumental in creating an environment conducive to student support.
Many universities around the country, including the Universities of Michigan and Wisconsin, sent e-mails and set up websites encouraging students to help.
University of Wisconsin System spokesperson Doug Bradley said the same level of student activity has not happened yet in the UW System because the disaster occurred while most students were away on break.
“Given that it happened over the holidays … people are [helping] privately, through churches or relief organizations,” he said. “I am hoping when classes start, we will start to hear some more.”
However, Phill Klamm, an assistant wrestling coach and lecturer at UW-Whitewater, has started his own project he hopes will involve students when they return.
Klamm started the project called “Take Down the Tsunami” within his newly founded organization, “Wrestling the World.” Klamm, several other teachers and two UW-Whitewater students will travel to Matara, Sri Lanka, during spring break in March to help repair a damaged school. They also set a goal to raise $50,000 and 700 pounds of school supplies.
Klamm said when classes start Tuesday, he hopes to involve more students in fundraising and other forms of support.
“Once school starts, so many more people will be back in town … [and] so many student organizations will want to help,” he said. “College students are a great group of people.”
While some college students are choosing to travel to affected areas to volunteer, Nancy Strassburg, communications manager for the Madison Red Cross, said the primary conduit for help is currently financial aid.
“Financial contributions translate into what is really affected by this disaster,” Strassburg said.
Indonesian universities disrupted
Syiah Kuala University in the Indonesian province of Aceh has had classes suspended indefinitely, according to the Chronicle of Higher Education. Many students and faculty have died, and most university buildings were severely damaged in the tsunami’s path of destruction.
Another university in Aceh, the Institut Agama Islam Negri, was also severely damaged, according to the Chronicle.
To help alleviate some students’ losses, The Jakarta Post reported that the University of Indonesia has decided to waive tuition for Acehnese students who have lost their parents.
UW-Whitewater Group Plans Humanitarian Mission to Sri Lanka
(Published Monday, January 12, 2005)
Tom Pattison/University of Wisconsin Whitewater
A group of area educators, spearheaded by University of Wisconsin-Whitewater assistant wrestling coach Phill Klamm, is taking a proactive humanitarian aid approach towards the victims of tsunami-ravaged Sri Lanka.
Klamm, along with former UW-Whitewater wrestlers Matt Werner, Tony Wright and Tony Graziano, have organized the non-profit group named Wrestling the World, and has billed its relief effort Taking Down the Tsunami. On March 17, 2005, the group will travel to Matara, Sri Lanka and spend spring break helping rebuild St. Mary’s school that was devastated by the tsunami.
The catastrophic tsunami killed nearly 31,000 people on the island nation located just south of India. More than 4,000 are still missing and more than 600,000 people are still homeless.
Less than a week after the December 26, 2004 disaster, the group officially mobilized in an effort to assist the Sri Lankan victims of the devastating tsunami. The group has created a website as a means of fundraising and educating the public on its humanitarian mission to Sri Lanka.
“We are pooling our talents in an effort to make a difference,” Klamm said. “Seven of the ten people in our group are educators with ties to UW-Whitewater. The other three are involved in the cause due largely to their passion for children’s causes. Our primary goal right now is to raise funds for the humanitarian effort.”
“People ask us why we don’t just give money to the Red Cross since they are already over there,” Klamm said. “We really want to make a difference. We want the proactive experience of traveling to Sri Lanka and help residents rebuild St. Mary’s school in Matara. I think there are a lot of people who would like to know exactly where their donations are going."
When the group returns, participants intend to speak to civic groups and area schools and report their work back to donors.
This is not the first time the group has come to the aid of disaster victims. In the spring of 2002, several members of the current group assisted victims of a deadly tornado that devastated the small community of Pierce City, Missouri.
“In a three-day period, we raised funds and then drove a truck, U-Haul and trailer full of much-needed supplies to the town of 1,400 people located in southern Missouri,” Klamm said. “They had no idea who we were, but to see the look on their faces was thank you enough. It made the effort extremely gratifying.”
To make a donation, or to find out more about Wrestling the World’s Sri Lankan humanitarian effort, please check out their website: www.wrestlingtheworld.org.
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