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At the 7th Annual Global Nonviolence Conference, Detroit, Michigan, USA, a reception and dinner was held on April 17, 2005 to honor this year’s recipients of the prestigious Global Peace Award for “outstanding contribution to nonviolent social change and peacemaking”.

It is now 3 months since the Tsunami hit the shores of Sri Lanka – taking the lives of 40,000 countrymen, injuring another 6000, and leaving nearly a million people homeless. This is a report on Sarvodaya’s 3 month progress, including a day-by-day photo review and a message on the 3 waves of compassion that followed the one of destruction.

Our Sarvodaya family from around the world has joined hands with us to alleviate the suffering of fellow human beings and nature alike. We are humbled by the tasks ahead of us. Those who visit Sarvodaya headquarters even now can see the continuing waves of compassion and generosity. What they rarely see are the frustrations and enduring emotional blankness of families sitting idle in the hot sun of refugee camps…

On behalf of our sisters, brothers and children affected by the tsunami disaster and those of us who stood in solidarity with them I extend to all of you our love and heartfelt thanks for all the spiritual, moral, financial and in kind support you have given to Sarvodaya so far and are expecting to give in the future. Now we are ready to submit specific projects if you are prepared to fund them…

Sarvodaya’s response is currently in phase two of the 5R (Relief, Rehabilitation, Reconstruction, Reconciliation and Reawakening) programme, which will address preventive care, trauma management, income support, re-settlement and later rehabilitation-related response commitments. In the last month Sarvodaya has reached close to about a quarter of all affected people.