Community Members Link with Tourists to Support Those Most in Need

by Anna Williams*

Village Profile
Unawatuna is a quiet picturesque bay located near Galle in southern Sri Lanka. Most community members depend on tourism for their livelihoods, although occupations determine the mode through which they receive their income. Small guesthouse and restaurant owners are the most well off, then come petty shop owners, street and beach vendors and fishermen. The Tsunami destroyed all property along the coast, eliminating residents’ primary source of income. Hotel and restaurant owners challenged the government by obtaining loans and rebuilding against new restrictions. However, many of the poorest residents remain in temporary shelters without access to loans or knowledge of when they will be allotted houses. A number of innovative community initiatives have helped to bring Unawatuna’s economy back onto its feet and ensure that the most vulnerable residents reap the benefits.

Community Initiatives
Lal Jayantha owns and runs a small guesthouse on the beach with 3 of his 4 brothers and 2 of his 4 sisters. He uses an auto rickshaw for transportation and to transport tourists throughout Unawatuna and to Galle and back. At the time of the Tsunami he saw the first wave hit and alerted his family working in the kitchen. Then he hopped in his rickshaw to warn his neighbors who had a 3-month-old baby. As they collected their things, the second, larger wave hit and the family was immediately swept away. Lal survived by holding onto a tree and soon met up with the rest of his family who had sought shelter in the town temple. Since the day his property was destroyed he has struggled to get his family’s livelihood back on its feet.

Lal rejected the government’s restriction from rebuilding within 100 meters of the seashore and, by doing so, gave up the opportunity to receive the 100,000 Sri Lankan rupee government concession. Instead, he obtained a loan from a local bank, with a special interest rate for people affected by the Tsunami. It took 6 months for the loan application to be approved, but Lal never gave up. He was determined to not put himself in the hands of the government’s ineffective rehabilitation program that would have prevented his family from pursuing its traditional livelihood. Within 3 months of obtaining the loan, he renovated his property and reopened for business. Now he uses his rickshaw to take tourists who want to help out to temporary shelters. He says that tourists and foreign donors have been very effective at helping those who lost everything. They have supplied furniture, kitchen supplies, fans and construction materials to people who were haphazardly placed in square wooden box-like shelters without kitchens or bathrooms. He plans to continue supporting temporary shelter communities through linking them with tourists.

The Unawatuna Tourism Development Society (UTDS) is another innovative community program residents created to support vulnerable groups. The society started in September 2004 as a group of 20 small hotel and restaurant owners with links to European funding organizations who wanted to better their community. After the Tsunami, they organized a major cleaning campaign which has turned into a regular program that supports locals to keep the beach and surrounding areas clean. They also started extensive free programs for children that include art, music, dance, computer training and employment facilitation. The programs enrich children’s minds through exposure to the arts and provide psychosocial support.

“We only want the children to be happy. If they are happy, we are happy. Now they don’t think about the Tsunami,” - Hiresha, UTDS Child Development Project Officer.

Other programs include offering low interest loans and working with the government to establish an early warning system. In the future they plan to expand their lending base and build a state of the art community center for children.

Women’s Involvement
Since the Tsunami, women have organized into credit collectives, participated in business management trainings and began taking out loans to start or rebuild their businesses. A local NGO provided the financial support but the women decided who should take the first loans based on stated need. Groups consist of women who manage hotels, run fruit stands and sell clothing and handicrafts on the beach. When the group was deciding who should receive the first batch of loan money, one empowered female hotel owner, Priyanka, said the criteria should be based on what people say they need. Collectively, the women then decided that priority should be given to women who want to start businesses for the first time. Most of these women are not and will never own or run hotels. They do plan to invest, however, in opening small shops or buying material to sew into clothes that tourists may want to buy. According to the group’s consensus, previous business owners may be considered for the next batch of loan money.

Priyanka showed particular resilience in the face of post-Tsunami recovery challenges. A single mother, she lost her house and hotel and was told she would not be permitted to rebuild. She ignored the government warnings, moved in with a friend and put up a new hotel. Family members financed it initially, but later she obtained a loan from the UTDS. When a couple of loan slots became available for the first batch of loan money form her credit collective members chose her to fill a slot as a reward for her suggestion that the first set of loans be based on people’s stated need. The group had recognized the importance of trusting one another’s stated needs and supporting each other to meet them.

* Anna Williams, Masters Student in International Affairs, New School University.

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