S2T and SSN support Miridiya

Augustus 2022
Miridiya wil de jeugd leren zorgvuldig met de natuur om te gaan. Deze maand was er een dag van de natuureducatie.

September 2021 Coconut trees planted

With the help of Wilde Ganzen, S2T and SSN Miridiya could buy and prepare the land.

June 2021 Zooming makes contact possible and small activities for children

S2T and SSN gave each village a tablet. Sometimes we joined!

Miridiya aims at education in fisherman's villages on topics relevant to:

awareness builddling
harmonious living, importance of solidarity and respect for each other and regulations
community building and mutual support
human rights
environmental protection
budgeting,indebtedness and the importance of saving
youth and children programs

Manoj, Sister Marlene and Kamani

History

The work of Miridiyah started in 2003 when Sister Marlene Perera got involved in the activities of the fisherman's villages around Parakrama Samudra, a wewa or big tank near Polonnaruwa.

The purpose of a wewa is feeding the paddy fields in the dry zone, thus increasing the rice production. The Irrigation Department is responsible for the maintenance of the big wewas and canals.Fishing is allowed under strict regulations. The fishermen have to work together in cooperatives.

When Sister Marlene commenced work in the hamlets, the whole industry was in turmoil, with many a dispute, disunity, animosities and growing distrust among the fishers of the hamlets due to illegal activities, stealing of fishing nets and other gear and the lethargy of the fisheries official at the time. After hard work with interested men and women of the villages and the help of NAFSO, the National Fisheries Solidarity Organisation, she succeeded in reviving the cooperatives.

From there on, slowly the work expanded, and more villages asked for help to solve their problems.

Manoj Silva en Kamani became the coordinators of the work and Manoj continued as the manager when Sister Marlene had to finish working in 2016.

Activities for adults, mostly women.

Now the main activities in the 8 villages and three tanks where Miridiya works, are:
- Awareness programs with adults and youth
- Education about sustainable agriculture, planting seeds, creating home gardens with vegetables etc
- Loans and selfhelp-programs
- Scholarships
- Members help the poor and elderly with food parcels
- Computerlessons
- Supplying waterfilters in villages with polluted water.
- Organizing camps for youth and children to build inter-faith and intercultural understanding and cooperation
- Lobbying and advocacy on urgent matters for fishermen and farmers