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quality of life for the people of Sri
Lanka. Central to the program is
the principie of self-help along with
the active participation of those at
the very grass roots of society.
The costly project has been a
bold undertaking for a small coun–
try. But with the help of technical
aid, loans and direct grants from
friendly nations, the vast project is
well on the way to comptetion.
Nearly 70,000 families experi–
enced in agriculture have already
been resettled in the Mahaweli
Development area . They have
reclaimed long-dormant farmlands
from centuries of encroachment by
the jungle. With simple hand tools
they cleared the old canals and dug
new ones to bring water to their
farms.
These new settlers are beginning
to know prosperity for the first
time in their lives. They now have
land, a home, an income and the
future looks brighter.
Many have moved beyond basic
rice culture into growing other
crops: chilies, maize or corn, pep–
pers, peanuts and cotton. Sorne are
forming companies to service the
growing export market to nearby
India and the Middle East.
Largely because of the Mahaweli
project, Sri Lanka is becoming an
important food exporting nation.
As news of their newfound prosper–
ity spreads, new settlers venture
into the irrigated areas eager to
share t he rewards of hard work and
enterprise.
Eventually 250,000 families,
about 11 percent of Sri Lanka's
population, will be settled onto tand
opened up by the Mahaweli Devel–
opment Program.
Village Reawakening
A second ambitious program to
eradicate poverty in the villages
was launched by Prime Minister
Ranasinghe Premadasa. Nearly 80
percent of the population live in
rural areas. Villages were run–
down, and the houses old and inad–
equate. Many Sri Lankan farmers
were abandoning their farms and
migrating to the cities in search of
work. The result was congested
slums, growing urban unemploy–
ment and increasing crime and dis–
ease.
The Village Reawakening Pro-
gram was launched to stop the drift
to the cities. (Other nations should
take note!) Like the Mahaweli Pro–
gram, it is a self-help program,
encouraging the people to rely on
themselves and utilize local re–
sources rather than depend on gov–
ernment handouts.
The Village Reawakening Pro–
gram provides rural villagers with
an opportunity to upgrade their
environment to the same standard
as the urban areas and the incentive
to own their own bornes. The
scheme was launched in 1978. To
date 150,000 new homes have been
built and 270 villages have been
newty established or reconstructed.
Sri Lanka has thus become one of
the first developing nations to
reverse the t rend toward urban
migration.
The Village Reawakening Pro–
gram is more than just a housing
project. The organizers recognize
that if al! they do is to move people
into new houses, no real progress
would be made. The aim is to
develop the whole man- materi–
ally, socially and morally. The
housing scheme provides an um–
brella under which this can take
place.
A vital ingredient to the success
of the program is the participation
of the rural villagers themselves.
The state provides building materi–
als, technical expertise and, if nec–
essary, the land. The villager is
required to construct the house
himself
with the help of fellow vil–
lagers. The government then recov–
ers the cost from the owner in small
interest-free installments over a
period of years.
Wherever possible, building ma–
terials sucb as bricks and cement
blocks are locally manufactured,
thus reinforcing the concept of self–
help and generating employment.
Education-Key to the Future
The Village Reawakening Program
seeks to
educate
the village folk to
improve al! aspects of their lives.
The most valuable resource, after
the people themselves, is their land.
But in many villages the land has
not been utilized properly, and in
sorne not at al!.
Experts are made available to
teach villagers how to manage a
small farm. Rice and other cash
The
PLAIN TRUTH