Haiti's earthquake aftermath is receiving global attention, calling to mind another disaster that is still in the recovery stage - one with a Prince George attachment.
The Boxing Day tsunami that swamped Southeast Asia and the eastern seaboard of Africa in 2004 was perhaps the incident that best motivated the world community to fall into lockstep on rescue and recovery efforts.
Prince George's Kristin Johnson, then 21, was there that day doing missionary work in Sri Lanka. Alongside her was good friend Nishanthe Kandangama. They were working together to better the lives of Sri Lankan children when the waves hit, and in the months and years that followed, their passion to uplift the lives of Sri Lankans in great need became a shared personal passion. They were married and now split their time between Sri Lanka and Canada.
On Saturday the couple was back in Prince George for an art exhibition at Westside Family Fellowship church showing the paintings done by Nishanthe, with the proceeds going to fund Dream Life Charity, their own project.
This proposed children's centre in Kandy, Sri Lanka would be their base for teaching such things as English, computer, crafts, art, life skills, and other needed subjects.
"It was in August of 2009 that we purchased an acre of land in the village where we had been doing our previous mission work for the past few years," said Kristin Kandangama. "We didn't know how we could afford a $38,000 purchase after just arriving in Canada and with trying to get own lives settled. But we took a step of faith and with the support of others as of today we have paid $11,500 towards the payment of this land. We hope to have it all paid off by September of 2010."
A lot of the money they have already raised for the parcel of land in Kandy has come from the sale of Nishanthe's paintings. They can now trace the sale of his paintings to at least six countries in all hemispheres. They make no prints, selling exclusively single copy originals. They also do custom orders.
Kristin makes handmade greeting cards for the same purpose. She has been working as a sort of manager for the Canadian side of their philanthropy.
"Nishanthe has a great talent and through making friendships and connections he has had many requests for special orders as well," she said. "In his spare time he is always painting and creating new works of art. What keeps him motivated is the thought that it goes towards a cause that is going to change the lives of others. His prices are very affordable. He just wants to sell them for a price that is worth his time and labor and of course material costs."
Their hopes for Dream Life Charity, and the paintings and cards available for sale, can be seen in detail in their website. Log on to www.nkworks.net to learn more and order online. You can also contact them directly at krisnishkan@hotmail.com.
fpeebles@pgcitizen.ca
