We believe in direct action where we can (hopefully) make a difference one person at a time.
It all started when we had a trip to Sri Lanka, the little coastal town of Hikkadewa just outside Galle - a bit of the Sri Lankan coastline still recovering from the devastating tsunami in 2004. Our week in the small hotel in which Gihan was completing a work placement as part of his hospitality & tourism qualifications was made all the better by this enthusiastic, intelligent and well humoured young man. Nothing was a problem and he was keen to hear about New Zealand and expressed his dreams of a better life for himself and his family once he could complete his studies, and eventually find employment with an international hotel chain. When we discovered a phone charger was forgotten somewhere along the way of our journey, Gihan helped find a replacement and made comment about the phone — a dream object for a Sri Lankan wage earner. That stuck in our minds and reminded us of our own good fortunes and privilege to live in New Zealand. Fast forward some months later and our memorable trip a fading memory when we were changing telecoms providers and had the offer of new phones.... We thought to send our old but still current smart phones to Gihan (and his twin brother Milan) and contacted the hotel to do so. Gihan was thrilled and full of gratitude. There began a friendship that started with pictures from around Sri Lanka, short messages about the goings on in his life news about studies, the horrific terrorist bombings that flat-lined tourism and lead to Gihan losing his job placement, income and with the loss of income his inability to continue with his studies and training.
Things have only become more dire for Gihan & Sri Lanka in general with the recent near-to economic collapse. Never has this young man asked us for anything except positive thoughts and happy news from New Zealand. He is motivated and resourceful and prior to the current economic crisis found work as a traveling commission salesman — he and others were 'conned' by an unscrupulous business that took advantage of young people who bought into stock with their meagre savings as a way in to a job. Again, never did he complain or ask us for anything when he lost his savings. In the midst of the protests and civil unrest as the Sri Lankan people looked to through out the corrupt government Gihan reached out to a family member working in Kuwait and through that connection was able to obtain a work permit and low paid job as a driver in the same household. Instead of improving his situation and allowing Gihan to send money back home to help his parents and siblings, he finds himself working hard to barely cover his living costs.
We decided to try and help Gihan in some way, including to act as sponsors and help find a placement to complete his studies in New Zealand. It has been a steep learning curve and the situation created by the global pandemic has made everything harder if not impossible for many foreign nationals. Young Sri Lankan citizens cannot access any of the typical NZ visas and the odds seemed impossible to help bring Gihan here. We started looking at all the options we could imagine and contacted friends and family around the globe to see what we might be able to do before making contact with a friend in Niue desperate for hard workers.... Through that connection we have secured a job offer for Gihan that promises a bright future and the opportunity to learn new skills and, eventually perhaps to finally be able to help his family the way he feels duty-bound to do. Now we have to find the funds to get Gihan to Niue so that he can grab this chance.
It was our idea to look at crowd funding options to help raise the seeming small fund necessary to get him on his way — he is a humble person and was initially embarrassed by the idea. He is also recognises that this might be the best way to improve his situation. We asked Gihan to write, in his own words about his situation. Please read Gihan's story, and please forgive his grammar— remember English is not his first language and while he is a very good speaker writing still proves a challenge. That will improve in time and with opportunity. Thanks for reading this, and thanks to for your positive thoughts and any help you can offer. Nga Mihi, d&g
Dear David,
As you may already know, My Name is Gihan Dhanushka Fernando,lives in Sri Lanka, at baddegama which is the city situated near to down south coast... I lived with my parents.. i have two brothers..one is twin and the othe one is younger brother... so im a elder one..
Now a days im living in kuwait.. few months ago i moved to kuwait because of sri lankan passing very hard time because of economic crisis.. so i decide to moved here to find a new job.. one sister of my mother helped to me for that.. because she is working here since 2008,
Before i came here After my 13 years study in school , i joined with sri lankan institute of tourism and hotel management to success my ambition that is become a hotel manager..it is best place ever to study hotel oparetion in sri lanka,then i started my career as trainee hotel room attendant in 2017, after 3 years of studying and working ... in 2020 all thigs changed because of easter sunday bomb attacked..,after that bomb attacked whole tourism industry was fallen down, then most of the hotels decided to Brake their services.. as a result of that i lost my job.. after that happen in july 2020 i joined with a cosmetics selling company to work as a sales representative. So finfinally i chosed a job totally different from hotel industry.. because of those bad situations.. if we dont work we dont earns that is simple theory.. so i made my decision to work as sales representative.
Sri Lanka, my mother land is beautyfull country which is located in indian ocean. After SL got independent from british empire in 1948, Unfortunately sl ruled by sri lankan politicians.. actually past 74 years they robbed this country... finally as a results of this the country is in economic crisis now.. so its directly effected to all the people in country.. so at that time no jobs, no gas, no electricity.. so then i decided to work abroad and earn some money and make my family live.. because my father works as a mason, he is old and he cant take care of my mother and younger brothers expenses anymore.. that is the main reason i came here as a elder one in our family. That is my responsible though..
In the Kuwait i working as a driver for a minimum salary but its liliterally enough for cover my expenses and i can send some money to my family for their expenses and make them happy.. but really i want get my life one more step up from this situation..so i looked opportunities for that.. life is hard but we should play.. so i want save some money and make my family happy... so in this country its too much hard and day by day SL situation also getting bad.. so this opportunity i think will be grate to make better life for me.. as well as i wish i could finish my study though... so i think niue vanilla plantation working visa will help to archiv my goals.
In the kuwait i worked for minimum salary .. i dont have too money left with me to cover this expenses for the visa..even get medical report..so i think david you will go through this and contribute me to get this.. this request from gihan the person who trying hard to make better life to his family and his own life.
Thank you for your consideration and support.
Warm regards,
Gihan Fernando