Project Details
Bridging Lanka (BL) is in the process of designing a children's playground with the people from the village of Santhipuram on Mannar Island, Sri Lanka. Planning and design is being done both in Brisbane Australia by volunteers and by /Bridging Lanka staff and volunteers in Sri Lanka.
About Santhipuram (from the Santhipuram: From Hardship to Heroes A Drainage, Housing and Village Improvement July 2014)
The 450 families of Santhipuram on Mannar Island demonstrate resilience, resourcefulness and a strong sense of community. They live in difficult circumstances because their neighbourhood floods each year and they live with flood water in their streets and homes. They have developed techniques to survive in these wet and uncertain conditions and have built a friendly and peaceful community. Their vision is to be the best example of a thriving village in Mannar, to lead the way to the future.
The area where Santhipuram has developed over the past three decades is close to the sea and low lying, it is susceptible to both monsoonal rains and tidal sea inundation. The original houses and early housing projects of 1995 and 1999 have been expanded by ongoing encroachment. Many houses are located in areas unsuitable for housing because they are flooded for up to two months each wet season (Oct-Jan). However, the communities are well established and it is not possible for them to be easily relocated. Of greater concern are the anticipated effects of climate change on sea level rise for Mannar Island and Santhipuram in particular. UN Habitat anticipate that sea level rise will have a significant impact on Mannar Island within the next 10 years. Many actions are also being undertaken to reduce the flooding.
The consultation process on the Children's Playground started in 2014 with the Santhipuram Community. The ideas from the consultation were shared with landscape architects and volunteers in Brisbane Australia who commenced working on a design in the first half of 2015. During this time nearly half the amount of money needed to establish the site in Santhipuram was raised. Brisbane volunteers visited Santhipuram in June and July 2015 to visit the site once again, talk to locals, develop agreed upon processes for undertaking projects and to take more photos. At this time a survey plan was requested to determine the extent of the area. Since July 2015 approvals have been given by the Town Council and Regional Development Society to construct a children's playground on the land.
The main challenge with the playground site is flooding. Every year the site is inundated with flood water and is unusable. The first job is to build a block wall around the site to immune it from future flooding. A fence also needs to be built to protect the new shade trees from damage from donkeys, goats and cattle. When these to major structural issues are dealt with the playground can be built.
A new play ground design is in development (November 2015) and once in draft will be sent to Bridging Lanka in Mannar for more community consultation. It should be noted that there are no landscape architects or playground designers in Mannar.
The final design will be agreed upon by the Community and the Town Council. The project will be costed in Mannar. Current estimates (from a basic design) suggest that the flood immuning (block work), fencing and internal paths will cost US $6000 (July 2015 estimates) for materials and some labour. BL has raised less than half this amount.
Bridging Lanka wants the playground to be built using the ideas and designs from Playground Ideas. The materials need to be sourced locally and the play features need to be able to be built and maintained by local residents and the Town Council. This will be the only way to sustain the playground into the future.
Bridging Lanka welcomes all volunteers to this project. The construction of the playground is being planned for August and September 2016. Bridging Lanka will work with any person who would like to visit Mannar to assist with the project management of the playground. The local residents will be undertaking the construction however people with landscape design and project management skills will be most welcome. Also people will be required to help recruit volunteers (local residents) on a day to day basis and to help source materials. Volunteers need to pay for their own travel to the region, accommodation and food.
Here is a little bit about Bridging Lanka:
Bridging Lanka connects expatriate and ‘in country’ Sri Lankans. It harnesses the expertise and resources of one for the benefit of the other - through livelihood support, business development, community advocacy, urban planning and social cohesion projects.
In Sri Lanka, we also build bridges between the centre, its administration and assets, and peripheral areas of the country. All our programs embed trans ethnic, religious and social interaction. Bridging Lanka aims to:
- To respond to social, economic and environmental issues in the lagging regions of Sri Lanka;
- To act as a credible knowledge, business and investment conduit between Sri Lankans abroad and nation-building opportunities in Sri Lanka;
- To work towards constructive engagement between expatriate Sri Lankans and the government and citizens of Sri Lanka;
- To explore a Sri Lankan approach to diversity management that affirms the notion of a religious and ethnically-cohesive nation;
- To pursue the relief of poverty, suffering, sickness, disability, helplessness and distress by accessing resources through ethical means.
As a starting point Bridging Lanka commenced its work in the Mannar District of North-west Sri Lanka. The district needs help to recover from the devastation of conflict with genuine efforts to rebuild its economy and to uplift people’s living conditions. Start-up capital, both financial and social is required to reinstate Mannar as a resource-rich and productive area, able to provide for its people.
