Come Together: Bridging Differences To Tsunami Aid

  PM Network  

After the 26 December 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami hit, the tiny Sri Lankan village of Kirinda was a desolate block of land covered with broken pieces of tile, bricks, nets and boats.

“It looked like nuclear annihilation, almost nothing left standing,” says Philip Bay, regional director Southeast Europe at Colliers International, a global real estate consultancy.

Based in Athens, Greece, Mr. Bay rallied Colliers offices around the world to raise funds and support the rebuilding effort, which became known as the Colliers Kirinda Trust.

But it was the human element, not the physical destruction, that proved to be the biggest challenge for the project team.

Unlikely candidate

When Anthony Benjamin was chosen as project manager, he wasn’t sure if he was up to the task. “Initially I didn’t want to because I didn’t have any experience or knowledge about construction,” he says.

But he had served as a volunteer for projects in some of Sri Lanka’s poorest communities. And he tapped into that experience to build bridges among community members.

The mostly Islamic residents of Kirinda are surrounded by a predominantly Buddhist population—and the tension between the two groups is palpable, says Mr. Benjamin. Many Buddhist residents couldn’t understand why resources were going to help a minority Muslim …

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