HAVONOS stands for: “Hart voor Noo(r)d Oost Sri Lanka”, which is Dutch for: Feel for (the
needs of) North East Sri Lanka.
SAC stands for: Social Action Committee

Working together for years with people from Sri Lanka in The Netherlands gave us a lot of insight into their background and culture. The tsunami of 26 December 2004 was the immediate cause to start the “HAVONOS Foundation” in The Netherlands and the SAC in Sri Lanka.

Although at first HAVONOS aimed solely at emergency relief, the range of its activities has by now extended to durable development projects in cooperation with various international relief funds. Since 2005 numerous projects in the fields of schooling, reconstructing agriculture, etc. have come into being.
It is through friends that we got in touch with Father Gunam in 2004. Father Gunam is the founder of the SAC ( Social Action Committee) and together with Mr A. Pushpathas he coordinates this partner organisation of ours in Nilavelli. The SAC is an active local organisation, based on a wide public support, which aims to help the complete population.

Why in particular the North East of Sri Lanka?

The North East of Sri Lanka is known as Tamil territory. As the Sri Lanka administration is at war with with the LTTE, the north east of Sri Lanka has been cut off from any relief and support by the government.
This area has been severely struck by the Tsunami of December 2004 and by the war that has been going on for years.
The local population suffers from the consequences but is no party in the fight between government and LTTE; they only wish to live their lives in peace and harmony.

HAVONOS offers relief mainly in Nilaveli and its surroundings. It is in this area that Father Gunam is active. The SAC, i.e. the local people themselves, determine on the spot where relief is most needed and put forward suggestions for possible projects. Then HAVONOS arranges the financial means necessary to realise these projects. All projects meet the criterion that they contribute to the self-support of the local population.

Volunteers:

HAVONOS and the SAC have no paid employees. All people involved, also the members of the Boards in Holland and Sri Lanka, work as volunteers. This is to guarantee that all donations will be entirely spent on the projects in Sri Lanka so that no money is wasted in any way.