Smith Student Starts Organization To Aid Tsunami Victims

When an 80-foot tall tsunami hit the coastal area of Sumatra in South East Asia, the impact was felt all the way across the ocean to Maryland, USA. Manjula Dissanayake a senior business major here at the Robert H. Smith School of Business and a native of Sri Lanka lost several relatives.

I am from the city of Kandy, which is in the center of Sri Lanka, and all of my family still lives there, he explains. The tsunami didn't cause any damage to my immediate family, mainly because we do not live the coastal areas. However, since its a small country, I know many of the people who got killed or who lost loved ones. This close connection to the victims of the disaster made it imperative for him to help in some way.

Immediately after the tsunami struck, a group of several Smith students led by Dissanayake obtained permission from the Washington Buddhist Temple to go from house to house collecting donations for the victims. We were successful, but I wasn't comfortable with simply going door to door to collect donations. As a business student who had been exposed to the concepts of free enterprise and entrepreneurship, I decided that an entrepreneurial approach would be better as it would have a multiplicative effect on funds collected, he says. That idea led to the formation of the Wave of Hope project.

Unlike other tsunami relief efforts, Wave of Hope is a student-founded and run organization. The efforts by students are 100 percent voluntary, and 100 percent of the proceeds are directed to the construction process of houses and schools in Sri Lanka. Through its entrepreneurial focus, Wave of Hope is creating opportunities for volunteer students to gain real life business experience and learn important skills such as organizing events, creating and designing a product, marketing, negotiating, and most importantly understand the importance of business ethics.

Although the international community pledged billions of dollars of donations to the victim countries, very little out of the pledged money has been actually distributed, Dissanayake stresses. For this reason, Wave of Hope has chosen to work with a non-profit organization in Sri Lanka called Trinity Task Force. The organization is an offshoot of the Old Boys Association of Trinity College in Kandy, which is Dissanayakes grade school alma mater. Partnering with Trinity assures Wave of Hope that the money will not be mishandled nor will government bureaucracy delay its distribution to needy victims, he explains.

Close to five months after the tragedy, millions of people in Sri Lanka are still homeless. It is for this reason that Wave of Hope is directing its efforts specifically to house reconstruction. According to Dissanayake, People will never be able to get back to work or go to school if they do not have a place they can call home. Thus, we need to get them out of the orphanages as quickly as possible. A second phase that will focus on reconstruction of schools is in the works. As students, it is important that we help other students who were victims of this tragedy get back to schools and continue their education, Dissanayake says. These students are the roots of Sri Lanka's future and it is crucial that we give them back what was taken away by the killer waves.

To-date, Wave of Hope has enjoyed tremendous success. In the month of January of this year, it led 30 volunteers in holding a carwash in Aspen Hill, Md. The event, which was featured on the NEWS Channel 8, raised $3,200. Part of the money has been used as seed money for marketing efforts such as production of stickers and wristbands.

Other initiatives have included Tsunami Relief Dinner Dance which featured Smith School Dean Howard Frank as a keynote speaker. Wave of Hope has received tremendous support from the Smith community. Assistant Dean for Undergraduate Studies Patricia Cleveland, student organizations including SUSA, SIFE, IEFS and FBIS have all contributed by either giving money or volunteering at various Wave of Hope events.

Support from the Smith School has been overwhelming; however, I would like to see more involvement from the community, especially by the alumni and the other organizations in the business school, Dissanayake says. As part of its efforts to hit its goal of raising $20,000 (2 million Sri Lankan rupees) by the end of June, many more events including a silent auction to sell basketballs and footballs autographed by the coaches and players of the Terps basketball and football teams will be held shortly.

As part of the Smith Community, we are looking at participation from all members, we need organizations that can partner with us and professionals who can help us get the initiative registered as a non-profit organization, He concludes.

If you would like to support Wave of Hope please go to their Web site http://www.waveofhopes.com and purchase I helped the Tsunami Victims in Sri Lanka stickers or Tsunami Aid Sri Lanka wristbands.

▓ Priscilla Mwangi, MBA Candidate 2006, Smith Media Group