A SIMPLE letter in broken English has arrived at a York home, thanking city environmental engineer Orna O'Toole for her help in rebuilding the lives of a family of four.

More than a year has passed since the DeSilva family lost their home and livelihood when the Boxing Day tsunami hit their village on the Sri Lankan south west coast.

The National House Building Council (NHBC) launched an appeal for its employees to assist charities to build new homes after seeing the destruction in Sri Lanka.

Orna, a senior environmental engineer from NHBC's office at Clifton, York, was part of an all-female team which responded to the call for volunteers.

She worked on a project to build the DeSilva family a new home in their

village, Hikaduwa.

Months later, she has received a letter with photographs of their new life - a legacy of the volunteers' work.

Orna, who sent out a parcel of goodies for Christmas, said: "Their home is all painted now, with net curtains up and what furniture they have in place."

Vinol, his wife, Nadeeka, and their children, Nisal, seven, and Purni, three, had lived in a tiny timber shack, with walls of plastic sheeting, a tin roof and one bed between them while the work was done.

Vinol, who lost his fishing boat in the devastating wave, said: "You painted my catamaran very nicely. Thank you.

"I remember all your team. They helped very kindly. We celebrate our new house in June. Now we live happy. But we isolated. I am afraid tsunami will come."

Orna said: "The first day we were roofing the new house, two local roofers turned up with the tiles and threw them to each other like frisbees. We were working in hard hats, steel-toed boots and safety equipment, while the local builders worked in flip-flops and a t-shirt."

The 32-year-old, who plans to visit the DeSilvas in the future, said: "As a family, as our Christmas presents to each other, we decided we would chip in what we would spend on each other and send out books, toys and crayons for the children, and keep putting money into the charity.

"It is humbling when you see what little they had, and what they wanted to share with us. Living with them and then coming back here was strange.

"I have a whole house to myself. Out there they had one room for four people, yet were finding room for our hard hats.

"They were fantastic people. Everyone we met said 'a thousand million thank-yous on behalf of every person in Sri Lanka'."

A Lions-hearted effort to help victims

GENEROUS volunteers have been given a first-hand account how fundraising efforts launched in York have helped thousands of people made homeless by the Asian tsunami.

Lions Clubs across the region raised more than £82,000 to help rebuild communities in Sri Lanka which were devastated by the disaster just over a year ago.

A day after the tragedy, on Boxing Day, 2004, George Bennett, of Minster Lions, in York, launched the appeal to send cash out to clubs in Sri Lanka to support the recovery effort.

He said: "I realised it was going to be quite a major catastrophe, and I was in a position to set up an appeal.

"I was overwhelmed that all the Lions clubs were giving the money so freely and so quickly. After that, we found a lot of other organisations were entrusting money with us to spend."

Within 24 hours of launching the appeal, he had received more than £10,000 in pledges from Lions clubs across the region.

After supporting the immediate recovery efforts, Lions-funded projects including a housing scheme, an orphanage, a community centre and a children's eye health camp.

With the help of members of Sri Lankan Lions clubs, they handed out emergency relief to tsunami victims hit by flash floods during the region's monsoon season in November.

George said: "We wanted to focus on definite projects, so we can actually say 'this is what we have done with your money'. Much, much more money came in than I expected, so we then started looking at other projects. We feel proud the money has travelled all that way to make such a difference, and it will buy much more than it could buy here."

Club members got an update on the projects from Gordon Lazenby, of Castleford Lions, who recently returned from a trip to the region to see how the cash is being used.

George said: "Many years ago, when there was a flood in York, Lions clubs elsewhere sent us money to help. I put myself in their position in Sri Lanka and, faced with such a disaster, they have got our support."

Updated: 10:01 Monday, January 02, 2006