Appeal to Volunteers from Director, VolunteerSriLanka.org

Dear Volunteers and friends of Sri Lanka:

As you all know, right now things are still very chaotic here. The Sri
Lankan government and the various responding agencies are still assessing
the extent of the damage and devising their long-term recovery and
reconstruction plans.

In response to the overwhelming offers of assistance, the Center for
National Operations, the Sri Lankan Government entity coordinating the
response, relief and recovery efforts, has approved the creation of
VolunteerSriLanka.org (VSL), to help match volunteers with organizations
responding to the disaster in Sri Lanka.

VSL will have a two-fold operational agenda. The first will be a volunteer
help desk to be set up at Bandaranaike International Airport. Volunteers
arriving in Sri Lanka will be able to register at the new VSL help desk.
The information provided will be made available to the major multinational
aid agencies, the major international NGOs and the bilateral aid programs.
However, our primary focus will be the 13,000 small local NGOs operating in
Sri Lanka – those in greatest need of assistance and with the least amount
of resources.

If you have already been placed by VSL, information will be available at the
airport concerning how to contact your sponsoring organization.

The second operational agenda for VSL will be the establishment of a website
that will allow volunteers to visit our website and register online, letting
us know their respective skills, experience, and other pertinent
information. You will also be able to find current information on the
situation in Sri Lanka, health and safety tips, travel suggestions, etc. We
hope to have our website available by Wednesday, January 12.

As soon as our website is ready we will be sending out another e-mail
announcing the launch and inviting everyone who has expressed interest thus
far to visit the website and register.

In the meantime, if you are traveling to Sri Lanka, please look for the VSL
desk upon arrival at the airport. If you live here or have already arrived,
please contact us at VolunteerSriLanka@hotmail.com or call us at +94 11
476-5500 to provide us with the information we need to match you with a
suitable organization.

We aren't guaranteeing we can place every volunteer, but we are dedicated to
matching those willing to sacrifice their time and effort with the needs of
organizations in Sri Lanka. Thank you again for your generous offers of
assistance and we will be in touch as soon as possible.

Sincerely,

Tod Bruning
United States Fulbright Scholar
Director, VolunteerSriLanka.org