A Cork family who narrowly escaped death when last year's tsunami hit their holiday resort in Sri Lanka are raising funds to help schoolchildren in the affected areas of southern Sri Lanka.
Majella and Mark Tarbatt and their children, Luke (5) and Matthew (2), together with Majella's parents, were holidaying in Unawatuna last December when the resort was devastated by the tsunami.
When Majella visited Unawatuna in February she got the idea for launching the Nino Doll Project.
"I met a woman, Nandica, who had lost her five-year-old son in the tsunami. Our boys had played with him on a previous visit so we were very upset. We got Nandica a sewing machine and asked her to make dolls for the local orphanage. She's a craft worker who used sell her products to the tourists, and what we wanted to do was get her busy so as to try and take her mind off the death of her son. She was able to use the money from the sale of the dolls to fund keeping her two daughters in school."
The project grew to a point where they hired a local company, Barefoot, to produce fabric which has been outsourced to local women to make the traditional Nino dolls which will be sold in Ireland. "The dolls cost €90, and all the proceeds go to Sri Lanka," said Majella. For further information on the Nino Doll Project go to www.ninodoll.org