Posted on 03/22/2005 7:57:14 AM PST by freepatriot32
Edited on 03/22/2005 7:58:59 AM PST by Admin Moderator. [history]
When the tsunami disastrously struck Southeast Asia on Dec. 26, 2004, Las Vegas Libertarian Avan Perera happened to be in Sri Lanka -- the land of his birth -- visiting his parents. They recently retired back to Sri Lanka after living in the United States for 20 years.
His immediate family was spared from the widespread calamity, but many in his homeland were less fortunate.
Asian Development Bank president Haruhiko Kuroda estimated recently that some 100,000 homes were destroyed in Sri Lanka, and that 65 percent of the country's fishing fleet was damaged or lost.
Perera almost immediately began thinking of ways to help the people of Sri Lanka, the country from which he moved to the United States in 1982.
His first thought was to establish an orphanage for some 15 or 20 children, but he was frustrated by the red tape and time that would have been involved in that particular endeavor.
So rather than create an orphanage, Perera and his father Nihal Perera and a few other family members and friends decided instead to create a village of at least 50 homes, complete with community facilities, roads, electricity and wells. The 600-square-foot, two-bedroom houses won't be lavish, by any means. But they will be home to dozens of families displaced by the tsunami -- people who otherwise would be forced to continue living in makeshift shacks on the nearby beaches.
Avan Perera, who is in the real estate business in Las Vegas and has been a member of the Libertarian Party since 1996, estimates that the 50-home village will cost $200,000. And he has enough land to build between 50 and 100 more homes, if enough money comes in to pay for them.
The land on which the homes will be developed was given to him in trust by the Sri Lankan government. The trust was set up under a pre-existing trust, the Biodiversity and Elephant Conservation Trust (BECT), which was established years ago by Jayantha Jayewardene, a friend of the Perera family.
"Of course, elephants have nothing to do with this new project," Perera said. "But rather than going through the red tape of creating a brand new trust, we decided to establish a secondary trust through BECT."
So far, approximately $68,000 of the project's needed funds have come in, including $5,000 Perera and his family have promised to contribute, as well as approximately $500 donated by Libertarians in Nevada.
"I'm really pleased with what Avan is doing," said Joe Silvestri, vice chairman of the Nevada Libertarian Party. "As you know, he was in Sri Lanka visiting his family when the tsunami hit, and his vacation became a relief effort."
Silvestri pointed out that Perera was vice chairman of his county's Libertarian Party in 2003 and 2004, serving at the same time Silvestri was chairman.
"I'm really grateful for his service in that capacity," Silvestri said. "Of course, now he's involved in a different kind of service -- and I believe it's a great effort on his part. We're very pleased to have some connection to the work he's doing, and we're obviously very glad that he was not personally injured when the tsunami hit.
"It's particularly amazing to me that they are building an entire small village for $200,000, which is about what one new home would cost here in the U.S."
Other than the land that was donated by the government, the entire project will be privately funded, making it particularly honorable by libertarian standards.
When Las Vegas newspapers wrote stories about Perera's efforts, they pointed out that he is an active Libertarian and noted that the city's Libertarians are putting their work and money where their mouths are.
"Libertarians advocate a much-smaller governmental role and believe that all foreign aid should be given through voluntary contributions," said a story in the Las Vegas City Life newspaper, adding that the Libertarians are "practicing what they preach" when it comes to tsunami relief efforts.
What about the use of previously government-held land for the project?
"I really wouldn't call that government assistance," Perera said. "That's public land, owned by the people; I don't consider that a big government handout."
Perera's project -- called the BECT Building a Village project -- is not the only one of its kind.
"Most other projects like this are going to cost about $400,000 instead of $200,000, and we got in on the ground level and started building before anybody else," Perera said. "Actually, the only mistake we made was focusing on getting the project started instead of concentrating on getting the money donated while people were still thinking about it. But we'll get the money. It's going to happen. This is going to work."
Each home that is built will have enough land to grow a few fruit trees or other food crops, allowing each family to be more self-sufficient.
Can people be expected to become self-sufficient if they are given a home?
The selection of people to receive the homes is actually one of the more problematic issues involved in the village project, Perera acknowledged.
"That's one of the tough things we were dealing with," he said. "We don't have the personnel or the time to listen to people's stories and judge whether they actually need the assistance. So what we did was establish a couple of major criteria, and now we're letting the public sector civil service people select them. That's not a thing we would like to do, but we have little choice. And, of course, we will do a final interview with those people who are selected, to make sure they match up with our criteria. I'm 90-95 percent sure that those selected will be people who actually need and deserve this kind of help."
The criteria established require that the people must have been directly affected in some way by the tsunami -- either through loss of family members, catastrophic loss of property or by other personal injury -- and they cannot own any other land or property elsewhere, Perera said.
"Most of those we help are going to be fishing-related folks," he said. "That's what most people in this area do and a great number of them lost their boats -- which means they lost their livelihood."
The land and homes will be deeded to these people "under very strict conditions," Perera added. "They will be allowed to pass it down to their heirs during the first 10 years, but they will not be allowed to sell either the land or the houses. If any of them vacate their new houses for any reason in that 10 years, that house will be taken and given to another person who needs it."
This restriction was necessary, he said, because "the government has been building homes for these people and giving land to them, but people would move in and then move right back out and sell the house to somebody else."
Under BECT's Building a Village restrictions, after 10 years the residents will be given a clear title to their homes and will be allowed to do what they want with the property.
Libertarian ping.To be added or removed from my ping list freepmail me or post a message here. Ok im taking side bets with the ping list.How many post will it take before someone says oh hes just doing this so he can smoke dope and go to brothels legally? :-)
Here is one Libertarian who puts his money where his mouth is.
What do most not?
cool story.
summary of the relief effort and a look at the role of government in charity (Thanks Bush for thieving a billion bucks from us!)
http://www.neoperspectives.com/tsunami_tyranny.htm
If they could get out of their parents' basement. Just kidding. I think they are all fine individuals.
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