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47 °F Forecast | Road Cams Wednesday, March 30, 2005 Today's News | Classifieds | Autos | Homes | Jobs | Tempo | Health | Community | Home Delivery SECTIONS Home Page Local News Sports Business Obituaries Life Opinion Tempo AP News Weather Classified Archives Site Map SPECIAL SECTIONS Since We Asked Outdoor Journal Menu Guide How To Guide Health Readers' Choice Real Estate Showcase Real Estate Guide Joy Magazine Homelife Magazine Wedding Guide Passport to the Rogue Valley SHOP OUR VALLEY AutoFinder HomeFinder JobFinder Classified Place an ad TOP JOBS EXTRA Ashland News NIE Personals Movie Times TV Times E The People Volunteer Moving here? eSouthernOregon CUSTOMER SERVICE FAQ's Advertise with us Home Delivery Employment Contact Us Media Kit Oregon Road Conditions & Cams Email Story to a Friend March 30, 2005 Applegate woman is off to help Leslie Wilda flies to Sri Lanka on the heels of that region’s second destructive earthquake By SANNE SPECHT Mail Tribune News that a powerful earthquake struck Indonesia late Monday didn’t shake an Applegate woman’s determination to return to Sri Lanka to help tsunami victims. Leslie Wilda boarded her 9 a.m. flight Tuesday at Medford’s airport — off on her second month-long relief foray into the disaster region. The 8.7 magnitude quake in Southeast Asia is estimated to have added thousands more victims to an area already struggling to deal with the several hundred thousand people affected by December’s tsunami. "I heard about what happened and thought, ‘How could I not go?’ " she said. The 36-year-old home refurbisher made her first aid trip to Sri Lanka shortly after the Dec. 26 tsunami hit. Advertisement "I didn’t have the funds to contribute monetarily, but I had some time," Wilda said. "I figured a lot of people were giving money, but not so many were giving time." Wilda has a history of helping — American Cancer Society, Ronald McDonald House, and several domestic violence shelters. But she’d never seen anything like what she experienced in Sri Lanka, she said, like hearing all-too-common horror stories of parents having to choose which child to save. Wilda is working with a Sri Lankan aid agency called Project Galle. The agency’s initial goal was to deliver food and basic supplies directly to the affected people in the seaside town of Galle, Sri Lanka. "I saw there was an immediate need (to help) people who’d lost their homes and their livelihoods," Wilda said. "I walked in and was given supplies to take to the towns — sleeping mats, mosquito nets, soap, toothbrushes, cooking supplies." Thanks to a flood of donations, the government had begun rebuilding infrastructure — clearing roads, building public toilets. But not much was being done on a personal level, she said. "There was this initial outpouring of money. But I don’t know who’s going to help these people really rebuild their lives." Soon there will be more natural disasters — floods. "Monsoon season starts in April," Wilda said. "It’s going to be a sanitary disaster." Rebuilding homes is a matter of material and muscle, she said. But rebuilding livelihoods sometimes takes less than one would think. Wilda met a coconut farmer who lost his home, but not his trees. "There were only two walls left of his house. But his coconuts were all still there," Wilda said. The man had also lost his bike — his only means to get his crop to town. Wilda pulled out her own wallet to help this particular victim. "I was able to buy him a bike," she said. "He regained his livelihood and could feed his family. It’s things like this which are so easy to fix that just aren’t happening." Wilda arrives Friday and plans to stay until May 5, unless her visa is extended. For more information, visit projectgalle2005.com on the Web. Reach reporter Sanne Specht at 776-4497 or e-mail [email protected] Mail Tribune Home | Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life | Opinion AP News | Archives | Site Map | Community | Classified Copyright © 1997-2005 Mail Tribune, Inc. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy | Terms & Conditions | Website Feedback Student Loan Consolidation Conference Calls - $50/Month Home Security Systems Trunks, Footlocker, Trunk, Footlockers home equity loans helzberg Slippers Student Loans afsa teleconferencing Memory Foam Mattress w2 forms Tatoo Advertisement s