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We have just returned from our aid trip to Kinniya in Trincomalee district (which also later moved on to Mullaitivu). Mark, Hanako, Tom, Panni, Weerasooriya and Podi Jayantha made up the team who travelled in two lorries. The process of giving out the goods was extremely time-consuming here but was done methodically and fairly. Hanako had travelled up five days before to get the information on the camps - what they needed that we could supply and in what numbers - and Mark shopped in Pettah.

We packed family bags of soaps and toothpaste and added toothbrushes, sanitary towels, schoolbooks + pens and slippers according to numbers obtained in advance. All the camps had lists of families so we were able to buy the right amount to cover all the families in the camps we delivered to. We dropped goods to 8 camps and over 1000 families in total. Kinniya, a predominantly Muslim and Tamil populated area, is accessible only by ferry from Trincomalee (it sits on the other side of the huge Tambalagam Bay) which also complicates the procedure for getting aid there. It took three days of actual distribution on top of the journey there to get the goods out but we were very pleased with how it went. We were given a lot of help by locals, in particular with translation as none of us speak particularly good Tamil. The United Nations was informed about our delivery. The camps we delivered too were:

• Kinniya Central College (200 families)
• Al-Hira Mahroof Nagar (233 families)
• Arafa M.V. (34 families)
• Al-Aqza Junior School (49 famlies)
• Vinayagar M Vidayala (87 families)
• Al-Minhaj Vidayala (237 families)
• Nooranaya College (156 families)
• Mancholai (63 families)

The army and police were in charge of security and overseeing the distribution in all of these camps. There were signs of a lot of medical assistance in the area and other projects were well underway with clearing and redevelopement. Kinniya is a poor area, struggling to recover from what happened, and our delivery was very welcome here.

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