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Mr. Rainer Hoffmann hands over a cheque for Euro 310,000 as an initial donation to Mr. Murtaza Esufally. Ms. Shiromi Masakorala at the interactive media briefing organized by German donors in Berlin.

“It looked as if an atom bomb had been dropped to earth. But the affected people were Hoffmann says the media did ask tough questions but Shiromi responded with accurate
not hysterical, they were upset, shocked, sad……but towards us they were friendly. information about the tsunami, what came after, what was done on the rebuilding and
How was this possible,” he had asked himself. rehabilitation front and what projects were in the pipeline. Her passionate plea on
behalf of the Hemas Tsunami Foundation paid off.
Hoffmann was in a position to motivate his company to “do the utmost” to stabilize
and assist Sri Lanka. Hemas was their partner and they believed that without a local She had explained to the journalists that at Hemas, they believe that achieving
organization their engagement would not have the efficiency necessary to build up commercial success is not merely by profit generation, but by honouring
the country again. ethical values, respecting people and communities and caring for the natural
environment.
“Children are the future of a country. The Hemas project to build new preschools
was the right way to channel our help and find donors in Germany to assist,” says “This is why corporate social responsibility is serious business at Hemas,” Shiromi
Hoffmann, adding that the ‘total’ engagement of the Hemas Group and the support of had said, urging them to bring back the smiles to the faces of Sri Lankans.
DRV and DER Travel were and still are the guarantors of this project.
Portraying the art of little ones in the Tangalle camp, she had explained that children
The follow-up a year later to continue with Sri Lanka’s recovery and rehabilitation, was were the most affected. They were living with fear, anxiety and insecurity. Most of them
to take the ground-level tale of the tsunami to the world through a media conference had lost their homes, parents and relatives and were living in camps that were strange
which Hoffmann organized in the German capital of Berlin and Shiromi addressed, places for them. There were around 42,000 children of preschool age (3 to 5 years) who
with a large number of journalists attending on February 22 , 2006. were affected.
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50 Hemas Piyawara - A Journey to the Future