Experimental video

..Teach a man to fish...

“Buy a man a fish and he’ll eat for a day; teach a man to fish and he’ll eat for a lifetime.” Confucius

When we arrived in Mount Lavinia at the end of June 2009, the fishermen in our village had only been able to launch their boat once in the previous 3 weeks. The monsoon which will last until November makes the sea far too dangerous for them to take the boat out very frequently and when they do, they fish with rods and lines.

No-one can change nature but we want to be sure that they can maximize their fishing options when the sea is calm and make enough money to carry them through the monsoon season. We are helping them introduce seine fishing to their village.

The technique requires around 40 people to haul in the nets and is normally operated by a co-operative of villagers but a large percentage of the profits from the haul going to the net owner.


Now, thanks to a generous individual donation, the Friends of Della and Don is the joint-owner of a net which will be used by the fishermen of the village. This opportunity will provide employment to around 40 villagers who now have a vested interest in making it work. In addition, with a part-share of the nets, we’re able to re-invest directly back into projects to help the village.

The Friends of Della and Don want to do more than provide immediate relief and assistance and help provide the villagers with employment, a wage and a long term sustainable opportunity to create and share a better way of life.

If you would like to help us continue to fund sustainable projects, you can donate via the website using PayPal.

Thank you.

Sri Lankan Food

One of the things that it's impossible not to enjoy whilst in Sri Lanka is the cuisine. The famous chef, Rick Stein, visited Sri Lanka and cooked up a mouth-watering dish in his latest BBC TV series. You can see him cooking on the beach at the famous Mount Lavinia Hotel which was where the FODAD story began and neighbours the fishing village at Ratmalana. Take a look at this episode on the BBC iPlayer...