Bottling drinking water instead of beer to quench the thirst of people struck by the tsunami: that’s the original form of solidarity with the victims of the disaster devised by the international humanitarian organization Oxfam, with the help of its Spanish affiliate Intermòm-Oxfam, and in collaboration with the Sri Lankan branch of the Lion Brewery. The local brewery has in fact stopped producing beer and is now bottling water instead that is being distributed by Oxfam in the northern, southern and eastern zones of the island. Nausea Raheem, the manager of the beer-producing firm, explained that in this way already 120,000 litres of water have reached the areas most badly hit by the tsunami. Oxfam-Intermón is one of the many Spanish NGOs operating in the zone, together with many religious congregations. The general secretary of Spanish religious, Leonor García, has expressed his own “consternation about the sufferings of people already punished by poverty”. “As religious he declared we feel called on to seek ways of ensuring our presence”. In total there are 90 Spanish religious congregations in South-East Asia, with 440 missionaries. “Unfortunately there are victims among the families and staff of native religious”, reported Ivicon, the press agency of religious in Spain. The collection of funds in Spain was launched by Caritas and is also involving relief organizations and institutions linked to the Church. Manos Unidas has announced that “the tsunami has destroyed the larger part of our projects in Tamil Nadu, one of the most impoverished areas of India where we have been working for 46 years”.
