Once in Thailand, Ven. Chandima met a Sri Lankan monk, Ven. Ilukpitiye Pannasekara by sheer chance. He learnt that Ven. Ilukpitiye Pannasekara had lived in Tanzania of Eastern Africa for many years and devoted himself to help the needy in Tanzania. Tanzania is a relatively poor country where GNI per capita was only $440 USD (World Bank, 2008). In light of the widespread poverty, Ven. I. Pannasekara founded Metta Foundation of Africa in April and plans to establish a children’s home in order to help the street children.
Ven. Chandima was moved and realized the people of Tanzania are in greater need of aid. Hence, after returning to Taiwan, Ven. Chandima re-allocated aids that had been intended for the refugee camp in North Sri Lanka to be sent to Tanzania. Brother Xu Jinde of Wanhua and other volunteers spent a year collecting aid materials from numerous donors. And Mr. Guo Senxiang of Xinzhuang offered his factory warehouse for Theravada Samadhi Education Association to store and sort out the donated goods. In September, a 40 foot of container with aid materials was shipped to Tanzania. A Mr. Chen of Australia used his own money and bought the container for the future use of Metta Foundation of Africa. TSEA would like to express its gratitude to those who donated their time and money in this project. Without their kindness, this aid distribution would not be successful. For photos, please click here.
