Chantall Van Raay   April 21, 2005

Imagining the anguish felt by those orphaned by a devastating tsunami that hit South East Asia last December, Alison Miculan decided to do something about it. So this week, she got on a plane to Trincomalee, Sri Lanka, and embarked on a journey she hopes will alleviate some of that pain.

She left Tuesday and for 10 days will lobby the Sri Lankan government to provide crown land to build a multi-faith village that will consist of 25 cottages, each housing eight children. Also during her trip, Miculan will look for a warehouse to store bicycles donated to the McMaster Bicycle Project. The first shipment of bicycles are expected to arrive in Sri Lanka next week. She will also look for an office for the newly established Relief Aid International Canada.

Miculan has an angel on her shoulder while in Sri Lanka. Anushka Joseph, a fourth-year life sciences student, who has worked in Alison's secret society called "Alison's Angels", is helping Miculan establish the children's village. Alison's Angels are students who do humanitarian work for the sake of helping others, and not for the sake of benefiting their careers. For example, 'Angels' cannot publish their work on their curriculum vitae.

Joseph wanted to get involved in the project because her family is originally from Sri Lanka. She also has connections that can assist with setting up the orphanage and securing the land deal, Miculan says. One of Joseph's tasks is to document the trip to provide information to teams of 20 to 30 students who will travel to Sri Lanka at the end of August with Miculan to participate in the physical build of the village. Miculan expects the village will be up and running by December.

Miculan says they decided to build the village in Trincomalee because it was one of the areas hardest hit by the tsunami. It also has been difficult providing aid to the area because of political turmoil, she says. In Trincomalee, 1,078 people died in the tsunami disaster, 337 went missing and 81,599 were displaced.