About Rebuilding Weligama

Washington Post education reporter Michael Dobbs was vacationing near Weligama, Sri Lanka, when a tsunami devastated the village on Dec. 26, 2004. His first-hand news accounts appeared in The Post in the days following the disaster. After returning to the U.S. for a month, Dobbs has taken a paid leave from his job to return to Weligama to help raise money for rebuilding efforts and to chronicle the experiences of those in this small fishing village impacted by the disaster.

Michael's brother, Geoffrey Dobbs, is a businessman in Asia and is directing Adopt Sri Lanka, an organization raising money to help rebuild villages along the southern Sri Lankan coast. Adopt Sri Lanka -- in part through the efforts of Michael Dobbs -- has raised nearly $500,000. He is not being paid by anyone for the reports you read here.

Because of Michael's personal involvement in the story, he will not write about these experiences in the news pages of The Washington Post or washingtonpost.com. This project will appear in the Opinion section of washingtonpost.com.

By washingtonpost.com |  February 8, 2005; 10:30 AM ET  | Category:  Michael Dobbs
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