What Lions/LCIF Are Doing

LCIF mobilized US$15 million to enable Lions in Asia to rebuild their communities. Lions in Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India and Thailand are building homes, schools and orphanages.

The rebuilding has been supported by LCIF's tsunami relief fund (made possible through donations from Lions worldwide), direct donations to Lions in the affected counties from Lions worldwide and Asian Lions' own funds.

In Indonesia, LCIF partnered with Lions from Indonesia (District 307-A), Australia, Malaysia, Netherlands and Sweden to establish three Lions' villages of 570 homes. The homes are modest in size (11 feet by 23 feet) but a marked improvement over what the villagers had before. "As simple as these homes are, they bring back the self-esteem of the people," said an Indonesian Lion involved in the rebuilding effort.

  • The Indonesian Lions Tsunami Committee has successfully established three Lions Villages of 570 homes in the Aceh Province.
  • Lions in Sri Lanka have helped build 1,451 homes.
  • Twelve districts in India are participating in the tsunami reconstruction program, and Lions are helping to build 851 homes, community rehabilitation centers, potable water facilities, primary health centers, schools, and an orphanage.
  • The Thailand Lions Tsunami Committee is concurrently managing the construction of two Lions villages on two separate islands, with a total of 195 homes.

In addition to donating funds to LCIF for tsunami relief, Lions in many nations directly helped Lions in Asia aid tsunami victims. Lions in Australia assisted an orphanage. Besides independently funding homes and partnering with LCIF on other homes in Indonesia, Lions in the Netherlands may build a hospital in Nias.
Eight Lions clubs in District 105SE in England partnered with a Lions club in Sri Lanka to purchase six 18-foot fishing boats, and Retford Lions in 105E raised about US$40,000 to build a six-classroom school for a village in Indonesia. Discovering that the tsunami destroyed homes built in the 1980s in Sri Lanka by Norwegian Lions, Lions from District 104 in Norway are rebuilding 50 homes in Singha Deeweregama.
In the first few months after the disaster, Lions in Asia spent more than US$1 million on relief, including the grants from LCIF. The grants were sent shortly after the disaster for Lions to secure and deliver food, water and blankets.

Several thousand Lions in Asia in hundreds of villages volunteered in affected communities, helping to organize relief efforts and ensuring that people received vital supplies. The service of Lions enabled communities to take care of their children, elderly, those with disabilities and other especially vulnerable people.

The relief efforts of local Lions in the months after the disaster included:

  • In Sri Lanka, Lions worked 16 hours a day organizing relief and were a key partner of the government's relief agency and president. District 306-C, for example, sent 60 truckloads of food and supplies to relocation camps and organized the installation of tents at a new relocation camp in western Sri Lanka.
  • In Indonesia, Lions contributed greatly to relief efforts in some of the hardest hit areas. Thirty clubs near Medan provided logistical support for aid shipments to Banda Aceh and sent out four trucks of materials daily. They also provided shelter, food, and clothing to refugees who entered Medan. Lion-doctors from Jakarta and Medan provided medical treatment. Lions also made preliminary plans to support the educational needs of orphans.
  • In India, 20 Lions' ambulances and a team of 80 Lions volunteer medical doctors provided first aid near Chennai. Nearly 70 clubs fanned out in the region from Parassalla to Haripad to distribute food and clothes at the relief camps. Lion-doctors conducted free treatment at relief centers.
  • In Thailand, Lions in Bangkok sent water tanks and trucks loaded with supplies to Phuket. Lions worked with government officials and relief agencies to provide for basic needs at relocation camps.

Lions worldwide sent volunteer workers. The Taiwan Lions, for example, sent a medical team to Sri Lanka. Many clubs and districts, particularly those with prior relationships with Lions in Asia, collected relief supplies and organized shipments. The Lions Club of Port Louis, Mauritius, which has been receiving corneas from a Lions' group in Sri Lanka, gathered US$300,000 worth of food from the public and arranged for free shipping to Sri Lanka.

Hundreds of clubs and individuals sent funds to LCIF. The Lions Club of Bankstown in Australia, despite having only 14 members, was so moved by the tragedy that they donated nearly US$39,000 for tsunami relief.

An LCIF-funded eyeglass mission to Asia showed the kind of results Lions can quickly achieve. Many Asians lost their eyeglasses when the tsunami destroyed their homes, and few can afford a new pair. Past International Director Bill Iannaccone led a 12-member eyeglass team to Sri Lanka in February 2005. They dispensed 1,800 pairs of glasses. More importantly, they brought along 60,000 pairs of eyeglasses and taught 125 Sri Lankan Lions how to use two donated lensometers and run an eyeglass recycling operation.