Help out Hasith

Hasith is a freelance tour guide in Sri Lanka- one of the most prestigious jobs in the country- and he's excellent at his job. Or at least he was. The recent attacks in Sri Lanka have created such uncertainty that all his tours have been cancelled for 6 months, leaving him with no income and a family grieving for the loss of their brother-in-law, Romel, and sister-in-law, Hiroshi, killed in Colombo at the St. Anthony's shrine.

Josh and I had the joy of meeting Hasith in April 2015, he was our tour guide for a wonderful 10 days. There are fundraising pages for orphans of the attacks and for people injured and now unable to work, but there is nothing I have found to support people like Hasith- people relying on tourism to make a living. Hasith tells me that there is no support available from the government for him and his family either.

Can we help them? Can you spare the cost of a drink or two to help give Hasith's family a safety net? I've been freelance and know something of the uncertainty and stress involved under normal circumstances, but to have no power over the circumstances of your life because of violent attacks which have taken members of your family away, is unthinkable.

Let's give what we can and get the money to Hasith's family.

Note: all donations towards our goal will be sent to Hasith Jayathilake, minus the Gofundme fee of 25p per donation + their 2.9% transaction fee. If there is a bank transfer fee to get Hasith the money, this will also be taken from the fund.

For transparency, I am Hannah Strickland, living in Manchester, UK. I met Hasith in April 2015 when he was a tour guide for my partner and I in Sri Lanka. I plan to transfer the money to Hasith by PayPal using their friends and family category to avoid fees.