January 15 2007
Roger Federer visits tsunami reconstruction project in India
15/01/2007 - Swiss tennis star Roger Federer, the world's top-ranked player, recently visited the SOS Children's Villages tsunami reconstruction site in Pudupettai, a small village in Tamil Nadu, India. Mr. Federer toured the construction site and played cricket with local children.
Mr. Federer is very active in humanitarian work and is the founder of the Roger Federer Foundation, which assists poor and disadvantaged children in South Africa. He has also made numerous trips to the regions affected by the 2004 South Asian tsunami. During his visit to Cuddalore, India, Mr. Federer toured the SOS Children's Villages reconstruction project in Tamil Nadu district.
The winner of nine tennis Grand Slam events spent nearly an hour touring some of the 128 newly-constructed houses that were built by SOS Children's Villages as part of the tsunami emergency relief programme. He spent time with children of the newly-established hamlet and joined them in a cricket match. Mr. Federer also attended a ceremony in his honour and visited the site of the 50 houses still under construction.
Pudupettai was one of the many towns severely impacted by the December 26, 2004 South Asian tsunami, which claimed the lives of 45 residents of the coastal village and affected more than 20,000 families in the Cuddalore district alone. Immediately after the tsunami, SOS Children's Villages established an emergency relief programme to build 178 permanent family dwellings in Pudupettai in co-operation with the local government, which rebuilt the roads. SOS Children's Villages established family strengthening programmes to support vulnerable families and help them deal with the tragedy.