Commissioners Floyd and Tracey Tidd, territorial leaders, were in Sri Lanka in February to celebrate the completion of the Safe Water and Livelihood Development Project (SWALD), a partnership between the Canada and Bermuda Territory and the Sri Lanka Territory.

The five-year project, located in the Polonnaruwa District, directly benefits more than 25,000 people. Through the project:

• 18 wells were established, providing clean water for 6,800 families;
• more than 3,000 farmers received training and agricultural support;
• 135 vulnerable women and families received business skills and livelihood support; and
• more than 10,000 women participated in a program for teenaged mothers.

The completion of the SWALD project was marked by a success celebration in Polonnaruwa. Following the event, Commissioners Tidd, along with Lt-Colonel Brenda Murray, director of world missions, and Manjita Biswas, program director for overseas projects, conducted field visits and had the opportunity to hear from several beneficiaries.

“We saw first hand the power of partnership, seeing community after community transformed as human needs were being met without discrimination and the love of Jesus was being shared,” says Commissioner Floyd Tidd.

The delegation also met with David McKinnon, high commissioner of Canada in Sri Lanka, to discuss The Salvation Army’s Sri Lanka-Canada partnership. “Our meeting with the high commissioner was a great opportunity to highlight our ministry in Sri Lanka,” says Lt-Colonel Murray.

Following their visit to Sri Lanka, the delegation travelled to the Bangladesh Command, which is featured in the Canada and Bermuda Territory’s 2020 Partners in Mission campaign. They attended a holiness meeting at the Mirpur Corps, met with officers and Salvationists at command headquarters and the local training college, and visited two Army facilities: the Integrated Children’s Centre, which provides education and accommodation for underprivileged children, and the Old Dhaka Project, where The Salvation Army supports sexually exploited and vulnerable women.