MORE than £2,000 has been raised thanks to the efforts of a group of friends for a Sri Lankan woman caught up in the Asian tsunami disaster.
The cash is enough to build a brick house for 27-year-old Shiromi Gamage, who in 1990 was fostered in Batchley by Jim and Jill Blundell while she received plastic surgery burns treatment.
Her house on the south coast of Sri Lanka was destroyed by the massive wave and she lost everything except her daughter.
Both are now living in nearby hills with Shiromi's parents.
Recently, the Blundell's daughters, Nicola Latham and Helen Wilson, and their friend Lucy Hicks organised a sponsored parachute jump, which raised more than £2,000, with more to come.
Mrs Latham said: "The jump went really well and nobody seemed that nervous in the end.
"We have managed to get some money out to Shiromi but this new money will hopefully get her back on her feet. It's enough for a new brick house and maybe enough to set her up in business with a sewing machine or something like that.
"Slowly but surely, she'll get there, although I believe at the moment she's still afraid to move back to the coast."
There is more fund-raising afoot tomorrow when the student hairdressers of NEW College, of which Mrs Latham is one, donate all the profits of their Fusion Hair Salon to Shiromi's cause.
The salon, at the Peakman Street college, runs from 10am- 9pm.
Mrs Latham has also thanked the Latham School of Dance, Morrisons' staff, NEW College and Stationery Box in Bromsgrove for their support.
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