During his first trip, on 29 December, to the devastated area south of Ambalangoda, Ven. Wimalaratna stopped to offer help in the village of Godagama. There wasn't much of it left standing but he met a young village monk who was working tirelessly among the villagers giving what aid and comfort he could. Bhante was very impressed with his energy and dedication and promised to do whatever he could to help the people of Godagama. It was then that Ven. Wimalaratana and the Dayaka Sabha (temple committee) traveling with him decided to try to reconstruct the village by building new homes and repairing those only partially damaged. For the next six weeks, Bhante and the Dayaka Sabha worked tirelessly to raise enough money, find surveyors, architects, contractors, draw up village plans and blueprints, designate a liaison with the villagers, and lobby the appropriate government representatives. On 11 February, all parties met at the temple in Godagama and received final agreement and approval from all concerned.

Godagama is a small village that had 204 homes and 810 people before 26 December 2004. It is part of the larger village of Kahawa near the resort town of Hikkaduwa. The official designation is Godagama, Kahawa, Hikkaduwa, Galle. (Postal Code: GL S 80312). It was particularly hard hit by the tsunami. Official survey documents indicate that the larger wave struck at 10:02 AM and reached a height of 10.04 meters (33 feet) based on chip marks on palm trees. The swirling waves inundated the village as far as 250 yards inland wiping out everything before it. The village lies along the railroad tracks just 500 yards from where the train was derailed with over 1000 lives lost.

The program  began on 4 February with a Shramadana village clean-up project organized by BCDF with two buses filled with volunteers. Contractors began work on Monday, 14 February. The original plan called to rebuild 40 homes that were fully destroyed. They would be 2 bedroom, approximately 500 sqft homes at a cost of USD 3500 each.

The plan also included repairs to 15 homes that were partially damaged. The total project was estimated to cost over USD 150,000 for the construction and repairs alone.

Through overwhelming generosity from around the world we were actually able to build or rebuild over 100 homes. Thank you.