Founders

The Galway Sri Lanka Project was initiated by the work of three dedicated individuals: Ariyadasa BKG (Fair Trade Liaison), Noel Coughlan (Counselling Psychologist) and Vincent Commons (Carpenter).

Ariyadasa Bowe Kumbure Gedara
Project Manager (Sri Lanka)

A native Sri Lankan, Ari has lived in Galway since 1996. Ari founded Desert Voice in Sri Lanka in 2001 and has been working with it since. He has worked with Galway One World Centre, and studied Community Development at the National University of Ireland, Galway.

Noel Coughlan
Counselling Psychologist

A practising counselling psychologist in Galway City, Noel worked in Sri Lanka (1995-1998) on a three-year rehabilitation program with people who had been affected by the ongoing civil conflict there. Noel travels each year to Sri Lanka to follow up on previous work programs, give training courses on basic counselling skills, to supervise students from NUIG, and to continue his long-term commitment to Sri Lanka.

Vincent Commons
Carpenter

Vincent is a self-employed carpenter based in Galway for almost 20 years. In that time he has also explored woodworking and house building techniques in Austria, Australia, Russia, Sri Lanka, the UK, and USA. In Sri Lanka, Vincent worked for 8.5 months on housing and school provision projects for the poorest and marginalised, while teaching local workers the skills to continue building programs for themselves and their communities.