STAFF and members at a Taunton gym have helped children battling to get back on track after the devastating 2004 Asian Tsunami.

Suresh Ebert, a personal trainer at Hermes Health and Fitness Studio, has been out to his native Sri Lanka to help support orphans and street children.

He took more than £3,000 raised by the gym through a 48-hour exercise marathon when people rowed, swam, bike and ran 9,284km - the distance from Taunton to Sri Lanka.

Suresh said: "It was to raise awareness of the plight of children in Sri Lanka orphaned by the Tsunami and the Colombo street children' who have no families.

"Their education is suffering due to lack of resources and the fragile emotional state of the children.

"In Sri Lanka, I went to various children's homes to assess their needs and to spend time with the kids and staff."

He decided to help finance two causes - play equipment, new flooring and educational materials for Colombo's HelpKids Recovery Centre, which offers food and classes for 100 children a day; a washing machine, two wardrobes and counselling at the Children's Home, in Wattala.

Suresh said: "Over 2,000 children are living on the streets of Colombo or in slums.

"Most are trying to escape poverty and violence, others are orphaned or displaced by war, abandoned or sexually abused.

"It's felt that education is the practical answer to successfully changing the destiny of these children.

"I'd like to say a big thank you to all who took part in the sponsored event at Hermes or who made donations."

*Catch this story and all the top Taunton area news in the Somerset County Gazette on Thursday.