New: Sri Lanka

Pictures: Child Action Lanka

We are funding this wonderful project of Child Action Lanka for the first time in the project period starting July 2024 to the end of June 2025 together with BGR, with $10,000 US each and are very happy about it.

Since 2019, Sri Lanka has been suffering a whole series of crises that have driven the country into a deep socio-economic crisis. Mismanagement and corruption have also contributed to the fact that the country has slipped into insolvency and an inflation rate of 50% was recorded last year. The rising prices and growing unemployment due to a shrinking economy are of course also hitting the poorest there. The proportion of the population below the poverty line has increased to 25 percent last year and thus almost doubled. According to estimates by the World Bank, it could even rise to 27.4 percent this year.

Our funding flows into three different projects. The first is dedicated to providing school supplies for 400 children from needy families in three districts of Sri Lanka. There is now often a lack of money for writing materials, which leads to school expulsions or school dropouts and thus will further accelerate the poverty spiral. The aim of this measure is to reduce the school dropout rate among beneficiaries to close to zero.

In the second project, 220 preschool children receive permanent access to nourishing meals in order to sustainably strengthen their health, education and future prospects. BGR has already been supporting this activity for three years and next year access will be expanded from four to six districts of Sri Lanka.

Child Action Lanka has also founded a center for children with special needs in the Candy district. This is about ensuring consistent support and providing nutritious meals in the third project we support. The individual needs of these children are specifically addressed, so that the financial burdens for their families are reduced.

Our project sponsor for this project, Manfred Wierich, is planning a visit to our project partners in Sri Lanka next year to get an idea of the wonderful work on site and to deepen the contacts.

Text: Simpert Würfl

by Manfred Wierich, Project Lead for Sri Lanka

In July 2024 I had the opportunity to visit Child Action Lanka in both Galle and Kandy in the morning when the preschool kids had just arrived.

CAL's director, Dilshan, who I met in Galle, and Mevan, the center head in Kandy, acquainted me with some basic facts: CAL was founded by Dilshan and his wife Debbie in Kandy in 2006 in the basement of a church with a focus on street children. Since then CAL has expanded into 10 locations all over Sri Lanka where about 60 different projects are run. As of 2024, about 2,200 children are served. The main focuses are education, health and nutrition, child protection and community sustainability.

MIA's and BGR's combined donations for  the 2024/25 project cycle make it possible to provide meals for 225 days for 30 special-needs children in Gampola near Kandy, meals for 220 preschool children in five locations, including those in Galle and Kandy, and 400 school uniforms,  stationary or shoes (to be decided in the beginning of 2025, according to what the majority of the children need).

When I arrive at about 8 A.M., the children are having a warmup session and I get two flowers as a welcome. I ask whether I may use my camera and after getting permission I start to take some photos and video clips.

The preschool in Galle runs on weekdays and is presently visited by 15-20 children aging 2 1/2 years and older, mostly from the fishing community.

Also preschool children get trained in English in order to prepare them for a successful career in school. In Sri Lanka classes are in English, at least in the higher levels. There is also an after-school project where about 100 children after their visit to school get lunch after going to school and get help with subjects which they find hard. Mostly they are back benchers, slow learners or exposed to drugs or sex-tourism. Many kids have single parents, or stay with their grand-parents because their parents work overseas. The visit to CAL, including the meals, the uniforms and stationary is free, which is not the case in state-run preschools and schools.

There is a computer room where the older children can get certified in the Microsoft Office suite, and which is open to the public in the afternoon. There is also an area with sewing machines where mothers can learn to sew with their children nearby. They can pay for the sewing machines with what they produce and then take the machines home. This is part of the W.R.A.P.-project, Women Rising Above Poverty.

Also present is Ines, a volunteer from Germany who has been with CAL for 6 years now and agrees to be interviewed.

I get the impression that this place is very well run and the children are very well cared for. Everybody is following the daily routine and knows their role.

When I drive back to my hotel, I talk to my friend and driver Gihan who had been nosing around a little with neighbors, the watchman, arriving parents and one of his friends living in the vicinity. None of them reported anything unfavorable about CAL.

CAL Galle. Chicken curry for lunch is under way. The computer room. Pictures: Manfred Wierich

CAL Kandy's setup and programme is very similar to the Galle facility, except there also is a créche for the youngest.  15 infants and toddlers, 25 to 30 preschool children and about 80 after-school children come here.

There is a new building with classrooms donated by the Japanese government, equipped with computers, a smart board and a library. On the roof there is a small potted-plant garden.

After being shown around and briefed by Mevan, the Centre Manager, I get invited to breakfast. When I arrive in the dining hall, the children are already waiting and meals are distributed by the  employees. When everybody has been served, the children count to ten in English and start having breakfast. Today its string hoppers (rice vermicelli) with Dhal and an egg, followed by fruit. After breakfast the children are in for an English lesson.

CAL Kandy. The Créche in Kandy. Pictures: Manfred Wierich

I found that the children are very well cared for in both centers I visited. The centers are well maintained, tidy and clean, the employees are childcare professionals. CAL's organizational size makes it a convenient partner for MIA, as  it is small enough to maintain personal relations without any red tape problems, but big enough to work in a professional way. The fact that CAL was able to apply for and get granted the annex in Kandy shows that it is an organization that can handle projects.

In both Galle and Kandy I felt welcome and found an open atmosphere. CAL understands that personal contact is important for donors in order to verify where the donations go.

To the above, please see the clip: