Tag Archives: education

Shelley Callahan | October 8, 2017

I didn’t know what to expect upon arriving to India after having spent a week visiting our affiliated projects in Sri Lanka. India was a place of wonder to me. Most of what I knew about the country was statistical information about its enormous population and the extreme poverty Indians face; of the 1.2 billion people living in India, an estimated 23.6 percent of the population lives on the equivalent of $1.25 or less a day. I was curious to see what more I would come to understand about India on my first trip there, especially when it came to the differences between India and Sri Lanka in terms of educating children.

India’s literacy rate is only 63 percent, meaning many poor children are not being educated early in life, when it is crucial for them to be in school.

India was established in 1950 after gaining independence from Great Britain in 1947. A developing country, India has seen a lot of economic growth since the 1990s, and in more recent times, its unemployment rate has fallen, thanks to a focus on the retail industry, agriculture, mining, and information technology (IT). Despite the upward swing in the country’s economy, India is still considered to be one of the poorest countries in the world, according to the World Bank.

Children become good friends when they are living together at the Chandrakal Home.

Much of the poverty has to do with the inadequate education system in the country. Almost half of India’s population drops out of school by the age of thirteen, probably so that the adolescents can work to provide an additional income for their families. Unlike its neighboring country, Sri Lanka, where education is of the utmost importance, with a literacy rate of over ninety percent, India’s literacy rate is only 63 percent, meaning many poor children are not being educated early in life, when it is crucial for them to be in school.

Arriving in Hyderabad

When Luis Bourdet, our Director of International Programs, and I arrived in Hyderabad, the capital of the state of Telangana and the fourth most populous city in India, I expected the scene to be overwhelming. What I found instead was a modern airport, with an open design both inside and out. The highway leaving the airport felt just as airy – the traffic was light, and the road system was expansive and organized.

It didn’t feel much different from the experience I had when I arrived in Sri Lanka, except for one aspect – the amount of housing that we saw on either side of the highway was astounding. It was the first indication that we were in an incredibly populated part of the world, which was unlike Sri Lanka, whose population is only around 21 million people – or 5.7 percent of India’s population. The landscape was blanketed with concrete apartment buildings as far as I could see, many of them twenty stories high; and this scene went on for an hour, before we reached the city.

Once we arrived in Hyderabad, the differences between it and Colombo, the capital city of Sri Lanka, were more obvious. Whereas we didn’t see beggars on the streets in Colombo, we saw multiple ones at each stoplight in Hyderabad. The traffic was dense and chaotic, and smog from the cars was thick in the air. It was more of what I had expected of India – busy and crowded, with signs of extreme poverty, which we didn’t see in Sri Lanka.

Doing more than sponsoring kids

Early the next morning, Luis and I left to travel the four hours it would take us to get to the Chandrakal Methodist Boarding Home, which is run by the Methodist Church of India. Located in the western region of the state in the small town of Chandrakal, the home was founded in 1950 by an American missionary named Lillian Woodbridge. With a mission to educate boys and girls from needy families, the home currently boards around 500 children, and is much larger than any of our projects in Sri Lanka.

As we left Hyderabad, the highways turned into narrow rural roads, where we saw livestock and large fields of rice and corn crops. Hindu temples lined the newly-paved road. Luis told me that the last time he was in India, the roads were not nearly as nice, and he was pleased to see the progress in the country – progress that we had also seen in the newly-built roads and highways in Sri Lanka.

When we arrived at the home, we were greeted by the children, as well as by our Volunteer Coordinator, Pearl. Pearl has served the church for fifteen years and has been at the home for three. As she showed us around the complex, she explained that there were a relatively even number of girls and boys living at the home who attend elementary, middle, and high school on the property.

Young girls who live at the Chandrakal Home

She talked about how if it weren’t for Children Incorporated sponsors, many of these children would never get the chance to go to school, and would never receive an education. It is a great relief for parents, who are mostly low-paid farmers, and who are unable to pay the entire monthly fee for room and board and tuition, to receive help through sponsorship.

Sponsorship isn’t the only way Children Incorporated has helped the home over the years – the high school building was built about ten years ago, thanks to one of our special donors, as well as an addition to one of the girls’ dorms. Our donors also purchased the cots on which the girls sleep; and a few years ago, Children Incorporated funds were used to purchase a generator so that the children could have electricity at night to study after dark. Since then, the home has installed permanent electricity, though the generator still comes in handy.

An old home in need of repair

I was impressed with how large the compound was, and how many buildings it contained; but everything other than the newly-constructed additions was very old and in need of a lot of repairs. I remembered that some of our projects in Sri Lanka are also in older buildings, but they are still in good shape. Some of the buildings at the Chandrakal Methodist Boarding Home looked as though they should be torn down and rebuilt entirely.

A few even looked unsafe to enter. Many of the classrooms are in need of roof repairs, and some of the rooves leak badly enough that the rooms are unusable. When Pearl told me that some of the buildings are more than sixty years old, I understood why they were in such bad condition – they hadn’t been repaired since they were constructed, when the home was founded.

Before we left, I asked Pearl about the difficulties of educating children in India. She said that many families want to send their children to school, but there are few schools near rural areas like Chandrakal. Unlike Sri Lanka, where there are schools close by for children to attend during the day, and then return to their families each afternoon, in India, children have to go far away to a boarding school and stay full-time, which parents often cannot afford.

There are just not enough schools for the number of children in the country, which makes it that much more difficult for those living in extreme poverty to get an education. It occurred to me then that although I was trying to compare the two countries because they were close to one another, they were worlds apart when it came to educating children.

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HOW DO I SPONSOR A CHILD IN INDIA?

You can sponsor a child in India in one of three ways: call our office at 1-800-538-5381 and speak with one of our staff members; email us at sponsorship@children-inc.org; or go online to our donation portal, create an account, and search for a child in India that is available for sponsorship.

SPONSOR A CHILD

Shelley Callahan | October 4, 2017En Español

After two days of visiting our affiliated schools in Lawrence County, Kentucky, U.S. Projects Specialist Shelley Oxenham and I traveled about an hour south to Floyd County to meet with a new Volunteer Coordinator, Scott Shannon, as well as to visit with a long-term coordinator, Sharon Collins, who had recently been transferred to a new school.

Although Scott was brand new to the Children Incorporated program and Sharon was not, since they were both new to their respective schools this year, each of them was meeting the children for the first time, many of whom they found would greatly benefit from having a sponsor.

With newly enrolled children, new sponsors are needed.

Scott is the Resource Center Coordinator for both James A. Duff Elementary School and Allen Central Middle School, which share the same building. The elementary school classrooms are on the first floor of the building, and the middle school classrooms are on the second floor.

Scott just started his position at the beginning of July. He has had a busy school year starting his new position – as a former football coach in the school system, not only is he learning the ropes as a coordinator, but he is also meeting the more than 600 children that attend the two schools for the first time.

Scott talked to Shelley and me about how many of the children who attend the schools come from families with financial problems, and how many of them are living with their grandparents, because their parents aren’t able to support them. A long-time resident of the area, Scott has seen a lot of people struggle to find work because many businesses in town have closed over the years.

Sometimes new shoes are not enough

When the school year started just a few weeks prior, Scott told us that he had given a lot of clothes away to children – more than he had ever anticipated. He was surprised by just how many kids came the first week of school in old, dirty clothes, wearing shoes with holes and broken flip-flops. He is just getting to know many of them, and is already sending food home with seventeen children on the weekends, because he worries they won’t eat otherwise. Scott says his greatest need right now is for more clothes for the kids, especially bigger clothes for the middle school-aged kids.

Before we left, Scott introduced us to six siblings who all attend the schools – four of the children are currently sponsored through our program, but two, Mark* and James*, are still waiting to be sponsored. Scott said that this family really needs additional support beyond what the Resource Center can provide; he already gave each of the kids new shoes at the beginning of the school year, thanks to a shoe drive held by community members.

He was surprised by just how many kids came the first week of school in old, dirty clothes, wearing shoes with holes and broken flip-flops.

Scott would love to see all of the kids have sponsors because he knows how much it would help them in getting school supplies year-round, and holiday gifts and coats in the winter.

No money to help kids

After leaving James A. Duff Elementary School and Allen Central Middle School, we visited with one of our long-term coordinators, Sharon, at May Valley Elementary School. Sharon was our coordinator at a high school in Kentucky for many years, until she was transferred to the elementary school in May. Although she is an experienced coordinator, like Scott, she is only getting to know the children at her new school.

Sharon told us that when she arrived at the school, she was given very little money to purchase items for the Resource Center, and what she was given had to last the whole year. Once her funds – which were to supply everything from clothes to food, to shoes, to school supplies – ran out, she would have to rely on donations from the community and support from our sponsorship program to get the children the help they need.

She said that the elementary school serves three housing projects in the county, and that even though she gets help from a great partnering organization in town that has a clothing closet and provides book bags at the beginning of the school year and blankets at Christmas, there are just so many more kids that she knows need assistance.

Our coordinators would love to see more of their students get sponsored.

Siblings with a lot of love

Sharon has enrolled eleven children in our program so far, but she wants to add close to twenty more kids – an ambitious and admirable goal. She first started by enrolling a family of five children – three boys and two girls – who all attend May Valley, and whose parents are struggling to support them. Sharon told us that one of the girls broke her glasses months ago, but her parents don’t have the money to replace them – and the girl is still in need of new ones now.

Like the family we met with Scott, these children are also very close in age to one another. But unlike that same family, all five of the children at Sharon’s school are currently waiting for sponsors.

Sharon took us around the school to pull the kids out of their classrooms so we could meet with all the siblings in the Resource Center. We stopped by the youngest boy’s classroom first, and when we told him we were going to get his brothers and sisters, he became incredibly animated. Even though he had seen them just a few hours before, he was so excited to get to see them in the middle of the school day.

As we continued down the hallways, and each child joined us, I could tell that this is a close-knit group of siblings who really watches out for one another. They held hands as they walked, and the older ones stopped to tie the younger ones’ shoes. It was sweet to see them together, and I was glad to know they had one another. Although they were lacking many things they needed, it was apparent they were not lacking in love for one another.

*Names changed for children’s protection.

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HOW DO I SPONSOR A CHILD IN KENTUCKY?

You can sponsor a child in Kentucky in one of two ways: call our office at 1-800-538-5381 and speak with one of our staff members, or email us at sponsorship@children-inc.org.

Shelley Callahan | September 29, 2017En Español

When Shelley Oxenham, U.S. Projects Specialist, and I met with our Volunteer Coordinator, Brenda Curry, at Fallsburg Elementary School in August, the first thing Brenda wanted to talk about was a very special family that she had arranged for us to visit with that afternoon. Stewart and Carolyn Sawyer* live in a small home in Lawrence County, Kentucky, about a twenty-minute drive away from the school, where their son, Michael*, who is sponsored through Children Incorporated, is in the eighth grade.

Stewart and Carolyn’s son Michael benefits greatly from our sponsorship program.

Of the nineteen children that are in our program at Fallsburg Elementary, Brenda has the greatest connection with Michael and his parents. They are more than just a family that Brenda has helped to get support when they have needed it over the years – the Sawyers are like family to her. She has known Michael since he was in preschool, and she talked about what a sweet little boy he was, and how he always gave her a hug when he saw her in the hallways.

In the ten years that Brenda has been a coordinator for Children Incorporated, she has grown close to Stewart and Carolyn, too, who live only a few minutes from Brenda and her own family. Brenda described them as amazingly kind, humble, and grateful for everything they have in life, even though they are very poor, and struggle to get by.

Volunteering to show gratitude

Stewart and Carolyn have been together for fourteen years, and Michael, who is thirteen years old, is their only son. Many years ago, Stewart owned a garage where he was the head mechanic; but hard times fell on him, and he lost his shop, and everything he owned. Now he works odd jobs, mostly doing landscaping for local families – and much of that work comes as a result of referrals from Brenda. But the work is inconsistent, and it pays very little.

Carolyn has struggled with health issues for many years, and is unable to work. With only one income to support them, the Sawyers struggle to get by, as do many poor families in Eastern Kentucky. But Brenda told us that, despite the difficulties they face, both Stewart and Carolyn consider themselves lucky, and do whatever they can to give back to the community. They are grateful for Michael’s sponsor because without that support, there would have been many years without a Christmas, and Michael wouldn’t get new school clothes or supplies when times are tough.

Just like his parents, Michael, who doesn’t have very much, has found a way to go above and beyond to give back to others – to say thank you for all that he feels that he has to be thankful for in life.

Because they want to show their gratitude to others for helping them when they need it, Stewart and Carolyn regularly volunteer at the school in order to give back. Stewart often helps out with special events, like directing traffic during the Fall Festival, and helping to set up and break down tables and chairs when the school hosts holiday parties. And Carolyn works with the pre-school children at the school, mostly reading to them and helping their teacher out as best she can.

Feeling blessed through it all

After we visited with Brenda at the resource center, she took us to meet Stewart and Carolyn at their home. Their house sat on a hill along a narrow gravel road, far off of the main highway. When we arrived, they greeted us warmly, and invited us inside. We walked up to their tattered porch, old wooden boards creaking under our feet. It was obvious that the house was in need of repair. Inside, the floors were worn, the wallpaper was peeling away, and the furniture was torn and stained. Stewart and Carolyn had done their best to make this house their home, using what little they had.

As we sat down in the living room to talk, I noticed black plastic trash bags scattered about the floor. Stewart told us they were filled with Michael’s toys, which they had bagged up because earlier in the year, the chimney began to fall, damaging the wall between the living room and the back bedroom. Stewart spent months tearing it down and repairing the wall so they could use the bedroom again.

On top of that, Stewart spent the summer ripping up the floor of their small home to replace rotten boards, because the floor had started to cave in. His next project would be to start replacing boards in the walls between the living room and the kitchen, which were now too short because of the repairs he made to the floorboards.

The Sawyers’ home is in constant need of repair.

It was overwhelming listening to him talk about his endless repair list – but the whole time he spoke, Stewart had a smile on his face, as though he didn’t have a care in the world. Even when he talked about having recently wrecked his truck upon swerving to avoid hitting a dog that ran out in front of him on the road, he and Carolyn giggled at the story of the small, mangy animal not knowing how much damage it had caused to his vehicle.

As we were listening to their stories, Brenda noticed that their air conditioning unit was no longer working, and offered to find a new one for them. She felt confident that she would find someone in the community willing to donate one. Both Stewart and Carolyn thanked Brenda for having the idea, but declined her offer, because they knew there were other people that could use one more than they could – and they instead talked about how blessed they are each and every day.

After we said goodbye to Stewart and Carolyn, Brenda drove us back to the school. On the way, she told us about how Michael always buys her a Christmas gift – something small from the dollar store, like a necklace or earrings – with money he saves helping his grandfather with odd jobs throughout the year. Just like his parents, Michael, who doesn’t have very much, has found a way to go above and beyond to give back to others – to say thank you for all that he feels that he has to be thankful for in life.

*Names changed for family’s protection.

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HOW DO I SPONSOR A CHILD IN KENTUCKY?

You can sponsor a child in Kentucky in one of two ways: call our office at 1-800-538-5381 and speak with one of our staff members, or email us at sponsorship@children-inc.org.

Shelley Callahan | September 25, 2017En Español

Since I first started visiting our affiliated projects in Eastern Kentucky in April of 2015, I have been reporting on the burden of poverty that our sponsored children and their families face every day. With a lack of jobs and scarcity of resources for people in need in this region of the United States, I often get asked when I return home: Why don’t people in need just move somewhere else?

It is a question that I had not been able to answer on my own, because quite honestly, I didn’t know how to answer it. When your situation seems bleak, and there are few opportunities for a better future for you and your children, why not leave and start over in a new place?

Feeding kids hundreds of miles away

Boxes of food line the walls of the resource center.

I decided to talk to our Volunteer Coordinator, Barbara Hall, at Blaine Elementary School in Lawrence County about this issue. I knew Barbara would be able to shine some light on the subject; she has been working in the school system for 23 years, and has been a resource coordinator since 2000. Currently, Barbara plays an integral role in ensuring that students are fed every day, in addition to her many other responsibilities.

200 children attend Blaine Elementary School in Blaine, Kentucky, and 85 to 95 percent of those kids are receiving reduced price or free lunches. There are currently 79 children receiving food to take home on the weekends through the school’s backpack feeding program. Barbara explained that without the help of a church in Alabama that supports her school, she wouldn’t be able to help all these children.

The church not only raises money to provide food for the students, but they also do all the shopping – and they even drive eight hours to Blaine Elementary School once a month to distribute the food. Barbara is incredibly grateful for this support; she said that there are very few businesses in Blaine to sponsor food and clothing drives for poor families. Without this church, she doesn’t know how she would ever help so many children who would otherwise not be able to eat on the weekends.

The children most in need of sponsors are the ones that come to school dirty, with worn out clothes and old shoes, and providing them with new items is something they really value.

Through Barbara’s story, it was apparent that she knows very well the hardships that families living in poverty face here – especially the children in our program. She said that the children most in need of sponsors are the ones that come to school dirty, with worn out clothes and old shoes, and that providing them with new items is something they really value.

When I asked her the tough question about why families have stayed in Eastern Kentucky long after the coal mines closed, businesses started to move out, and stores closed down, she said that in actuality, many families have left to look for jobs elsewhere. But a lot of people haven’t moved away, and it was for more reasons than I could have come up with on my own.

The many reasons not to move

For many families, the simple answer is that they have nowhere else to go. They have no relatives outside of Eastern Kentucky, and everyone they know lives near them. Another reason families don’t move is because they are comfortable where they are and with their current surroundings, and the idea of making a big change in life is overwhelming, because it is easier to stay in an already familiar place. And even though they may not have much beyond a small piece of land and an old trailer in which to live, these families, despite being poor, have a great deal of pride in what little they have. It was something with which I could empathize greatly, as I, too, am proud of my home.

Our Volunteer Coordinator, Barbara, and U.S. Projects Specialist, Shelley Oxenham at Blaine Elementary School

Another reason many families don’t move is because moving is too expensive. Jobs aren’t guaranteed anywhere, and neither is housing. I had heard the day before from our coordinators LuAnn Kelly and Anne Preece, who also work in Lawrence County, that many parents travel as far as South Carolina and North Carolina to work, and return home only on the weekends. Others drive a few hours each day to commute to jobs within the state. Those who don’t drive out of the county for work have settled for jobs that would typically be for high school students, like at fast food restaurants, to support their families.

It all started to make more sense. Why would you move your kids away from grandparents, aunts and uncles, and cousins, and have them change schools, when you can’t be sure the next place would even offer anything better?

Come to find out, the answer to my question was complex; not only did it have many practical implications, but it had a lot of heart to it, too. Whether living in poverty or not, moving isn’t easy, and it’s not something that just anyone can do. Even if resources are scarce, some families in Lawrence County can count on the support of coordinators like Barbara, and programs like our sponsorship program and the backpack feeding program.

Beyond that, Kentucky is home for these families, no matter what changes around them. Whether businesses move in or out of the county, and as industry comes and goes – it doesn’t make Kentucky any less of a home and a place to be proud of for its residents.

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HOW DO I SPONSOR A CHILD IN KENTUCKY?

You can sponsor a child in Kentucky in one of two ways: call our office at 1-800-538-5381, or email us at sponsorship@children-inc.org.

Shelley Callahan | September 18, 2017En Español

In late August, Shelley Oxenham, U.S. Projects Specialist for Children Incorporated, and I traveled to Lawrence County, Kentucky to visit Louisa Middle School and Lawrence County High School. The two schools are located in the Eastern Kentucky Coal Field region in a very rural part of the state. The county is one of the largest in the state, meaning the distances between stores, homes, schools, and businesses are vast.

The county is one of the largest in the state, meaning the distances between stores, homes, schools, and businesses are vast.

There is no quick trip to anywhere in Lawrence County; even going to buy a carton of milk or visiting the post office can take twenty or thirty minutes by car – and that is for those who are fortunate enough to have reliable vehicles. For people living in poverty that can’t afford to own a car, such large distances between destinations create huge problems.

Shelley and I first met with our Volunteer Coordinators Luann Kelly and Anne Preece in Luann’s office at Louisa Middle School; Anne’s office is at Lawrence County High School only a few hundred yards from the middle school, up a big hill, but only a short walk away. It is one of the few times on my many trips to Eastern Kentucky that I have seen schools within walking distance of one another. Luann has been working in the school system for eighteen years; Anne is newer and has been at the school for only a few years, but she has gotten to know the students well.

Shelley Oxenham unloading school supplies and clothes for Lawrence County High School kids

Of the 440 children that attend the middle school and the 691 that attend the high school, eighteen children are currently enrolled in our program. But both Luann and Anne told us that many more children could benefit from having sponsors. One in four people in Lawrence County lives in poverty, and the unemployment rate is 11%.

Finding a way to feed kids

Luann and Anne talked with us about the difficulties that so many of these families face. Many of the children come from broken homes and are being raised by their grandparents; several of them live in foster care. Luann told us about one family in particular that currently has three children at the middle school; she sends food home with the kids not only on the weekends, which is most typical of backpack feeding programs at resource centers, but also during the week, because the parents can’t afford to feed the children dinner at night.

Thankfully, since eighty percent of the children in Lawrence County would already qualify for free lunch from the government, the county provides free lunch to all students, so families don’t have to worry about feeding their kids – at least during the day, while school is in session.

It is important as children get older that they not miss out on moving on to get a higher education or employment simply because they don’t have the means to leave their homes.

But once the school year is over, it’s hard for the parents again; summers present a big problem for families. The schools in Lawrence County have summer feeding programs, but the school buses don’t run when school is out, so there is no way to get the children from their homes to the schools to eat, and parents don’t have a way to drive their kids to the school to take advantage of the program.

The transportation issues aren’t just about whether parents can get their kids to and from places to receive support. Luann and Anne also told us that during the school year, because the county is so large, many children get on the bus at 6:00 a.m. and don’t get home until 5:00 p.m. The students that are picked up first and dropped off last might be on the bus for an hour or more to and from school each day. There is no way to make it easier for any of them, or to make the commute any shorter, because they live far from the school. Because of this, the children are often tired during class and don’t have much time in the evenings for homework, extracurricular activities, or to play with their friends.

No way to get to work

High school students often do not have transportation to get to after-school jobs.

It’s not just the younger middle school students who are affected by not having a means of transportation, either. Seventy percent of high school-aged students can’t work because they are unable to get to work, and there is no public transit on which to rely. Even though they may be old enough and responsible enough to be employed at fast food restaurants or convenient stores, if they can’t afford a vehicle, they can’t work – and they are therefore unable to help their families with additional income or save money for college.

For parents, there are few options for jobs in Lawrence County other than working for the hospital or in the school system. So many of them have to drive out of town to work – sometimes an hour or two, and sometimes as far as South Carolina and North Carolina. A lack of transportation also makes it difficult for parents who are disabled and living in poverty to get to doctors’ appointments; or for grandparents with little or no income, but who are raising children, to get to the social security office or to a local church to get clothes or food for the children in their care.

It’s hard to think about these kids not getting the opportunities they deserve in life when something like access to transportation – which is a simple part of most of our daily lives – keeps so many impoverished people in Lawrence County from getting where they need to go. Luann told us that after high school, graduates often drive 45 minutes to a local community college to study woodworking, nursing, heavy machine operation, mechanics, or to take culinary classes – great skills that can help them get good jobs. It is important as children get older that they not miss out on moving on to get a higher education or employment simply because they don’t have the means to leave their homes.

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HOW DO I SPONSOR A CHILD IN KENTUCKY?

You can sponsor a child in Kentucky in one of three ways: call our office at 1-800-538-5381; email us at sponsorship@children-inc.org; or go online to our donation portal, create an account, and search for a child in Kentucky that is available for sponsorship.

SPONSOR A CHILD

Shelley Callahan | September 11, 2017En Español

When Luis and I first set foot on the compound of the Wijewardane Children’s Home in Panadura, Sri Lanka, I was mesmerized by the beauty of the house and the property. The gravel driveway was lined with lush green bushes and red and yellow flowers, leading to an equally impressive covered front porch, which had a railing that was lined with wicker chairs.

Luis with Mrs. Peiris outside the home

As we entered the house, I noticed that the inside was just as grand as the outside — the ceiling was high and curved, and the floors were covered in black and white tile. Decorative archways lead into large rooms on both sides and in front of us. I felt as though I had stepped back in time to what homes in the country must have been like many years ago, before the civil war, back when the British still ruled and the country was called by its former name, Ceylon. Come to find out, I wasn’t wrong in my thoughts.

The Wijewardane Children’s Home belongs to the All Ceylon Buddhist Congress, an organization that works to promote charitable efforts in Sri Lanka. As we toured the home with our Volunteer Coordinator, Mrs. Nilamani Peiris, she explained that it was built more than 100 years ago and had belonged to a family who decided to leave the estate to the All Ceylon Buddhist Congress in 1965 so it could be used as a home for local children who were abandoned or orphaned. It has had the same mission to help young girls in need ever since then.

It now made sense to me why the home had many intricate details in its design – it had not originally been intended to be used as a group home, but as a private residence for a wealthy family. Although older and in need of some fresh paint and small repairs, the home was in good shape for its age; and although I was impressed by the architecture, I was even more impressed with the idea that this special family had so long ago chosen to donate their home to help children in need so they could have better opportunities in life.

I was even more impressed with the idea that this special family had so long ago chosen to donate their home to help children in need so they could have better opportunities in life.

An excursion for everyone

Earlier that morning, we drove from Colombo along the southwestern coast of Sri Lanka to Panadura. On the way to the home from our hotel, Mrs. Peiris, who first came to the Wijewardane Children’s Home as a manager 22 years ago, told us she had recently taken all the girls on a trip to the capital. Together they visited an art museum and a temple, and had dessert at a hotel. The trip had been possible because three of our sponsored children had received gifts from their sponsors to be used specifically for an excursion.

Mrs. Peiris didn’t want any of the girls to feel left out, so she used money from the home to take all of them with her, and she was excited about how much they enjoyed their time away from the home. Other than going to school or occasional doctors’ appointments, the girls don’t leave the home often. Although some do have families to return to during holiday breaks from school, many don’t have other homes to go to, which means they rarely leave the compound.

A few of the young girls who live at The Wijewardane Children’s Home

When we arrived at the home about 45 minutes later, the girls were in their rooms preparing a traditional dance for us, which was their way to welcome me and Luis, and show us thanks for the support they receive from their sponsors. It was fun to not only get to see the girls perform the dances that they had worked hard to perfect, but we even had time afterward to take pictures together. The girls were very energetic and sweet, and even though they didn’t speak much English, they communicated their feelings of joy by posing playfully and giggling, dressed in their nicest outfits, which they had worn to honor their guests.

Making ends meet

When we met with Mrs. Peiris after taking pictures with the girls, she mentioned that the government only provides the home with about 600 rupees a month — about four U.S. dollars — for each of the eighteen girls that live there, which does very little to help them. The All Ceylon Buddhist Congress doesn’t provide much support beyond the use of the home, so Mrs. Peiris has to work hard to make ends meet. Sponsorship support from Children Incorporated really helps her to buy hygiene items like toothpaste and soap, and buy food, clothes, and school supplies for the girls.

Despite the difficulties of running the home with few resources, Mrs. Peiris is grateful that she can provide a safe place for the girls to live while they attend local schools, and where they can enjoy activities after school such as dance, patchwork, and sewing classes. The girls also learn weaving, dressmaking, and carpet making. She knows that at least while the girls are growing up, she can make sure they have everything they need, even though once they turn eighteen, they can no longer live at the home or receive government support. At that point, they either have to find employment or move back in with their families, which is not an option for some of them.

When we left the home, I did have concerns myself for these girls’ futures after they finish school, knowing they will have to work hard to make it on their own. But I also felt hopeful for them, because Sri Lanka is a country where although there are many poor people, there is opportunity, whether you have money or not, unlike many other places in the world. Although higher education is competitive, college is free in the country, and there are jobs both in Sri Lanka and elsewhere — many times in the United Kingdom or Australia — for these children once they grow up. And thanks to the loving care of Mrs. Peiris and the gift from a generous family of the Wijewardane Children’s Home, I feel that these girls are getting the chance they need to succeed in life.

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HOW DO I SPONSOR A CHILD IN SRI LANKA?

You can sponsor a child in Sri Lanka in one of three ways: call our office at 1-800-538-5381 and speak with one of our staff members; email us at sponsorship@children-inc.org; or go online to our donation portal, create an account, and search for a child in Sri Lanka that is available for sponsorship.

SPONSOR A CHILD