Tag Archives: help children

Shelley Callahan | October 20, 2017En Español

When Luis Bourdet, Children Incorporated Director of International Programs, and I left the Chandrakal Methodist Boarding Home to visit the Lou Ann Long Girls’ Hostel on our second day in India, I was just starting to get an understanding of what poverty looks like for children in the country. The Chandrakal Methodist Boarding Home, although older and lacking in funds, is providing for hundreds of students coming from poor farming communities – kids who otherwise would not go to school. The children face a lot of barriers when it comes to getting an education; but thankfully, many of them are being supported by sponsors who can help them overcome adversity.

Without help from their sponsors, girls in rural India would not get an education.

But what we had seen during our first project visit would be very different from what we would see during our second, a couple of hours away from Hyderabad, the capital city of Telangana, in a smaller town called Yadgir, situated in an even more rural part of India. Lining the roads we traveled, among tiny, one-room brick shacks, were tent communities of tribes of Indians who are not provided with government housing, and who have no choice but to squat on land as they look for seasonal farm work.

These laborers are the poorest of the poor, making only about forty cents a day; and because of their dire economic situation, many of their children are malnourished. Not only can they not afford to send their children to school, but they also can’t afford to feed them.

Older buildings aren’t safe for kids

Children Incorporated has been affiliated with the Lou Ann Long Girls’ Hostel for a long time, although our Volunteer Coordinator, Premalatha, a deaconess with the Methodist Church, is new to the project. Like the Chandrakal Methodist Boarding Home, the hostel is also supported by the Methodist Church.

When we arrived an hour and a half after leaving Chandrakal, we pulled into a dirt driveway lined with tall trees that cast shadows across the property. Overgrown plants and brush covered the grounds. The compound wasn’t large, but it had enough room for the children to spread out in grassy areas among the buildings and trees.

These laborers are the poorest of the poor, making only about forty cents a day; and because of their dire economic situation, many of their children are malnourished.

We parked outside the main building, the house occupied by Premalatha and her family. Adjacent to their dwelling was the girls’ dorm, which was built about seven years ago, thanks to funding from Children Incorporated supporters. I was already starting to see a pattern in India within our projects – of the two projects we had visited so far, both had benefited immensely from funds from our donors for the construction of new structures.

Another less fortunate similarity to the Chandrakal Methodist Boarding Home was that the other buildings on the property were very run down but still being used, if for nothing more than storage. Some of the buildings were so dilapidated that they didn’t look safe to enter; and again, I thought it seemed as though they should be demolished.

We met with the 35 girls who live in the home, all of whom are enrolled in our program, outside their dorm. Ranging in age from five to nineteen years, the girls attend local schools located only a short walk from the hostel. Premalatha explained that the parents don’t pay anything for the girls to stay at the hostel, because they are so poor and have no money to contribute. She said that it’s tough for her to make ends meet at the hostel because outside of support from the Church and Children Incorporated, they don’t receive any government funding or help from other non-governmental organizations.

Excelling despite difficulties

Luis Bourdet poses with Sita, who is working towards a Master’s Degree in Social Work.

After we met the children, we toured a large building behind Premalatha’s home, where the girls study and pray in the mornings and afternoons. As we were walking to the large main room, I was overwhelmed by such an intense smell of smoke that I had to turn around and go back outside. Come to find out, the kitchen is right next to the study area, and smoke from burning wood had filled the room, making it hard to breathe. Premalatha said she wants to update the kitchen with gas stoves to cut down on the smoke and the need to store wood, but she has no funding for the upgrade.

As Luis and I continued to talk with Premalatha, I learned that the hostel needed more than just an updated kitchen – the girls sleep on the floor and are in need of beds, mattresses, cots, and linens. They also need mosquito nets to make them less susceptible to mosquito-borne illnesses like malaria. The roof was also leaking and in need of patching.

It was apparent that the girls at the Lou Ann Long Girls’ Hostel are really in need – even more so than I had seen of our sponsored children earlier in the day. The project had a desperate feeling to it, but I knew that Premalatha and the other administrators are working hard to try to improve the lives of these girls, who otherwise would not be getting an education, and maybe not even eating, if they were still living with their parents. And the administrators’ hard work was paying off: despite the difficulties they face, the girls are excelling academically.

Before we left, we met with a girl named Sita who has graduated from high school and finished her undergraduate studies, and is now studying to get her Master’s Degree in Social Work, thanks to the help she is receiving from her sponsor. It was great to meet her, and feel a glimmer of hope for these girls. She is a shining example of the power of sponsorship, and the ability for children to excel even when extreme poverty threatens to hold them back.

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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 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?

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 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 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

Shelley Callahan | September 5, 2017En Español

The tsunami that hit Sri Lanka in 2004, caused by a 9.0-magnitude earthquake off the island country’s coast, was one of the most devastating disasters ever recorded in the country’s history.

The tidal wave left tens of thousands dead, and many more, homeless, as well as had widespread effects on the country’s environment and ecosystems. The eastern shore of Sri Lanka faced the hardest impact because it was facing the epicenter of earthquake.

This family’s house was repaired after the tsunami, thanks to Children Incorporated.

The coastal town of Galle, just two hours south of Colombo, a hotspot for tourists that has a bustling fishing industry, was hit incredibly hard. The tsunami swiftly destroyed an estimated 7,000 houses, most of which were made of wood, leaving many families without homes. The Dadella Children’s Center, located in the center of Galle and only a few hundred feet from the ocean, was submerged in eight feet of water. It took nearly a year for the city to recover after such a large disaster. Many children were orphaned, as more than 6,000 people lost their lives as a result of the tsunami.

Helping rebuild after disaster strikes
In the aftermath of the tsunami, Children Incorporated, along with the Dadella Children’s Center, which is run by the Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) of Sri Lanka, provided considerable relief and aid through the reconstruction of homes, while also supplying food, clothing, and mattresses to families who lost everything.

The YMCA initiated the process of constructing 25 homes for families whose children attended the Dadella Center, and who had been left homeless after the tsunami. But when they asked the government to provide the land, the government came back with one provision: they would provide the land to build on, but they wanted the YMCA to build fifty homes instead of 25 – but the government was not going to provide additional monetary support.

The YMCA didn’t have enough money to complete all fifty homes; but thankfully, Children Incorporated was able to step in and provide the funds needed to purchase doors and windows, and to finish roofs in order to complete the homes – and twice as many families as originally anticipated were, in fact, given homes. That was over twelve years ago now. Luis Bourdet, our Director of International Programs, however, still clearly remembers visiting Galle and the Dadella Children’s Center when the houses were being built. He recalls going to our sponsored children’s destroyed homes after the tsunami, and seeing that their families were left with no belongings, having to start their lives over with nothing. At least, he thought, they’d have homes to go to.

They have overcome difficult obstacles in their lives, and it was incredible to meet them and see how well they are doing, despite many setbacks and challenges in life.

On our visit to the Dadella Center in August, Luis was pleased to see the same children he had visited with before – but this time, as young teens and adults. Luis greeted a young man whose house had not been entirely lost, but was in dire need of repair after the tsunami. He is grown now, and working as a teacher in a local public school that some of our sponsored children attend.

We met another boy that Luis remembers well, now older and out of our sponsorship program, who lost his father in the tsunami, and spent his childhood in fear because he lived close to water. Children Incorporated helped build a house for him and his mother, and he is now a high school graduate, is currently taking his advanced-level exams, and hopes to go on to college one day.

There were many success stories from the Dadella Children’s Center, and I could tell from Luis’ smile that he was really proud of all the children he was able to visit with again. We were pleased to hear that many of our former sponsored children are working with the center once a week as leaders to the 23 sponsored children currently in our program. They have overcome difficult obstacles in their lives, and it was incredible to meet them and see how well they are doing, despite many setbacks and challenges in life.

Connecting projects

One of 50 homes built by the Dadella Children’s Center after the tsunami

While visiting the center, we were shown around by the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the YMCA, a kind Sri Lankan man named Angus, who has held this position since 1986. He explained that he found out about Children Incorporated many years ago because his cousin is Dr. Rodrigo, our Volunteer Coordinator at the Chrishanti Lama Sevana Center in Colombo. I was glad to see the connection between two wonderful projects, knowing that as a result of that connection, we have been able to help a lot of children in Sri Lanka over the years.

The Dadella Children’s Center is on a large compound, with the playground as its centerpiece. The building itself is three stories tall, with classrooms on the first and second floors. More than 200 children go to the center every day. On the first floor, there is a preschool and daycare center for very young children, and the older children go to the center for after-school tutoring programs.

Our sponsored children go once a week for leadership programs and English classes, and they are also provided with food, school uniforms, book bags, food, shoes, and school supplies, thanks to their sponsors. The center is important for children who are living in poverty, and most of them come from nearby villages; visiting the center helps them to keep up with academics, which are extremely competitive in Sri Lanka.

Better homes and better lives

After visiting with the children at the center, we set off to see some of the homes that Children Incorporated had helped build years ago. The houses were located in areas past a vast rice field, in the more rural parts of the town, away from the water – land that had previously been nothing but jungle before the tsunami.

I was impressed by the homes. They had separate bedrooms and kitchens, as well as a living area, and were all on their own piece of land covered in lush greenery. The houses were made of concrete — a much stronger material than the wood used to construct the homes that the families lived in before, which made the structures susceptible to damage from the weather.

It was nice to see that these families now have stability in their lives after all they have been through in the past. For them, the tsunami wasn’t something that happened a long time ago, and it isn’t something they have forgotten about. But they have repaired their lives, and continued to care for their children, having been given the opportunity to start over in a place they can call home.

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HOW DO I SPONSOR A CHILD IN SRI LANKA?

SPONSOR A CHILD