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Having arrived in Sri Lanka for my brief week on Saturday evening, it was great to meet Sister and Shyamini on Sunday. As always, I am struck by the impressive work done by the team here as well as the huge challenges faced by this community
. I heard so many positive stories. The children had been on a trip to an amusement park and the elephant orphanage (funded in part by local donors). A local family had also funded Christmas gifts for each of the 60 children. The young women’s group had spent December making Christmas cards, producing 2000 hand-crafted cards which they sold through Laksala (the government-run craft shop) and a large bookshop in Colombo. They made over £400, which was shared between the 12 young women in the group. Given that these families often earn £2 a day, this extra income would have been significant. Its so good to see that the team here are helping these young women to develop skills, confidence and bring in much needed income.
On the other hand, Sister is very concerned that there have been 5 suicides in this community in the last year or so. All men, fathers, whose sad deaths have left 5 widows coping with raising young families on very limited incomes. One woman earns Rs 250 a day (£1.40) and is struggling to feed her 3 small children. The team have plans to run small enterprise training in the new building, to help women like this to increase their earning potential. In the meantime, they are working to offer what support they can.
The main purpose for my brief visit this week is to help to progress the building project, and I’m off to see the architect this morning. And then a visit to Sri Punyakami school, with Chris and Alison from Forest Gate who have a few days here.
Radhika
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