Freeing children from cycle of pooja watti with education
People flocked to the Kataragama Temple, the pristine Kiri Vehera and the devala (shrines) dotting the area, with other folk living in the surrounding environs making ends meet by selling pooja watti, trays of fruit used as offerings.
Learning through fun activity at the preschool
Whenever Kumudini Kariyawasan visited Kataragama, the stark reality struck home. The major lack in the area was education, chemistry graduate Kumudini saw – with a large number of school drop-outs. Children were blindly following the same pathway that their parents were trudging, selling pooja watti, with generations leading impoverished lives. It was a poverty trap!
“Education is the key to lifting up these families from this cycle of poverty,” Ven. Maharagama MahindaThera who was known to Kumudini told her with certainty and it was with the gentle guidance of the Thera as Founder/Advisor that ‘Light A Life Children’s Fund’ (LLCF) was born.
The original Board of Trustees comprised Chairman Sarath Weerasooria; Deputy Chairman Nihal Abeysekera; Secretary & Treasurer Kumudini; and member Ranjith Perera.
That was 20 years ago and the mandate of the LLCF, a non-governmental organization, is to help release children in the area from this poverty trap. While the initial Trustees have not looked back since then, volunteering to give of their time and energy, four more have joined them this year in this good work. They are Trustees Aruna Jayasekare, Lilanthi de Fonseka, Nethmi Kodytuakku and Seheni Kariyawasan.
Sinhala and Tamil New Year celebrations at the preschool
It seems to run in Kumudini’s family, for now daughter Seheni too has taken up this precious cause.
The aim of LLCF, the charitable trust set up in September 2006, is to enhance educational and employment opportunities and improve the quality of life of children and families who have an interest in education, but are constrained due to their family’s monthly income being below Rs. 20,000.
The LLCF has under its wing the four villages of Kandhasurindhugama, Detagamuwa, Sella Kataragama and Mailagama.
LLCF Secretary Kumudini Kariyawasan
Kumudini reiterates that the Trustees are all volunteers. With no administrative costs, all donations are channelled to supporting these underprivileged children and their families.
Detailing how a tender three-year-old would enter the preschool and be supported till the end of the educational journey through school and then university or vocational training, she says that around 400 children across various age groups benefit from LLCF at one given time.
The LLCF’s helping hand is extended in three areas – through the ‘Light A Life Preschool’; the Primary and Secondary Students’ Programme; and a low-cost housing programme.
“As a new Trustee, I am honoured to be a part of a project that has changed the lives of so many children and families. My hope is not only to help sustain and continue this important work, but also to ensure that more people hear about what we do and feel moved to get involved,” says Seheni, adding that she looks forward to helping LLCF evolve with new hands and new ideas.
LLCF Chairman Sarath Weerasooria Pix by M.A. Pushpa Kumara
Kumudini says that the preschool established in 2007 in Kandhasurindhugama, had humble beginnings – 40 children and two teachers. Adhering to government guidelines on Early Childhood Education, the preschool is now able to accommodate 80 children in four classes.
It is also not just free education on offer. The children are provided educational material, uniforms and a nutritious mid-day meal, she says, with the annual ‘investment’ in each child being around Rs. 25,000, taking into account teacher salaries, monthly utilities and maintenance of the preschool.
Looking next at the students’ programmme, also launched in 2007 with 100 students, Kumudini with pride tinged with humility says that now LLCF supports more than 300 students from Grade 1 to the Advanced Level (AL). Everything on the booklists as well as simple things like pens and pencils and a voucher for vital shoes is provided. The value of the basic educational pack is Rs. 5,000 but would vary according to the class the student is in.
“We pay for extra classes in mathematics and science for children in the Ordinary Level (OL) and the average annual investment is around Rs. 25,000 for each student,” Kumudini says, happy that 90% of the students in the LLCF programme get qualified for the ALs.
While attendance and progress are monitored, in a boost for those who are interested in studying, the LLCF provides Rs. 2,500 per month for extra classes to those who secure over 4 As at the OL, upping the average annual investment on an AL student to Rs. 35,000. This is while LLCF also provides vocational training and supports university students until the completion of education.
The LLCF project to provide shelter, meanwhile, has built 82 houses in Kataragama for needy families, with the D.S. Foundation donating funds for 45 and individual donors for the balance 37.
| A little help could go a long way | |
| A plea is going out from LLCF for people and corporates to help them to sustain the good work that it has been doing in Kataragama. This is due to rising costs, says Ms. Kumudini Kariyawasan. Donations could be sent to: Light A Life Children’s Fund at the Sampath Bank, Maradana branch. The Account Number is 0144 6000 0093. For more information, please email: llcfkk@gmail.com or check out the Facebook Account: Lightalife CF. |
| Success stories | |
| A student who benefited through the LLCF, Sithmi Jayasinghe, is now a medical student at the Batticaloa University, hoping to pass out and help people, while Dhanushka Prabath who graduated from the Sri Jayewardenepura University armed with a business administration degree is now working at a corporate. Seeking greener pastures overseas, a Jaffna University agriculture graduate, Suraweera Jeewamali, had gained experience at a local corporate before heading to a firm in Dubai. More tales which warm the cockles of the heart flow forth. Anura Premathilake and family who live in a donated house, with both sons in the education programme, are eking out a living by engaging in masonry, making kalu-dodol and also tailoring. Resourceful young mother, Prasila Wasanthi – whose child, Janidhi, was in the preschool and is now a scholarship holder – on receiving a house has launched a thriving little restaurant to make ends meet. Her husband had died when Janidhi was 1½ years old and Prasila had been a labourer on a daily wage. Iresha Kumari, meanwhile, who gained sponsorship to the AL programme in 2007 in the first batch, is now giving back to society in her own way, by teaching at the preschool of LLCF.
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