Funday Times

A helping hand
By Natasha Fernandopulle
The tsunami which struck Southern and South East Asia on December 26, 2004 brought so much pain and anguish to mothers, fathers, grandmothers, grandfathers, aunts, uncles and of course to helpless children. It also brought destruction to homes, schools and other buildings.

In the aftermath, children were probably the most affected. This is where many organisations stepped in. In Sri Lanka, one of the first organizations to step in, the very next day, was the Girl Guide's Association of Sri Lanka.
On February 17, 18 and 19, 2006 they were host to 46 children, (16 boys and 30 girls, between the ages of five to 16 years), who were affected by this huge natural disaster, from the Kudawella and Mawella areas, in the Southern Province.

The children arrived in Colombo on February 17. When I visited the Girl Guide's Headquarters on Saturday, February 18, the children had just returned from a tour of Colombo. First on schedule was a visit to the Sugathadasa Indoor Stadium, to see the Chinese Acrobatic Circus. Visits to BMICH and the Art Gallery were to follow.

Each Girl Guide Company had helped in order to make this programme a success. Once the children returned from the tour, they practised songs which were to be sung at the camp fire and were then taken to the hall for a tea party. The shoe sizes of the children were taken and they were presented with shoes by 'Bata', along with a pair of socks.

A camp fire followed the tea party. On February 19, a sports meet was organised, for these children, at the Ladies College Grounds. Going back to the programme itself, it comes in two stages. The first is where financial support is given to orphans. Each month Rs. 1500 is put into their savings books. The other programme is for children who have been affected but who have not been orphaned by the tragedy, in smaller areas which were affected. They are assisted with help to build their homes, schools and libraries.

The Guides will be opening a library. Books have been collected by them and in March this year, new books will be bought for the library. They will also be giving assistance to five requested school libraries in the area, which were destroyed.

Another project done by them, are classes for English, maths and science. They have also just started computer classes, for these children.
Funds for their projects came in through donations from friends, Girl Guides, people who have visited Sri Lanka and through a sell out performance called 'Dance Aid', which was held last year.

In order to find out what was needed, a house to house survey was done. Counselling was given to train adult leaders how to handle the situation as well. With the use of the funds, some items which were given to those affected, were rope making machines, sewing machines and supplies for expectant mother, which started from the feeding bottle onwards.
The children who were at the project, which was held on these three days in February were not from an orphanage.

They were children who were in the care of families like grandparents, uncles, aunts etc. The reason being "the Department of Probation and Child Care came to a decision that it was not good to institutionalise these children", said Shantha Jayalath, Chairman, Tsunami Relief Task Force.

"The children have improved a lot since the beginning", said Priyanthi Rajapakse, Member, Tsunami Relief Task Force. Both she and Kali Todd, Member, Tsunami Relief Task Force, went on to state that some of them have lost everything. In fact, in the beginning, said Ms. Rajapakse, "the children only wanted things and were not interested in studying but they now have classes".

Their theme is "Fun and Education", as they don't just give things to the children but make them realise that through learning they can have fun.
Just before the tea party, I took the chance to speak to a few of the children. First is line was the quiet Nadini Malshani (11), "I study in Grade Six and I like learning English", she said. A more chirpy and talkative Vaji Thanuri (12) said she studies in Grade Seven. "I enjoy studying maths and like playing netball", she said. Naduni Wijesinghe (9), also a talkative and chirpy girl, said "I am in Grade Five and my birthday will be this June!" She likes studying English too.

Speaking to two of the older children, Nadima Sandashani (13) whose sister happens to be Nadini Malshani, studies in Grade Eight. She like playing volleyball and her favourite subject is science. E. P. Layani (14) a student of Grade nine, said, "the Guides have helped a lot". Her favourite sport is volleyball too and she likes learning Sinhala.

When talking to these kids it is clear that even though they have lost so much, in some way organisations like this can, try to make their lives that much more better.

Back to Mirror Magazine