Don Sandun Jeewendra is 12 years old and the youngest of a family of three. He lives with his parents and two elder sisters in Kitulgoda South in Agalawatte, and last year came under a scheme supported by the Country Music Foundation (CMF), a non-profit organisation that has for the past 23 years supported the needs of low income children through music.
Sandun’s father is a daily paid labourer and the mother is unemployed. According to Save the Children Sri Lanka officials, Sandun’s mother Indra Dayawathie was diagnosed with a brain tumour which needed urgent surgery in 2009.
This meant that Indra would not have been able to work to support the family and she was concerned about her children’s education particularly the youngest. “Through the Grama Sevaka of the area she made a request to the National Commissioner of Probation and Child Care to help Sandun with his education,” said Head of Child Rights Governance/Media and Communications at Save the Children, Menaca Calyaneratne, who visited the family recently.
Last year, she received a positive response saying that a donor had come forward through the Sevana Sarana Fund to help him. This is how Sandun became one of the 33 children whom the Country Music Foundation undertook to sponsor for three years, following the Country Roads Concert in 2010.
Sandun goes to the Kitulgoda Primary School in Agalawatte and attends school regularly. The probation officer of the area monitors his education by making regular visits to the school and meeting his teachers and the principal. The money to support his education has been credited to his own account and his mother can withdraw Rs 500 a month to be utilized for his education. This too is being monitored by the Probation Officer.
“My favourite subject is mathematics,” says Sandun. “He does sums when he is bored too,” says his sister Nimasha. Sandun is a good athlete and has won many certificates at the school sports meets. One of the most interesting certificates he has received is the one for using the government-issued text books with care.
Sandun has also taken up gardening and has a few vegetables growing in his little garden on a hill. He waters the plants everyday andhelps with the household chores. “The financial support we have received through the Sevana Sarana Fund, has been such a strength. If we did not receive the money, I don’t know how I could have sent him to school. I would have had to send him to a children’s home just to receive an education, and I would have had to do that against my conscience,” said Indra.
The CMF has not only been able to give a bright young boy an education, but most importantly ensured that Sandun stays within the happy and safe environment of his family, noted Menaca. Since 1988, the CMF has raised over Rs 5 million for children’s work across Sri Lanka working with many charities.
From its 2010 fund-raising concert, the CMF last month also donated Rs 50,000 to Halpathota Home for Children to continue funding the costs of an English and Music teacher in a project organised by Chrysalis, an organisation of ex-UNICEF employees. |
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