Educate 33 children with disabilities in Sri Lanka

GlobalGiving report July 2023

As always, we at E.A.S.E. Foundation are appreciative of the support we have received for many years from GlobalGiving.  Your support helped us get through the pandemic years.

In addition to our usual work with students with disabilities and their families we have been asked to help train pre-school teachers who are working in inclusive schools.  Cargills, one of Sri Lanka’s oldest corporates has established inclusive preschools in many areas around the island.  We were happy to be asked to help train their teachers in how to recognize children with disabilities as well as how to work with them in a positive way.  Our foundation principals of “presuming competence” and encouraging communication as well as alternative and augmentative communication to those children who may need non-standard communication strategies were well received.  Plans were made to continue these training seminars.

Our student Oshi has developed a self-employment project, selling potted succulents and cacti. He was given the chance to do a pop-up stall at a newly opened Cargills location too. 

Several new students have joined our classes and are progressing well. 

Thanks again to GlobalGiving our much valued partner in bringing needed services to a marginalized community.

GlobalGiving Report March 2023

Our partnership with GlobalGiving has been a life saver for us here at E.A.S.E. Foundation.

On the 23^rd of January 2023, we, E.A.S.E. Foundation launched an app. for smart phones and Androids.  As our mission is to make communication accessible to everyone this was a communication app.  This is an app in Sinhala and Tamil, the two main languages used by Sri Lankans.  The design of the app is based on a Sinhala communication board made by Anoja a co-founder of E.A.S.E. Foundation in 2007

Anoja and Chandima Rajapatirana are our co-founders/co- presidents. Chandima, is a person with non-speaking autism who communicates fluently in English using various high-tech and low tech devices. When they returned to live in Sri Lanka and establish E.A.S.E. Foundation Chandima needed to communicate in Sinhala. .  Sinhala being a phonetic language has over 750 characters (letters).  It was a challenge to modify the alphabet to fit on a small board without limiting vocabulary.  Fortunately Anoja was able to develop a board, fitting the vast Sinhala alphabet to fit on a 9” x 5” without sacrificing vocabulary.    

Chandima and the nonspeaking children learning at the E.A.S.E. Foundation center communicate using this board. It is used for everyday conversations, answering academic questions, writing poetry, essays and stories too.

In August 2022 a group of software developers visited E.A.S.E Foundation. Noticing the board the students were using to communicate they offered to develop an app. Working with ingenuity and extraordinary commitment they created the Sinhala app named KATHAKARAMU (let’s talk) in a matter of months. We targeted non-speakers in the disability community as well as the deaf mute community.  On learning that mask mandates meant that deaf individuals could no longer lip read speech to text and text to speech were added.

This app is a pioneering effort in Sri Lanka. The ease with which one can type in Sinhala has made it attractive to nondisabled people too.

The app is available without charge from the Google store as Kathakaramu (Sinhala) or Kadhaippoma (Tamil) Both words mean “Let’s Talk.

Thanks again to GlobalGiving and the many donors who keep us supported.  We hope this report shows that we are a creative, inovative organization that finds new ways to support our community. Heartfelt thanks to all of you  

• article about the launch (PDF)
  

We are thankful that schools have not been closed due to Corona virus in the last several months.  E.A.S.E. Foundation  enrolled several new students,  “Deep” joined us a few months ago. According to his family he has never been considered an intelligent child by doctors, teachers or even his family. Sadly everyone treated him that way. Predictably at 19 years of age he was aggressive, destroyed furniture and banged his head violently.  We were of course delighted to welcome him. We told him that we knew he is very intelligent we spoke to him respectfully and worked with him in an age appropriate way.  Fortunately his family too were willing to adopt this new perspective.  Instead of preschool story books they read books meant for teenagers.  We have never had to deal with the negative behaviors the family spoke about.  As remarkable as the change in “Deep’s” behavior and demeanor is the change in the mother, she accompanies him to school with a happy, smiling face and tells the teacher a long list of positive things he has done. Since he is non-speaking we are also introducing an alternative communication system to him.

We are also glad that we were able, after a three year hiatus, to go on our annual beach trip.  Fortunately 15 young volunteers from an IT company joined us.  This was “Deep’s” first such trip. The family was so happy that he managed himself and enjoyed the day just like everyone else. Since at least one parent and a sibling join us for these trips we had a group of 75. The weather was perfect, the sea safely shallow, and everybody had a marvelous time. One student celebrated his birthday with cake and snacks for his friends, a bountiful lunch was also provided by E.A.S.E.  After lunch the volunteers provided music and the families sang and danced.  It was a great day.

GlobalGiving through its generous donors make our work possible. The entire E.A.S.E. family thank and bless all of you.

GlobalGiving is currently our most valuable partner.  Donor contributions facilitated through GlobalGiving keeps E.A.S.E. Foundation thriving during these dark days.  In addition to the many difficulties experienced by many countries we here in Sri Lanka are suffering the consequences of alleged gross mismanagement by the  government. Since our conditions are well known globally I will not belabor the point. I am happy that GlobalGiving fundraising has enabled us to continue our services to the people we serve - , children with disabilities and their families. Our families who experience economic difficulties during the best of times are especially hard hit these days.

From April on country wide economic distress meant schools were often closed. Travel to school for staff and students became extremely difficult due to shortage of petrol and diesel. All schools were closed. So we went back to online classes, staff meetings via zoom and talking to parents by phone.

On a positive note when the schools were open however briefly we were able to enroll a few new students.  As people get to know about our positive approach to disability and our successful teaching methods they bring their children to us.   

17 year old Deep, a non-speaking teen with autism, came to us with a reputation for aggressive and non-compliant behaviors as well as an apparent total inability to learn.  We have only had two sessions with him where he settled in happily to a exciting slightly challenging academic program with a teacher trained to turn him away from his former aggresive behaviors gently.  The family is amazed and we are happy at how easily he settled in. 

Little Nalika is a cheerful addition to our student body.  She loves music loves to dance,  We are working on her reading skills and feel her interest in books will help her learn quickly.  

Many thanks to GlobalGiving for its fundraising efforts Because of generous donors like you who contribute through GlobalGiving we have been able to nurture our students and help their families survive.

GlobalGiving Report April 2022

GlobalGiving has been a valuable partner for many years.  We especially appreciate that during the numbingly hard days of the pandemic E.A.S.E. Foundation was able to survive thanks to your sustained support.

Last December we gave bags filled with essential goods to our 24 families.  In addition to Rice, Dhal and curry spices we made sure to include drawing books and crayons as well as sweet treats for the kids. My mom and I made cupcakes that were much appreciated.

This year 2022 so far has been excellent for E.A.S.E. Foundation. Island wide schools remain open so we are open too.  We are so glad that at last we have a house big enough to accommodate most of our needs. My cousin lent us his house while he lives abroad for a few years.   Our student’s mothers can make themselves a cup of tea, sit down at a table and enjoy a quiet moment or a chat with other mothers.  All our mothers are so appreciative of this break from their busy days.  Especially these days when the situation in the country is so difficult with shortages of essentials and power cuts.

 For two years we had no celebrations.  Joy is such a vital part of the human experience, sadly scarce in the lives of people with disabilities.  At E.A.S.E. we try to ensure that our students and their families have a chance to have fun.  So on April 2, World Autism Day we had a small party.  A fancy dress competition, games, music, dancing and a table full of good party food  ensured a fun morning. Both kids and parents enjoyed the events planned for them  Being a family friendly organization we also gave bags of essential goods.  Fact is Sri Lanka is going through economically hard times.  We do what we can to help – we wish we could do more.

 Many thanks to GlobalGiving for its fundraising efforts on our behalf.  Your efforts help us reach out to the most marginalized vulnerable people in society. 

Chandima Rajapatirana

Co-Founder/Co-President

E.A.S.E. Foundation