By Sharadha de Saram | Founder Trustee-The Sunshine Charity
The Sunshine Charity selected the village of Sambalthivu in the Eastern Province of Sri Lanka because of the impoverished status of people living here and in the surrounding areas. Although we found that the communities we serve were not impacted by absolute poverty, the protracted civil war, followed by the tsunami devastation, their meagre income, social structure, and lack of understanding of basic health needs hinders a moderate quality of life. Lack of proper housing, clean drinking water, the absence of affordable medical and health care, nutritional food and the absence of proper child care facilities have resulted in a cycle of poverty difficult for communities to overcome. It is always the children who get affected the most and it's here that our project has become increasingly important and helpful to the community.
By creating a permanent space for children and providing creative opportunities, educational tools, reading material, an engaging staff, recreation facilities and one wholesome and nutritious meal, the project has helped improve the situation for the children of this district, as well as for their families.
Our experiences show that conducting health and nutrition workshops with local hospital doctors have helped to significantly improve the health care needs of the children. By conducting these workshops at the day care premises, mothers are able to discuss their children's health needs and follow-up treatment in a child friendly environment, become more proactive and play a participatory role in their children's health.The medical programme includes the provision of vitamin and iron tablets, worming treatment as well as shoes to prevent worm infection. Doctors have time at such health camps to explain to the mothers their children’s health and nutritional needs.
The Sunshine Charity’s response has been consistent from the time of our founding. With generous but limited funding we were soon able to purchase a block of land and build a day care facility which could accommodate at least thirty children. Twelve years after, and a second day care building constructed on the same premises, we are able to accommodate more children. A long journey for a small civil society organization but one that has reached credibility among the public in Sri Lanka for its commitment to taking care of vulnerable children between the ages two to six years.
Motivated by the parents and staff over the last years, the charity expects to move onto establishing a pre-school in the newly constructed building on the same premises. “We would like our children to spend time here as the facilities provided are far superior to other day care centres in the district, but we would be happy if our children can leave the facility with a pre-school certificate which will help in them with admission to the local school,” is how many mothers related their stories.
We hear their stories at the day care centre as well as when we visit them at their homes. Their stories have inspired us to continue our work in a meaningful and sustainable way. This amazing opportunity maybe ours but they are really the agents of change for this and the next generation of mothers and children.
By Sharadha de Saram | Project Leader
By Sharadha de Saram | Project Leader
Project reports on GlobalGiving are posted directly to globalgiving.org by Project Leaders as they are completed, generally every 3-4 months. To protect the integrity of these documents, GlobalGiving does not alter them; therefore you may find some language or formatting issues.
If you donate to this project or have donated to this project, you can receive an email when this project posts a report. You can also subscribe for reports without donating.
Support this important cause by creating a personalized fundraising page.
Start a Fundraiser
