Taking Care of 50 Vulnerable Sri Lankan Children

As The Sunshine Charity celebrates the start of its thirteenth year of operation, the strategic plan for 2017 is to focus on Health, Education and Culture. Children attending the day care centre are between the ages two to six years. Keeping this in mind, we will conduct more interactive workshops through art and music. Drawing, colouring and painting, are all ways of supporting the creative world of children by which they can show how they see the world. The day at the centre will also encourage the children to tell their stories, sing and dance to express their feelings and of course reading and writing which will help the kids to have a life-long love for learning.

In their day to day activities teachers have been and will be encouraged to use every opportunity to integrate the rich cultural diversity of Sri Lanka into the day care curriculum and weave it into the fabric of everyday life to achieve the goals of respect, and understanding that characterize cultural pluralism of the country. Fun and innovative creative, reading and writing workshops conducted over the last twelve years will be increased to achieve this.  We also hope to include children from the community to participate.

The health and wellbeing of the children will be given equal recognition making it an essential and important part of our work. Since the first workshop was conducted in 2010, when The American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) awarded The Sunshine Charity the grant funds, value to the core work of our mission was supplemented through subsequent local and international funding, allowing the health and wellbeing programme to be sustained for a considerable period.

The next health and wellbeing camp will be conducted in May 2017. It was found that children attending the workshop for the second or third time benefitted most, as their follow-up treatments could be monitored, discussed and addressed more meaningfully. Since the workshops are conducted by local doctors and the fact that they have remained more or less the same, the relationship developed between doctor - mother - child have significantly improved. Obtaining follow-up treatment with easier access at the clinic or hospital, where some of the doctors work and checking on the immunization records are important outcomes of the programme.

Discussions held with parents on the health and nutritional needs of children has played a significant role in changing the mindset of mothers. The change in attitude and understanding has contributed immensely to improving the dietary needs of their children. Replacing sweets and biscuits with local food like sesame bars is one such example.

We look forward to the new year with great hope and privilege as we recommit ourselves to serve children affected socially and economically living in the Eastern Province of Sri Lanka. To bridge these gaps, The Sunshine Charity’s day care centre in Sambalthivu has created a haven for them, providing one nutritious meal, medical support, learning, and other day care services.