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People working here are awesome. I admit that I enjoyed being with a group of nice girl friends and gossip around :-PPP The girls are very hard working and they love working here. Everyone get along really well. I have to say female staff is INDECOS’ asset: think about WEP or house visits to parents, these girls are from the local area and can easily approach village families, especially Mums working at home. They are good listeners and advisors. The WEP Manager, a 36-year-old young lady (we think she’s 18), said women would think of them when they have problems. They think the WEP team is reliable. Building up trust is important.
Photos 38&39: Girls girls girls:)
Needless to say males are of equal importance :-P INDECOS director Conrad is a great person, experienced and kind. We shared and exchanged a lot of ideas, he did teach me what I’d value for life. He wants to save the poor through “empowerment” – a word that has always being mentioned by him. Given education, they can help themselves out. We need to guide them to realize their potential and the community’s resources, e.g. help students realize their dreams, housewives realize their ability to earn a living rather than totally depend on their husbands, teenagers realize they can choose a healthy sex life… and facilitate them to achieve the potential, e.g. through micro-credit, or a little scholarship funds. He wants the projects to be transparent, people to be motivated by their own intention. Even when the worst come, they don’t give up the people they care for (they have been facing shortage of funds in HIV/AIDS projects; year after year they carry it on as vulnerable teenagers need the education, esp. in rural areas). The reason I trusted INDECOS to make a difference is Conrad’s mind has every influence here, they believe in creating a change deep inside. Dr. Ekanayaka with nutrition project and Chathuranga with Star for Life are two other gentlemen with the same great heart.
Photos 40&41: Conrad and Pearl; Chathu.
Time to say goodbye and I wish more time could be spent with them. The good news is I’m spreading this and hopefully soon, we are re-connecting through giving and learning:)
Photo 42: Again, GIRLS:)
Aug 10 – 17, 2009, Matara
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INDECOS is a mature NGO in Sri Lanka. Since commencement in 1991, it has completed 60 projects and is now doing 9 projects, big and small. The most impressive aspect, besides her high-motivated staff, is that they stretch out to the local community and give really hands-on coaching to the people – they love, and be familiar with the local people.
Photo 33: Mr.Conrad lecturing to 15-year-old village children.
Photo 34: WEP team surveying women in tsunami areas.
Her full name is “Institute for Development of Community Strengths”. One of her label recent undertaking is the women entrepreneurship development since 2005 (the current project “Women Entrepreneurship Program” – WEP – starts in 2007), a micro-credit project targeting tsunami-affected women. INDECOS is now self-sufficient in providing loans, no longer relying on sponsors. I mentioned this project because it has convinced me that INDECOS is successful at the grassroot level. That weeklong visit to the schools made me seriously consider that awareness to education reckons on family support. Even poor families can put education at the first place when they are convinced of the power of it. We can’t just provide them money occasionally, but to empower them continuously – this is also the belief of INDECOS.
Photo 35: Community meeting.
Photo 36: Tree planting activity.
Since about 5 years ago, INDECOS has conducted many projects targeting children. I have written about MCC (Matara Children Centre), which provides preschool education to kids from low-income families, skills training and scholarship to high school students and other awareness raising programs such as Star for Life. I have been spending most of my time in MCC reviewing their projects especially getting an insight into her scholarship scheme. Since they have years of experience in student sponsorship, and have built up close relationship with local schools (not only through MCC, but also HIV/AIDS projects, environment education projects, anti-abuse campaigns, and even WEP), I think it is suitable for a cooperation with Givology, to utilize its widespread Internet platform to support Matara local children.
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I asked about family incomes. Averagely a working labour in tea fields earns 300 Rupees (rs) a day, working 20 days, they earn 6000rs ($52) a month. When there’s plenty of rain (wet season is from May to November, to my knowledge), they might get more but not exceeding 8000rs ($70). If there are two working labours in the house (father and mother), they can expect 12000rs income per month. The problem is the increasing living cost in this country. Food expense is 200rs per head per day, and in mountain areas, unlike costal areas, they have 4-6 children in a family; some have retired parents to look after. 600rs income per day (both labours) to feed 6 or more people – this leads to very low quality of life. One-labour family is even more difficult.
Photo 28: A Grade 5 girl looking out of the window.
Photo 29: Paintings on the wall. The "Longing for rain" theme indicates an agricultural society.
The school is not in bad condition, among all schools I’ve paid visit to. However, a lot of help are expected to generate, you can imagine. No lights in classrooms, old desks and chairs, lack of lab facilities, just to name a few. I met the principle Mr. Rajendiran. He showed great concern to the school and the students. As the teacher mentioned, the principle has insisted in developing their school and keep claiming their needs to the government (who distributes resources to all schools), and this is why the school is being maintained so well.
Photos 30&31: The school off the road of the mountain. Spectacular views surrounded. You can see this classroom building, it's very dark inside - very dark.
One day only, and I could not forget this “surprise” of the trip. During the weekend, I always saw students walking in the mountain paths, and recalled me of this small school off road of the huge mountain. They said there are 15 schools in Pussellawa area, and almost the same size in other towns. All these schools are serving very poor children – the large population from tea farmer families.
From friends I met in Colombo, I also learned about poverty among tea peasant families. A gentleman working in the NGO Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA) has organized volunteer groups to help these children complete school, even go to universities (it’s very rare), and its Outreach Unit in CPA now is organizing exchange programs cross country. My friend Chandrika from Outreach is now initiating a scholarship plan. With Outreach’s engagement at the grassroots, I wish the plan every best – as we see, a lot of good wills are generated. They can do it, so can we.
Photo 32: A classroom filled with students. There are not enough teachers in the school. Photo 33: Big boys.
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Holiday break! Well the truth is that I felt sick of the heat in the south, my arms and legs were covered with strange red dots – a long weekend into the cool mountain climate can be a therapy:-P
Photos 23&24
It was a coincident that I stepped in Saraswathy Central College in the middle of the mountains. After a 2-hour adventure on several wrong buses (|||), I met a warm-hearted lady on a bus, (finally someone speaks English! Orz-) She told me that she is an English teacher in a primary school, and she is now going to work. “In the mountains?” “Yes, it takes me an hour everyday.” “How is the area?” “Very poor.” I didn’t hesitate and went off the bus with Renuka.
This is the mountain area in Central Sri Lanka. Pussellawa, the name of the town, is right in the middle between Kandy and Nuwara Eliya, where prosperous in tea planting, boomed in tourism, yet under poverty among peasants. It is a huge area.
I was brought to the classrooms by a teacher. Like many times before, students were warm. Teachers were also showing extreme friendliness to me. Students followed the teacher’s “instruction” to greet me in English, and even sing a song to welcome me. As an “unexpected visitor”, I was fluttered indeed :-P They didn’t prepare for this, they just like to see you there and smile to you. What lovely people!
Photo 25: You can see some shoes are totally worn out...
Photo 26: Student attendance in Grade 12 class.
The teacher sometimes told me in person a student that needs special help. I saw these children having class, playing with their peers, and innocently smiling at me. And I was told that they either lost father, lost mother, or have disable parents. In average, there are 5-6 children of this kind in one class of 30. I also noticed that over half the students don’t have proper shoes, many are already worn out (badly, you’d have thrown it away 3 years ago in the US), and some with slippers on or simply bare feet. Note that it is as cold as UK here in the mountains, unlike the rest of Sri Lanka.
Photo 27
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The 4th week I came down to Sri Lanka’s south point Matara. South of Matara District is the fishery area by the beautiful India Ocean, and was caught in the tsunami; north of it is tea plantation mountain area, rich in natural scenery yet poor lives.
I was introduced to INDECOS, an NGO dedicated to community development since 1991. It was thrilled to go over the 69 projects they have completed during the 18 years, and I thought, “what an accomplishment!” As I will have the last 2 weeks working in their headquarter, I may write about it later. Here is MCC show time, Matara Children Centre managed by INDECOS.
Photos 15&16: They are happy here.
It was of immense pleasure working here. 20 lovable sweet cute adorable lovely (…) preschool children come to school every morning. Some 20-30 high school students come in the afternoon for skills training. Filled with kids and young people, the centre is full of passion and joy!
Photos 17&18: Preschool children showed me their masterpieces! Very creative work!!
MCC is a place for children from marginalized, low-income families in Matara. Funded by the Swedish Friends of Children in Sri Lanka (SFCSL), she is now providing free pre-school for 20 children; free skills training, namely computer, English, dancing, music and cookery, for 180 students; scholarship for 104 poor students; and other education programs for low-income families in Matara.
Photo 19: A girl granted scholarship whose father died, and lives in a small house with her mom and 4 younger brothers and sisters.
Photo 20: Computer classes. There are 10 computers in the Centre.
I had a close look at MCC’s scholarship program, from the budget to each student’s profile. The first impression was that it looks exactly like a “Givology profile”! These students were selected through formal procedure by MCC staff. They were firstly recommended by school principles. Then interviews and house visits were conducted by MCC. Face-to-face communication is a priority in MCC programs. Here they guarantee visits to each house, talk to the students and their respective families, not only at the selection process but also throughout the program; they review students’ study and other problems on a regular basis, as well as talk to teachers for updates. Narmada and Rasika are field coordinators. These ladies are so familiar with each student and their family members, “my students” is what they call them.
The program started in 2005 with 10 students funded by SFCSL, and has supported 65 students through the years, now 60 students are benefiting (while 5 are not likely to continue study) from SFCSL funds and another 39 are sponsored by Japanese, Canadian and Australians, mostly volunteer families. From Grade 8 or 9, students are granted SLR600 ($5.23) each month until finishing A-level (Grade 13), or until they decide not to continue study. 600 Rupees is far from enough, but it made a difference; MCC is longing for more funds.
Photos 21&22: Little flowers!
They are also hoping to have volunteers coming to teach English on a regular basis. Anyone interested in forming a Go to Sri Lanka group? :-P I’m 100% supporting it!
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3) POVERTY AMONG STUDENTS. For individual students, it is also helpful to offer them a hand. These fishery communities are in poverty. Education is not an extra burden for them like other poor countries, as they have a free system that exempts parents from tuition fees, books expenses and uniforms. Still, raising 1 or 2 kids in a family and providing food, cloths and stationary is difficult. If only we could help students a little, they are much better off.
Photos 13&14: A school in a very poor rural area. This is the only building it has. (taken at Janadiphathi Mahinda Rajapaks Rotary School)
Despite all the above sad parts, the visit filled with pleasure and laughter. Students are super SWEET. Typical Sri Lankan tropical smiles accompany us all the time! They were waving hands when we caught sight of them, greeting us in simple English, following us wherever we go, rushing to the camera when I was taking pictures… They simply like you.
Photos 15&16: They are warm, and curious:)
A typical day starts at around 7am – as school starts at 7:30 and finishes early at 1:30. Travelling long distance between each cluster in rural areas took up much time. So everyday before 2pm was very tight, only to take a short break on the van. Splendid sceneries in deep south Sri Lanka had exploited my break time though…
Photos 17&18: They deserve a better life.
This week was impressive. I saw the schools and their communities myself, and was moved by enthusiastic students and teachers. Deep thoughts surrounded me at the meantime: NGOs always take rapid responses after disasters, but have we considered taking away an existing aid may have put people back in trouble? These schools are all state-of-the-art buildings with high standards; today, all lights are off, computer labs are empty, toilets are stuck and messy, and so on and so forth. It is not the donor that to be blamed (quite a few of them ended up with shortage in funds, or incomplete work, though, and some designs didn’t take into account the real needs and circumstances), but we should be more aware of the blind spots after the short enthusiasm.
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One-week assessment-trip to tsunami devastated areas – realizing the frustration of IDP camps permission, on the same day my colleagues travelled to Vavuniya (the largest IDP camp), I was arranged to alternatively conduct a school maintenance survey in tsunami areas.
photo 3: Students happily playing cricket on the playground. This IDP school is lucky, it has plenty of space for a playground. But it is dusty in the sun and muddy in the rain. (taken at Devapathiraja Maha Vidyalaya)
It’s more than 4 years since the tsunami washed up this area in Southern Sri Lanka. As a response to the tsunami, donors gave funds for the rehabilitation of a majority of the affected schools. Input in construction was immense, well facilitate schools were built up and after that, schools were handed over to the government. Teaching has returned to normal. This re-visit intends to find out whether buildings and facilities are being properly used, and how much the community participates in the maintenance – it is assumed that an active community participation solves the current problem of non-participation and eventually improve the quality of education.
Photo 4: All donor schools have nice buildings. This school is well decorated yet, suffering from extremely dry climate, no plants are grown. (taken at Tsu Chi National School)
Altogether we visited 12 schools. Findings showed that lots of supports are absolutely needed in these schools in the long run: construction of buildings is only the first step that guarantees education to take place. I see the major problems as:
Photos 5&6: Toilets. No water supply is a common problem. (Taken at Thallala Maha Vidyalaya and Kirinda Muslime Vidyalaya)
1) NO FUNDS AT ALL to pay for maintenance. A majority of schools are rated poor in maintaining existing facilities, namely classrooms, labs and toilets. Some schools are extremely dirty and the environment has affected study activities. All schools claimed that it is lack of funds that made them unable to keep a tidy environment, e.g. no one takes the cleaning duty (no money to pay for a cleaner, while teachers & students are not able to clean the whole school), or no brooms and soaps etc.
To date, not a single classroom turned on the lights. I asked every school about this, and replies were identical: they cannot afford the electricity bill. A number of schools were cut electricity from time to time. Classrooms are dark even during daytime.
Photos 7&8: One school has bad leaking pipes; the other doesn't have tabs or water at all. (taken at Zahira School and Kudawella Jayawickrama)
2) LACK OF RESOURCES for further development. Currently, except for the government, there are no funding sources for the schools; apparently a poor country cannot afford this expensive (free) education system, and the schools lack outside resources. The tsunami was somehow an “opportunity” to receive international aids, but once the money quit, they remain nothing.
In almost every tsunami-affected community there is a voluntary “school development committee” formed by parents, teachers and principles. This was initiated to help out schools via community participation (through regular meetings). But 2 problems make this function less useful: firstly, they are not able to fund. These are poor areas and limited capacities within the community in terms of funding. Funding remains a problem never solved in SDC meetings. Secondly, they lack capacity also in terms of participation, i.e. discussion, putting forward solutions, execution, etc. A teacher pointed out that capacity building is a “pre-requisite” for the committee. The major reason behind is, as several principles observed, that 75-80% of parents are fishermen – this means the father goes out for weeks in the sea, and the mother looks after all household routines; participation among fathers is impossible while decisions are hardly made by mothers – men dominate decision-making. As a result, the 2-3 time annual SDC meetings don’t bring schools a better situation.
They need help from the outside. Now they feel abandoned.
Photo 9: Students and their parents cleaning the classroom. (taken at Rathgama Siri Sumana Primary College)
Photos 10, 11&12: Happy faces of the kids. You can't help but LOVE them:) (taken at Rathgama Siri Sumana Primary College, Janadiphathi Mahinda Rajapaks Rotary School and Kirinda Muslime Vidyalaya)
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