• Home
• About Us
• Our Work
• Sponsor
• Education
• Projects
• Donors
• Articles
• Mobility
• Downloads
• Contact Us

Sponsor a Handicapped Child or Youth

Objective: Identify needy families of handicapped children living in remote areas of the hill country; match them with sponsor families, societies, or individuals abroad who wish to give that child a better chance in life, design and oversee individual schemes to bring lasting change to the lives of handicapped children and their families.

Location: Haldummulla and Ella Divisions of Badulla District (the hill country or tea country)

Description: Liaise between donors, needy families of the handicapped, and the Ministry of Social Services to facilitate and report on customised sponsorship schemes to improve children’s health, education and general welfare.

Partners:

• Hill Country Disability Group
• Individual sponsors

Handicapped children and youths for sponsorship

Tamilchelvam

Bandula

Puspawathy

Vaneja

Indra Malini family

Nilantha

Vasanthi & aunt

Jayasundaram

1. Kirubalandren is a 14 year old boy who lives with his parents and two sisters. Both parents are laborers on a tea estate and they are living in an estate line house. Kirubalandren is mentally disabled boy who can neither walk or talk. He often suffers from pneumonia and seizures. Because of his physical health issues, he needs to visit Badulla hospital clinic once in every two weeks. Each 60 km to Badulla is costing the family about $20. We would like to find a donor for him to improve his health and diet.
2. Kokilaveni is a 7 year old girl who lives in the Poonagala Tea Estate with her parents. Kokilaveni was born with a hole in the heart. She used to go to school but because of her sickness doctors advised her to stop her school until she recovers from this disease. Her doctors have advised her parents to do an emergency surgery with in a month, which is estimated to cost about US$3500. The Sri Lankan Presidential Fund has agreed to donate $2000 if a co-payer can be found and Kokilaveni’s parents have collected about $500 from loans. So for her to perform her surgery soon they are lacking about $1000. We urgently seed donor or donors who could donate this sum to save this little girl's precious life.
3. Premathilake is a 32 year old male who is living with his parents. He cannot work to support himself because of his genetic disorder. He does not have control his arms or leg for himself and has difficulty talking. We are seeking a donor who could provide Premathilake $15 monthly as a living stipend.
4. Pawalarani is 27 years old and lives with her mother, brother and a sister who is having health conditions from her birth. Pawalarani is about two feet tall and having difficulty walking. She attended school and passed 9th grade. Also she has obtained some computer education at local Telecenters. If Pawalarani has a home computer with Internet access she will able to earn from data entry work while staying at home. The home computer with Internet access for a year cost ~$750. We are seeking a donor who can help Pawalarani to recover her life and self-esteem.
5. Puwanashwari is a 26 year old woman living with her sister, brother and mother. She suffers from panic attacks and she cannot walk from her birth. Because of her health conditions she has to visit to the clinic every week.
   Puwanashwari is gifted with knitting and she is making knitted dolls. Only problem is that she has not enough money to buy materials to develop her ability as a career. If someone is kind enough for her to help out she will able to start up her own business by selling these dolls. Looking for a donor who could donate her $100 to start up her own business. She is ambitious and wanted to find her own medical expenses by doing her own business.
6. Tamilchelvam (15) and Mahindan (16) are two severely disabled brothers living with their family on Ampittikande Tea Estate who were too poor to pay their electricity bills even. With help from Suyin, after restoring their electricity, and rebuilding their leaky roof, we helped to improve the brothers’ diet with milk foods and have helped to convert their front room into a retail shop.
7. Parameswary (25) of the Koslanda Tea Estate is an MS victim whom we have presented with a donated television and wheelchair in 2007. In October of that year we remodeled her family’s front room and stocked it as a retail shop for only US$180. Her life has improved markedly thanks to this. We continue to help Parameswary with emergency transport, etc. when she needs emergency medical attention.
8. Bandula (27) of Koslanda was born with a hip deformity such that he could never attend school. Again Suyin raised money to build a sanitary bathroom so Bandula could use it without help. Lately (since September 2008) we provided him with a loan laptop computer and have engaged a qualified computer teacher to teach him at home so Bandula may some day be able to earn a modest livelihood at home. In November 2009 a private donor in Germany donated 500 euros for Bandula to get a new desktop PC with Internet access so that he can begin to earn a modest livelihood doing data entry for nearby Koslanda Nanasala through the HCDG.
9. Puspawathy (24) of Haputale was coming home by train on 13th December 2006, when she fell from the train, losing both arms and her right leg. Since then, she has been confined to her family home on Haputale Tea Estate, and is only now beginning to recover from the trauma. After one donor provided a wheelchair, nearby businesses in Haputale donated building materials so the family could build a bathroom for her, and we have donated a CDMA phone. But the toilet still had no door, so her father came to us to appeal for funds to construct a door, which we promptly gave.
   Puspawathy's sponsor Suyin Karlsen is now sponsoring construction of a small retail shop with residential facilities for Pushpawathy and her mother.
10. Kishanth (15) of Haputale, like Puspawathy, fell under a train and lost both legs at the ankles. Today he has prosthetic feet, but walks with difficulty only. Ms. Joyce Gallagher of USA has kindly offered to sponsor the cost of daily transporting Kishanth to and from school for ca. $40/month. We met with Kishanth and his school principal on 16 October 2008 to finalize arrangements for transport payments to be made through the school’s development society. Kishanth is getting computer education at our center in Haputale where he also earns a modest income doing data entry. We want to purchase a motor scooter for Kishanth so he will no longer need paid transport and will have freedom of movement once again.
11. Vaneja (15) lives a few doors from Yogeswaran. She is confined to a wheelchair and mentally challenged to some extent also. That is, she understands what people are saying, but she hardly speaks, though she is clearly sociable and bright. This was our second visit to see Vaneja (first time we came to deliver the wheelchair) and both times she was plainly thrilled to have visitors and to be receiving gifts: first a wheelchair (she had been living on the cement floor until that day) and then this time we brought two framed photos from our first visit. The family next door has helped her family to buy cement, etc. to fix up the family's front room where Vaneja spends her days.
    Vaneja is a lovely child who however has little prospect of ever marrying or finding employment. Despite a crippling disability, Vaneja has a bright personality, so it is easy to see why she and her family are so well regarded by their neighbors. Vaneja is always cheerful and full of light and optimism. A sponsor is now meeting the monthly $40 cost of employing an educated girl to visit Vaneja three times weekly as her tutor.
12. Indra Malini of Ella is a Sinhalese mother who is struggling to raise three children aged 9, 12, and 14, all three of whom are deaf and dumb. Her husband is a day laborer, who finds paid work on a daily basis, when it can be found. Fortunately for them, there is a School for the Deaf and Blind in Bandarawela. They request help for the cost of schooling the children, including the long daily commute to Bandarawela, and the cost of school supplies and uniforms. We are now arranging for all three children to be examined and fitted with hearing aids.
13. Ishaan (15) of Ella has been deaf & dumb since birth. He lives quite near Indra Malini's three children and also commutes daily to the school for the deaf & dumb, about 40 minutes away, which sends a van to pick up other deaf children and drop them home in the evening (fine, except the service is not free). Ishaan’s parents are asking for help with the cost of school transportation, only around $4-5 per month, and the cost of shoes and school uniform.
    Ishaan is an example of a handicapped child from a poor family, who could benefit from sponsorship, provided that the a sponsor who is committed to see him get an education that will enable him to learn a suitable livelihood and even marry and raise a family of his own some day. Perhaps some day he and his little sister can learn computer at school and even at home some day, using special software and hardware to learn to speak in Sinhala and even in English. But for now, his family is only asking for a little help with his education, as they are a genuinely poor rural family.
14. Nilantha (27) of Bandarawela is normal and healthy, except that from birth he has not had use of his legs. In spite of his disability, Nilantha has studied up to the O level and is a bright and sociable young man, living with his mother and aged grandmother (father passed away). They all live in a dilapidated house that is little more than a shack, but at least it is their own property and, moreover, it is in a commercial location. They are currently using the front room as a rustic shop, with just a few items like soap and biscuits for sale, and there sits Nilantha all day.
    We are encouraged him not simply to clean up the shop, but to remodel it altogether. Already we have given him a SunTel phone, and Nilantha in his turn is now remodeling it into a proper shop with a nice signboard, with our support, so more customers will visit, since his family depends upon the pitiful income from his tiny shop. We feel that Nilantha, with his decent education, can succeed in keeping a shop in that commercial location.
15. Vasanthi (16) of Poonagala lost both parents in a road accident when she was only five months old. She remained in a hospital until at last a great aunt agreed to act as foster mother to the girl. Since then she lives in a tiny two room flat with her aunt. Vasanthi is cheerful, if rather shy. Her left hand remains clenched so she cannot use it except for simple movements, plainly a psychological issue. Vasanthi never went to school—she may have been too traumatized or withdrawn to interact much—so she never got even a rudimentary education, even though she appears to be bright. She attends a local day care center daily where she helps the two staff to look after preschool children, and she takes great satisfaction in this.
    Vasanthi’s foster mother, age 50, is very poor and will not be able to continue to labor on the tea estate for many more years. She is a lovely girl who could some day have a normal life and family of her own, given some help. With support from a private donor in Germany we have arranged to pay a small salary to an educated girl to provide home education to Vasanthi so she can learn to read and write. Now (Jan 2010) Vasanthi is able to use her left hand again, and is traveling by bus to our Poonagala Telecenter where she wants to learn to operate computer and earn a small livelihood doing data entry like other young women of her age.
16. Jayasundara (26) is a young adult dwarf who is also unable to walk, so he has to move about in a wheelchair. He lives with his mother beside the Koslanda main road near a rural bank. He is very bright and sociable, and has managed to build a little shop by the roadside, just across from the rural bank. As his mother's only son, she depends upon him as much as he depends upon her. In September we presented him with a SunTel phone, so now he is able to earn a little extra by providing telecom service to rural bank customers.
17. Rupendran (15, photo at right) was born with deformed ankles. He can walk, but only with difficulty and only with specially made shoes. His family lives on Koslanda Tea Estate where his parents work as laborers. Earlier Rupendran's parents had to carry him down to school in the morning and carry him home in the afternoon; now he boards with a family near Meeriabedde Primary School. Rupendran needs a sponsor who would meet the cost of having shoes specially fitted for him in Colombo, cover the cost of his school items, etc.
18. Chaturanga Aberuwan (13, photo at right)of Nawelagama, Ballakeduwa (Ella) has had this condition from birth. Chaturanga's family is very poor, though they are living in a decent but old and run down house. He cannot stand on his own but his arms are strong so he can move about on the floor using his arms. Now that he has a wheelchair he can move about on his own power using his arms. Unfortunately he also has a mental disability, so he understands when spoken to but seems distracted and speak little. When we showed him the wheelchair and seated him in it, he clapped his hands for joy and clearly understood that this wheelchair was his to keep.
19. Rupan (photo at right) of Meeriabedda, Koslanda, is a 16 year old boy with complete mental disability--he cannot speak and is bedridden. He lives just a stone's throw from Parameswary on Koslanda Organic Tea Estate with his 75-year old grandmother, who alone looks after Rupan and has appealed to us for some help, any help we can offer. It is very hard for this grandmother to manage when she has constantly to look after this boy.

If you would like to sponsor a child or youth seen here, please contact us.