Sponsor a Handicapped Child
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 Division of Badulla District only at present
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.
Donors: Suyin and Steve Karlsen of USA
Partners:
- Hill Country Disability Group
- Ministry of Social Welfare, Haldummulla Division
- National Secretariat for Persons with Disabilities
Period: Launched in January 2007, as long as sponsors are willing to sponsor the children.
Benchmarks:
January 2007: Suyin & Steve Karlsen of USA learn the plight of 11-year old Erosha Dharmapala, whose disability forced her to stop attending school two years ago, offering to pay for a qualified tutor to visit Erosha daily so she can continue her education.
February-March 2007: SLCT & Hill Country Disability Group volunteers liaise with local officials to create an official and legal arrangement whereby Ministry of Social Welfare officials and SLCT volunteers jointly set up and monitor a pilot scheme for Erosha’s education at home.
April 2007: Ms. Dilhani Wijeyatunga, an educated but unemployed young widow, scheduled to begin tutoring Erosha regularly, but after prolonged delays finds employment elsewhere.
10-11 June 2007: Purchase & presentation of art supplies and study materials to Erosha so she can commence home activities even without a tutor.
25-27 July 2007: Ms. Anna Baumann, A German woman residing in South India, stays for two days with Erosha & family to study their needs, finds that Erosha has artistic talent but also family problems that need to be addressed.
1 August 2007: Erosha's 3 hrs/day home schooling begins under Ms. Buddhika, a young mother and family friend living next door who has passed her Advanced Level examination.
4 August 2007: Erosha, along with her sister and parents and teacher Ms. Buddhika, go for a 95-km tour by car of the high hill country of Bandarawela, and visit Koslanda Nanasala with SLCT Secretary Patrick Harrigan. Erosha sees a town, Bandarawela, and the Hill Country for the first time in her life, and has an opportunity to view this web site on Koslanda Nanasala computers.
Remarks: This scheme has had to make painfully slow progress through a local bureaucracy that is unaccustomed and often resistant to innovation. Once set up and running, however, this scheme can serve as a model and precedent for other instances of sponsored children.
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