PROJECT BACKGROUND Sahana - Sinhalese for compassionate help
AIM International Aid (AIMIAS), a non-profit based out of British Columbia, Canada, has partnered with Global Action Sri Lanka to build the Sahana “Children’s Village” in Akmeemana – a town in the southern province of Galle. The Sahana Foundation of Sri Lanka has graciously granted us access to an 8 acre block of land to make our project a reality.
The concept behind this village is to create a safe, stable environment in which the basic needs of children are met. These include access to healthcare, nutrition, education and recreation. The primary beneficiaries will be up to 800 children from 380 tsunami affected families who have already been provided with homes in the surrounding area. Additionally, children of poverty stricken families in surrounding villages will also be able to make use of the facilities at the Children’s Village. Almost every family in Sri Lanka has been affected by the ongoing civil war, whether they have lost family members to the fighting or have been targets of discrimination. Our efforts at the Children’s Village will help nourish and educate children from such families as well as to create a place that will foster peace and understanding for future generations.
THE NEED
For two and a half decades, this island nation off the south coast of India has been ravaged by a bitter civil war between the legitimate democratically elected government of Sri Lanka and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). The LTTE is a separatist insurgency that is vying for a separate state for the Tamil people. Although the LTTE may appear to have support from a large fraction of the Tamil people living abroad they, in fact, have violated many human rights - including recruiting child soldiers - to obtain this false loyalty.
In December 2004, the tsunami killed almost 40,000 people and displaced over 1,000,000 more from their homes. Unfortunately, the LTTE intercepted the relief aid that was meant for the North and East and instead used it for its own forces. As a result, the civilians in those areas suffered for many years without proper food and facilities. This resulted in the labelling of the LTTE as a terrorist organization in many countries. The government of Sri Lanka eventually used its forces to liberate the LTTE controlled areas. As a result of the ongoing conflict, innocent people have lost their homes, livelihoods have been lost and loved ones have been killed. The eastern province of the country is now fully liberated and elections were held to appoint members to the local government councils. The LTTE has lost its strongholds and its presence has been limited to a small area in the north. The government forces are now in the process of capturing these areas. After a democratically elected leadership has been appointed, it will be the responsibility of the government and international organizations - such as AIMIAS and Global Action- to restore normal productive life for the Sri Lankan people.
As if the war was not enough, Sri Lankans also had to deal the enormous upheaval caused by the tsunami. Hundreds, if not thousands, of children were literally left with only the clothes on their backs. In the ensuing months, children who had previously had a normal life found themselves without food, shelter, education and security. The area to which the tsunami-affected families have been resettled currently has no school or hospital within easy access. The resulting burden and cost of daily long distance travel to school only adds to the trauma and stress faced by these children.
In order to ensure that the effects of the tsunami and the war do not have permanent detrimental effects on these children, it is important to provide facilities such as the Children’s Village. It is only under these conditions that children can be provided with security and continuity when it comes to their education, health and nourishment.
THE INTERVENTION
The Children’s Village is comprised of several components and includes provisions for staffing and administration of programs as well as for constructions of the physical space. The separate components of our project are as follows: 1. Nutrition Centre
This will function as a centre for pre-school aged children to receive nourishing meals and early childhood education. It will also serve to foster healthy body and mind development. Furthermore, this centre will allow parents to go and earn a living with the assurance that their children have a safe place to learn and play. In the evenings and weekends, the centre will be used for children’s art, music and traditional dance classes. These classes are all in an effort to heal the spirits of the children and unite them through song, dance and art. 2. Multi-Purpose Building This building will have many essential functions:
Medical/Dental Clinic – clinics will be run on a weekly basis with the help of doctors and medical staff of the Karapitiya Teaching Hospital, in Galle. Global Action has already acquired the medical equipment necessary for the clinic.
Library – this facility will include a lending and reference library, study room and a room for special programmes such as storytelling.
Mini Auditorium – this will double as an education centre (English classes and peace building initiatives, for example), vocational training centre, and community centre.
3. Montessori School After graduating from the Nutrition Centre, the children will attend Montessori classes conducted by qualified teachers until they are old enough to join government schools. 4. Children’s Playground
This will include a children’s playground, volleyball court and facilities for indoor and outdoor games. 5. Children’s Home
A maximum of 30 children from infancy to the age of five, whose biological families cannot take care of them, can be accommodated in the children’s home. They would be looked after by 6 caregivers who act as surrogate mothers to the children.
***PROGRESS TO DATE***
Provisions are already in place for immediate commencement of the above projects. The Village has been supplied with electricity and a road. Two houses have been constructed to provide facilities for staff and construction of the Nutrition Centre is already in progress.
THE IMPACT Environmental Impact There currently is an organic garden at the Children’s Village. The produce is sold to pay for a family to live at the village in order to tend to the land and keep it safe. We intend to continue the garden and harvest a larger crop to support the nutrition centre and to teach sustainable farming techniques. Overall Impact The Children’s Village will incorporate facilities which will address the issues of health, education, nourishment and recreation. It will include a children’s home, nutrition centre, medical/dental clinic, library, and a community and peace building centre. The Village will provide a haven for tsunami and war affected children where they will experience a return to normalcy in their daily lives.
The Children’s Village will also provide facilities for children from the North to attend programmes with the southern children to build friendships and fellowship – something that is currently not possible. In the end, this village will function not only as a place to nourish individual children but to bring together the next generation of Sri Lankans and pave the way for a future of much needed peace.
For more information and to volunteer with this project please send us an email.
