Child sponsorship letter from Piliyandala
14/12/2007
Update from November 2007
Dear Friends,
It’s that time again! The end of the year is always a time of looking back on what went by and looking forward to what may come. Resolutions are made for the coming year with reflections perhaps on resolutions that were either broken or kept during the year that is passing. It’s my pleasure to share the news of SOS Family -Piliyandala with you as we always do at this time of the year.
SOS Children’s Village:
This year marks the 26th year of existence of the SOS Children’s Village, Piliyandala. Being the first SOS Children’s Village to be established in Sri Lanka, this SOS Family is rich in experience. During these 26 years, 451 children have been taken care of in the 16 SOS Families. 290 youths- both girls and boys- have moved into society by employment and marriage. At present 142 children 86 girls and 57 boys are being cared for in the SOS Families at the SOS Children’s Village. 122 of them are schooling whilst 14 are attending SOS Nursery School. 8 girls were brought home this year while 3 girls and 2 boys were reunited with their biological families. A SOS Mother and an SOS Aunt (an Aunt is an individual who takes care of the SOS Family whilst the SOS Mother is on leave) retired after 25 years of service. 16 retired SOS Mothers reside in the SOS Mother Retirement Home which is also in the same campus as the SOS Children’s Village.
The older children in the SOS Children’s Village organised a special holiday programme for the school vacation in August this year. The whole of the month of August was school vacation. The first activity was a voluntary programme where they cleaned the whole campus garden. This took two days and each group was given a marked area to clean. Thereafter they got into groups and organised a kite show. This is the time of the year where you find the monsoon winds and the children utilise this period to fly kites. The imagination power of the young ones were very evident at this kite show for there were various shapes of kites made of various materials. Then they also made play houses on their own. What was attractive in this is they cooked meals in these houses and shared them with their friends who also have made play houses. Older children also took part in a workshop on “Leadership” and also on “Team Work”. The workshop was full of practical work and proved to be a valuable programme for children. Once a week they also had an evening session of sing song where the older children took part.
SOS Youth Facilities:
At present there are 53 boys being cared for in the Youth Facility for boys. Of these 14 are SOS Scholarship holders.(Every year 10 scholarships are granted to youth from the low income families who do well in the General Certificate of Education (Ordinary Level) Examination to continue their advanced level education.) 45 of them are attending school whilst 8 of them are attending vocational training in various fields. At the Girls’ Youth House at Katubedda a total of 15 young girls are resident. Of these, 11 are employed/receiving employment training whilst 1 young girl is receiving training in computer literacy and 3 girls who need special attention are at home and will soon be enrolled in an institution with residential facility to receive training in life skills. They will be residential at the training center.
A special programme was organised to the youth of these two facilities with regard to the harmful effects of dangerous drugs. Awareness programmes were organized in the past, but it was not on a regular basis. However, since the problem is becoming serious in the neighbourhood, it was deemed having such programmes on a very serious nature would help our youth to stay away from this harmful habit. The expertise services of the trained personnel from the National Dangerous Drugs Control Board were sought for this purpose and the programme is conducted on a regular basis.
SOS Nursery School:
A total of 154 children were enrolled in the 8 classes at the Kindergartens this year. The SOS Nursery School Syllabus incorporates all the main components of the Preschool system. Special emphases are made on the national festivals both religious as well as civil celebrations. Children take part in special activities to celebrate the festivals. This year a special event a concert of Jana Gee Folk Songs was organized for the children in the Upper Nursery School. This was the first time that such an event was organised for the children in the Upper Nursery School class.(children in the age group of 4-5+ years) The children recited simple melodies from very popular folk songs. The background of the stage looked like an ancient village and also the drum was the only instrument that was used to accompany the recital. The audience were mostly the parents of the children attending the Nursery School and the neighbouring community. Every one appreciated the graceful performance of these little ones.
The Year End Concert as well as the Graduation Ceremony was also held as usual with children performing many nursery plays and singing and dancing. The annual Graduation Ceremony too took place during the end of the school term where 65 children dressed in the traditional cloak and hat received the certificate and bid farewell to SOS Nursery School in order to commence their formal schooling.
The children, parents and fellow teachers bid farewell to the Head Mistress of the SOS Nusery School who retired from the service after being with the SOS Children’s Villages of Sri Lanka for the past 20 years. It was nice to see her services to the little ones being appreciated by all concerned. We too like to wish her all the very best with her future endeavours.
SOS Medical Centre
The SOS Medical Centre at Piliyandala continues its good work not only to the SOS Children’s Village Community but also to the neighbourhood community. A total of 4,231 patients received consultation and treatment at this Centre during the past 12 months. Nearly 6,000 persons benefited from the Antinental/Immunizational/family Planning Clinics conducted at this Centre by the Government Medical Health Office of the area. 2,140 students and 2,200 adults received treatment at the Dental Clinic conducted at the SOS Medical Centre. The Centre also very active in organizing various awareness programmes for children and adults prevention is better than cure. Special emphasis is made on AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases as these are in the rise among the neighbouring community.
SOS Social Centre:
The Family Strengthening Programme A programme launched in mid 2003 to prevent abandonment of children due to poverty has been very successful. We have been able to reach 93 families in the neighbourhood under this programme this year and 190 children are being directly helped. These children not only receive food and school stationery, they also are provided with extra curricular activities in order to improve their personality. Parents and adults in the families are assisted to venture into self employment. We were successful in receiving assistance from a local financial institute to provide short term loans for these families. 7 families who received such loans have now started paying back their loans and this has helped to build a good rapport with the finance company.
SOS Primary School
A new Principal has been appointed to the school after the demise of the former principal early this year. The student roll for the current year remained at 943. Classes from Grade 1 to Grade 13 (University Entrance classes) are conducted in this school. A total of 46 teachers assist the Principal in conducting classes for these children. The School continue to provide good services to the students’ population of the neighbourhood. It is also a good competitor not only in educational activities, but also in extra curricular activities as well as sports. This year too the students were able to receive many recognitions in all the competitions they took part. Installation of the Prefect Guild and the launch of the Entrepreneurship Programme are two main events of the school during this year. A local bank has provided assistance with the Entrepreneurship Programme.
Tsunami Relief Work:
We are proud to sate that SOS Children’s Villages of Sri Lanka was one of the few non government organisations in Sri Lanka who have completed the Housing and Public Buildings Projects under Tsunami Relief Work in the country. The support and concern you showed at the time of the disaster in December 2004 was overwhelming. With your support SOS-Sri Lanka commenced its relief work rebuilding the lives of the people affected by the tsunami. We have built 978 permanent homes for the families and 9 Social Centres including Kindergartens and 2 Public buildings. Over 2,300 families are being benefited from these projects. The construction of the school is scheduled to be completed in March 2008. The school will have modern features and over 1,700 students will be benefited from the activities of the school.
Dear Friends, all this has been possible because you have committed yourself to be with us. Your commitment has given me and my colleagues at SOS Children’s Village Piliyandala to continue to work towards our children and families bringing joy, happiness and hope. My sincere thanks to you and my colleagues for the concern and commitment you show.
Season’s Greetings & A Happy New Year 2008
Yours Sincerely,
National Office
Earline Barthelot
Project Director Sponsorship
Children sponsor letter from Nuwara Eliya
Update from November 2007
SOS Children’s Village:
A total of 72 children are being cared for in 10 SOS Families at this SOS Children’s Village. 2 girls and 6 boys joined these families during this year. 5 boys left their family homes to join the boys at the Youth Facility. This SOS Children’s Villages has been active for the past 23 years. Few mothers from the very first batch of mothers who set up families here are preparing for their retirement during the course of 2008. A Mothers’ Retirement Home is already in place to receive these wonderful ladies who have been mothers to many children.
This year I would like to share with you a unique event that took place in this SOS Children’s Village- the marriage of Ruwan. In 1991 Ruwan (11) along with his biological big sister joined the SOS Family at SOS Children’s Village Nuwara Eliya. He left school early to follow vocational training as an Electrician. For the past 8 years he has been employed as an Electrician in a renowned company. Here he met his partner Niroshani. After a few years of courtship, the young couple decided to be married. However, they encountered a problem. The custom here in Sri Lanka is the wedding should always be at the bride’s residence. Due to personal reasons, Niroshani’s family could not have the wedding in their house. The couple approached Ruwan’s SOS mother and explained their problem. His SOS mother was ready to assist her son and thus the wedding took place in his SOS Family home. The couple were dressed in the traditional wedding attire and they made a beautiful couple. The presences of all the children who have been in this SOS Family also was something unique and they did have lots of fun remembering the past when they were children. It was an heart-warming moment for all concerned. Ruwan was assisted to buy a land and now he is working on building his own house.
SOS Youth Facility:
At present there are 28 youth under the care of the Youth Facility for boys -Nuwara Eliya. All of them attend school. 3 boys are studying in the schools outside Nuwara Eliya and they are boarded in the school. Gayan who qualified to enter the university is now following his degree course in Business Administration. This is a 4 year course.
9 girls are resident at the Youth Facility for girls Nuwara Eliya. 8 of them travel to their working places from here. 1 girl with special needs stays at home. She is engaged in self employment in a small scale.
Recreational activities as well as awareness programmes are organised for these youths on a regular basis. 7 working girls attend the Education for Life Programmed at SOS Children’s Village Piliyandala. At these programmes emphasises are made in Self Esteem, Sex and Marriage.
SOS Nursery School:
54 young girls and boys from the neighbourhood attend the SOS Nursery School at SOS Children’s Village Nuwara Eliya. The SOS Nursery School Syllabus incorporates all the main components of the Preschool system. Special emphasise are made on the national festivals both religious as well as civil celebrations. Children take part in special activities to celebrate the festivals. Here, like in the SOS Children’s Village, children celebrate both the Sinhalese and Hindu festivals as the children are from both the communities. As part of their curriculum children visited a farm where they spent the whole morning, feeding some of the smaller animals, playing with some and listing to stories about the animals the care takers were relating. All in all the children not only got to know facts about the animals in the farm but also had a good time.
The Year End Concert as well as the Graduation Ceremony was also held as usual with children performing many nursery plays and singing and dancing. At the Annual Graduation Ceremony 33 children dressed in the traditional cloak and had received the certificate and bid farewell to SOS Nursery School in order to commence their formal schooling.
SOS Social Centre:
The Family Strengthening Programme A programme launched last year to prevent abandonment of children due to poverty has been very successful. We have been able to reach 208 children in 123 families in the neighbourhood under this programme this year. These children not only receive food and school stationery, they also are provided with extra curricular activities in order to improve their personality. Parents and adults in the families are assisted to venture into self employment.
The prime objective of the SOS Medical Centre is to provide medical assistance to the SOS Village Community. However the premise is also utilized to provide medical services such as Immunization and Antenatal Clinics to the neighbouring community by the government health officials.
Vocational Training Centre - Malpotha
06 youth are resident and continue with their training at the Youth Facility - Malpotha. This is a farm project where boys are being trained in organic farming and other life skills. They are progressing well and continue to earn well from the sales of their herbs and vegetables. The Work Camps for girls and boys during the school vacations are held here and they receive training in making vegetable beds, making natural fertilizer, caring for animals and other skills required for farming.
83 school going children from the neighbourhood of this Project were enrolled into the Family Strengthening Programme this year and the boys from the VTC interact with these children for recreation.
Dear Friends, all this has been possible because you have committed yourself to be with us. Your commitment has given me and my colleagues at SOS Children’s Village Nuwara Eliya to continue to work towards our children and families bringing joy, happiness and hope. My sincere thanks to you and my colleagues for the concern and commitment you show.
Season’s Greetings & A Happy New Year 2008
Yours Sincerely,
National Office
Earline Barthelot
Project Director Sponsorship
Relevant Countries: Sri Lanka.