ABDF

• Project Update! (See below)
• Location: Mamangam, Batticaloa, Sri Lanka
• Recipients:19 disabled children, 3 teachers
• Objective:Trishaw rental
• Final cost:$1060 US

The kids at Puhalidam!

Traditionally disabled children in Sri Lanka are seen as shaming their families, and were frequently hidden away from outside contact. Not only did this exacerbate the child’s mental and physical problems, it prevented them from developing the social skills that would otherwise enable them to be productive members of society.

In the past ten years attitudes towards the handicapped have slowly been changing. In traditional places like Batticaloa, many families are still ashamed of their handicapped children. However local groups have been forming to educate and socialize these kids.

The Puhalidam school sign.

Puhalidam (Poo-AH-leh-dahm), which means “Shelter” or “Refuge” in Tamil, is one such group serving Batticaloa. Founded in 2001 in cooperation with Kinder not Hilfe (KNH), a German child welfare group, there are five centers, one of which, in Mamangam, has requested help from ABDF.org.

Mamangam Puhalidam currently serves the needs of 19 children. All the children have some combination of mental and physical disability; the Program Director, who is not a health expert, identified at least one child with Down’s syndrome. All of them would be considered “slow” learners in the West.

The Puhalidam school building.

Sixteen of the kids are currently healthy enough to attend daily class, which takes place during traditional school hours from 8AM to 1:30 in the afternoon. The daily schedule includes Tamil and English, including penmanship, as well as a series of lessons and exercises designed to make the children as independent as possible. The Program Director was startled (and pleased) to be greeted by the kids in surprisingly good English, and he was very impressed by the penmanship he saw in both Tamil and English. Part of the day is dedicated to physical therapy, including art and jewelry making, both of which help the kids with their manual dexterity. The jewelry made is quite attractive, and is sold to generate a small income for the school.

Jewelry made by the children at Puhalidam.

Three of the students are in too poor a physical shape to attend classes. Each day a teacher is sent out to make the rounds and provide some basic Tamil lessons and physical movement therapy, as well as ensure that each child is receiving proper nutrition at home. The goal with these three kids is to get them healthy enough to join the class.

Parents are asked to make a token payment to the school of 250 rupees a month, which is a bit less than $2.50US; teachers are paid by KNH, the German group. The house in which the group holds class is currently donated by the owner.

A very sweet girl.

The main obstacle the program encounters is one of transportation. Every morning all the children must be picked up by trishaw, and then returned home in the afternoon. Additionally, the home teacher for the week must visit each of the three kids who have poor health. The kids come from a wide area and from all directions. Right now trishaw expenses are very high. To give context, a teacher friend of the Program Director pays a trishaw driver 3,800 rupees ($32US) a week to take his three girls to and from school; all three go to the same school. Thus paying a trishaw driver normal rates for daily pick up and drop off all 16 kids, plus to take the teacher around and wait at each house, is beyond the means of the organization.

A long colorful row of trishaws.

Puhalidan has come to an agreement with a local trishaw driver. For 19,000 rupees ($164US) a month, he will pick up and drop off all 16 kids, and take the home teacher on her rounds five days a week. The driver will be free to conduct other taxi business between 10AM and 1 PM, and again after 4PM. It means an assured monthly income for the trishaw driver and a huge savings for Puhalidan.

A local Mamangam charitable group has pledged to donate 9,000 rupees ($77US) a month towards retaining the trishaw and driver. Puhalidan has come to ABDF.org to ask that we donate the remaining 10,000 monthly rupees. This comes out to 120,000 rupees for a year, or just under $1,100US.

The handicapped in Sri Lanka are socially outcast and at best have a very difficult life. Given the surprising successes that the Program Manager saw at the Mamangam center, and how very sweet, friendly and outgoing the kids are, ABDF.org believes it would be a shameful waste of potential if kids couldn’t attend merely because the trishaw ride was too expensive.

As it is, the staff has a difficult time convincing parents that their handicapped children are worth investing in; just getting a kid enrolled in school is a major feat. ABDF.org feels that the staff at Mamangam have come up with the fiscally best solution to the problem, and has decided to offer assistance to this wonderful, much needed, and impressive program.

Project Update - June 6, 2009

Project Director, Bennett Hinkley, officially handing over the first month's money.

ABDF is happy to announce that thus far, due to a generous donation from Lara Lackey of Portland, we are able to provide six months of transportation for the kids attending Puhalidam. Finding the funds for the next six months will be ABDF.org’s most immediate fundraising priority.

Please help us get these kids to school!

Project Complete - July 6, 2009

ABDF is happy to announce that thus far, due to a generous donation from Albert Elzas of Los Angeles, we are able to provide the remainder of the transportation costs for the kids attending Puhalidam! The kids are getting to school easily now!