One of the projects we are involved is helping children to go to
school. In this regards we are incorporating the existing WTEF as a part of I-FREED to
extend these services to needy children in Sri Lanka. There are about 200 families in
Bandaraduwa. School going children are approx. 175 in number. The children are
under-nourished and poor. Often they don't even have proper school uniforms for them to
attend regular school. The facilities they have are the mere basics. These activities
included, but not limited to, getting appropriate school wear, clothing, shoes, books to
children and encouraging them to continue schooling or go back to school, and taking care
of their dental and medical health; encouraging parents to develop self-sustaining cottage
industry (including providing them with micro-loans); This should help them to rise over
poverty and eliminate starvation. There is no doubt that poverty is overwhelmed most rural
children in Sri Lanka. Their parents are either cultivators of a small lot of land or
hard-working laborers, who do not have strength or skill to educate their children.
Disruptive, and harmful forces, in the meantime, are rigorously at work in Sri Lankan
society to distract these children and to ruin the culture. In this situation, it is
inevitable that these poor but these children become a victim of the prevailing forces.
One of I-FREED's mission is to assist these children by provide them financial assistance
for education, monitoring their academic standards, as well as proper guidance. We are
taking the following steps to help these needy children:
- Providing a monthly (or six monthly) financial assistance for the
education of children.
- As a part of the I-FREED mission, to provide computer and English
education to the children.
- Monitoring the children's progress.
As an individual member you could assist this program by either sponsoring a child or
supporting the program in general. A donation of $700 to this program will enable to
sponsor a child forever; as the interest is only used from this revolving fund. This will
allow the program to donate about Rupees 5,000 per child/year.
