We believe that a safe household should demonstrate four
dimensions of security. These are food and health securities
that are basic needs of any person, Livelihood and Knowledge
or Education securities that are vital for improving accessibility
to basic needs.
Therefore through our mission we intend
to address each area with passion and spiritual commitment by
first addressing proximate issues pertaining to food and health
insecurities in the region and second by addressing intermediate
issues that include livelihood and education insecurities which
feed into the proximate issues.
Malnutrition among children in Sri Lanka although is low
compared to other South Asian country is three times higher
when compared with other middle income country around the world.
According to the facts and figures nearly one in five children
between 3-5 years of age in Sri Lanka are malnourished and are
underweight (UNDP,2010).Although the country is on course to
achieve its MDG target in this regard by 2015 it is recorded
that 37% of the children in the estate sector are underweight
with 30% of the children in Nuwara Eliya district are underweight.
At the same time malnutrition among women of the estate sectors
is observed to be higher compared to other sectors in the country.
Malnutrition among women and mothers stands as a major impediment
in achieving gender equality across sectors and also as a key
source of child malnutrition.
Health is one of the critical issues faced by the estate
sector workers in the Nuwara Eliya. Poor accessibility to health
services due to harsh road and transportation conditions prevalent
in the district people especially children are suffering daily.
Even though there are many organizations working closely with
the disabled most of them are operational only in the war affected
North East whilst there is dire need for attention to be given
the disabled in the Estate Sector. Therefore we have embarked
on the mission of improving accessibility to basic health facilities
required by those who are in need and improving conditions for
the disabled in the estate sector of Sri Lanka.
Education is one of the best options that the children of
the estate sector could have to break away from the shackles
of poverty. However accessibility to good quality education
in the estate sector is deemed poor. Similarly direct costs
of education impose an additional burden over low income households
seen in the estate sector.
One of the main tendencies observed among estate sector
workers is that they are provided with limited opportunities
for engaging in other forms of livelihoods other than what is
given to them within the estates. One of the key reasons indicated
for low household incomes in the estate sector and in turn causes
poverty, is the inability of those living in the sector to secure
outside employment. (CEPA, 2005, World Bank 2007). Those who
are able to secure outside employment other than in the estate
sector have been able to break away from the shackles of poverty
compared to those who could not.
In addition to our main focus areas we help people in disaster
natural peril. Ex: Floods, earthquakes, cyclones and landslides.
For those people who need our support on such a situation, we
would prepared provide dry foods, food packets, clothes, bed
sheets, sanitary items and medical clinics.