Emergency Aid
With the desperate economic situation in Sri Lanka the ability of the community to look after those most in need has reduced dramatically.
Emergency Aid
Food Distribution in the Eastern Province
In October 2022 Brighter Path founder Caroline travelled to the Eastern Province with the Brighter Path team to oversee an emergency food distribution project. The area between Dimbulagala and Welikanda is about six hours’ drive North East of Colombo. This is a very poor area which has been left badly scarred by the civil war. It is an agricultural area where subsistence farmers are engaged in a daily game of cat and mouse with herds of marauding elephants who previously had the land to themselves. Many children have been orphaned by the stampeding elephants who come into villages at night, trampling everything in their path and raiding isolated homes for food. This is an area which has also suffered from years of poor agricultural practices. The persistent misuse of fertiliser has left many adults with chronic kidney disease and their children disabled by congenital injury.
The aim of this project was providing essential food and hygiene products to those in most need. We focussed in particular on families where at least one parent had been in care as these families often lack a wider support network. We were also pleased to be able to help single parents looking after disabled children, or families where one or both parents are severely sick. Often in the past these families have been supported by the local community but with the desperate economic situation in Sri Lanka the ability of the community to look after those most in need has reduced dramatically.
Over the course of four days we distributed food aid worth £2,500 to 75 families. The key to the successful distribution was advance planning – not just in sourcing the food to be distributed and obtaining enough fuel for the trip, but also in working with local community leaders and the Divisional Secretariat to identify those most in need of help. Our team in the area visited every single family before the main food distribution to see for themselves the situation on the ground. This area is remote and many of the homes which we visited are isolated at the end of small tracks. They can only be accessed on foot or bicycle. There were some very dramatic moments, not least trying to find a route back to the main road as an enormous herd of nearly 100 elephants approached in the gathering dusk. The supplies we were able to distribute brought welcome relief to many.
It was striking just how difficult life can be, so often with a parent or grandparent single-handedly providing unstinting care to severely disabled children with almost no outside help. The dedication which they showed to these children in the face of such unrelenting hardship was humbling to witness.
Further Reading
Art Therapy
Of the many care leavers Brighter Path works with, some carry huge trauma from childhood (sometimes from before they went into orphanages, for others arising from their time in orphanages.). …
Continuing Education
This month we helped two care leavers who approached us about participating in advanced training courses which will help them progress in their chosen careers. In both cases the care …
Economic Crisis
These are difficult times in Sri Lanka. Over the past year the economic situation has steadily deteriorated with high inflation and widespread shortages of food. In addition a shortage of …
