Caroline de Bono

In January 2024 we made a large donation of baby milk formula and nappies to the Sujatha Sewana babies home in Bandarawella.  This facility is run by the government probation services and looks after newborn babies and very young children who have either been given up at birth, abandoned or cannot be looked after by their parents.  The babies are well cared for but there is a chronic shortage of supplies and our donation was very well received.

Sunday afternoon outings are an important part of family life for many of us.  Our care leavers are no different.  Many come from remoter parts of Sri Lanka.  For these girls a Sunday afternoon trip to Galle Face was their first time in the middle of Sri Lanka’s capital city.  Following Brighter Path tradition they enjoyed a special meal of pizza and ice cream before going to fly kites on the promenade.  It is easy to underestimate the significance of outings like this in building the self-confidence of our care leavers and sometimes it is important just to have fun!

We are thrilled to share the good news that another care leaver has graduated from the University of Colombo.  After Chameera’s success last year it is good to have played our part in helping another young care leaver complete their university studies.  Dulanjani is a wheelchair user who uses her feet to type and write.  Brighter Path supported Dulanjani with funding for the journey between her accommodation and the university campus. This is a drive of more than an hour each way which Dulanjani needed to make three times a week. This support enabled her to complete her degree and also to experience student life.  Dulanjani studied in the prestigious ‘English Medium’ cohort and graduated in October 2023 with a degree in International Relations.

Brighter Path was proud to support the United Nations’ International Children’s Day on 1 October 2023. This is always a big event in Sri Lanka, particularly for children in care. The motto of this year’s event was ‘For every child, every right.’ We sponsored T-shirts for all the children in the care of Uva Province’s probation department.  A total of 564 children took part, aged from from four to 18 and all wearing the same colourful T-shirt.  They greatly enjoyed a day of celebrations and fun games at the Hali-Ela Pradeshiya Sabha Grounds.

In September Brighter Path donated 585 pairs of underpants to boys and girls in government children’s homes in the Bandarawella area. Although these children’s homes receive some state funding they rely heavily on private donations, and this is a huge problem in the current economic climate. There is a real shortage of underwear for children but most people are too embarrassed to talk about the issue. Some boys are managing with a single pair of underpants, some do not have any at all. It hardly needs saying but having clean underwear is fundamental to basic dignity.  Our donation ensures that every child in these homes will have at least two pairs of pants.

The 5^th Biennial Conference on Alternative Care for Children in Asia was held over two days in September 2023 in Kathmandu, Nepal.  Hundreds of representatives attended from across the globe – practitioners, government representatives, academics and most important, young people with lived experience in care.

Brighter Path funded three young care leavers from Sri Lanka, enabling them to attend this important conference.  Each had the opportunity to share their own experiences of the Sri Lankan care system and to meet other care experienced young people from other countries. The Bicon is an important event in the Asian care sector.  Running since 2014 it has always placed emphasis on hearing and learning first hand from those who have experienced care.

Topics covered included the policy gaps encountered by care leavers: in financial security, housing, education, access to healthcare and in employment.

Brighter Path’s general manager also attended and was able both to share examples of our best practice as well as keeping abreast of developments in the sector.

We have established a partnership with the Vishaka Girls Training Centre’s school of sewing and needlecraft.  Vishaka is an children’s home in Bandarawella which only looks after girls who for various reasons cannot attend mainstream school or have dropped out of education. Its sewing school provides specialist training for seamstresses.  The girls then have the opportunity to obtain skilled employment which would otherwise not be available to them.  This school has struggled to obtain enough supplies, particularly in the current economic climate in Sri Lanka with nationwide shortages of materials.  Brighter Path is now providing materials for the running of the school.

At Brighter Path we provide mobile phones to all our care leavers. These are essential for navigating everyday life: building a network of friends and a social life, contacting employers and colleagues, and accessing the internet.

Receiving a mobile phone for the first time is always a source of great excitement for our new care leavers.  With this comes responsibility and we take very seriously the need for education on using phones safely and productively.

We run regular workshops for our new care leavers and refresher courses for our more experienced care leavers.  Topics that we address include: navigating social media safely, sleep hygiene and good habits, avoiding on-line scams, excessive gaming and addiction, gambling, fake news, harmful advice and pornography.

Phones are such an opportunity but education in using them safely is essential, particularly for young people who have never had access to them growing up.