"My dad used to call me, "honey," "darling" and "sweetie." He raised me with so much love…

"My dad was a farmer. One day, in the dawn, while he was going to his paddy field, the army caught and killed him... My mother raised me until I was 15 years old. By then I couldn't stand my mother's struggles to raise me all by herself. So I told her to leave me in a children's home...

"Only after I came here, I learned that I am not the only one; there are lots of people like me who lost their loved ones... Now, I am hoping for my parent's wishes (blessings) and support from my providers, for the future..."

Uthawi, a charity active in the Batticaloa District, has responded to cries of anguish like this and is trying its best to help. It runs five homes for destitute children in various parts of Batticaloa – Vipulanantha at Thirupalugamam, Manikawasagar at Morakaddanchnai, Yogaswami at Sittandy, Kathiroli and Shakthi at Kokkaddicholai.

The children (both girls and boys), numbering around 150, ranging from five to 20 years, are either orphans, have a single parent, or are those whose parents are not in a position to support them due to poverty, sickness or other extreme circumstance. Nearly all the kids are survivors of the war.

Uthawi was established on 4 November 2002. It was set up by a group of friends to aid the five children's homes that were at that time ailing without regular financial support. But unlike many homes that are flushed with donors forking out sacks-full of money Uthawi has not been so fortunate. Individuals living overseas – especially in Europe – channelling the few Euros they can spare towards the charity is the only funding the set up receives. Hence, though its funding base is wide, its income remains limited.

With the setting-up of the website however, Uthawi has succeeded in attracting more donors. Foreign philanthropists who visit the site make contributions, as well as others contacted by the core funders. But even that is nowhere near sufficient to run the venture.

The loose organisational structure and irregular contributions coming to Uthawi resulted in the devising of a scrupulously transparent system for tracking funds. The website maintains an account of income and expenditure; but more important, each individual who donates money has a password whereby he or she could log onto the site to find out exactly how the money has been spent. To support transparency further, a photograph is sent to the donor with the child using whatever has been bought with the contribution.

"Even if a pair of shoes is purchased, the beneficiary is photographed wearing it and the photo is posted on the website," says Vettivel Jasikaran, who is the livewire behind the venture and its coordinator.

Contributions to Uthawi are received centrally and disbursed by it depending on the need. As of now, bulk of the funding goes to purchasing food and a small part for children's education. But Jasikaran is worried that it is enough only to provide a hand to mouth existence to these unfortunate victims of war.

"It is unfair that children should live like this. That is why we are appealing for more contributions," Jasikaran says.

He said there are highly gifted children who cannot pursue their ambition for the want of money. Some of them are singers; some can paint, while others wish to play in the school band.

An inevitable consequence for children forced to live in a home, is the lack of exposure to the world outside. Therefore, using whatever funds they could scrape together and supplemented by personal contributions, Uthawi brought the kids on a picnic to the seaside at Kalkudah (before the tsunami). On another occasion they went on a tour to Colombo. The children were also encouraged to write their experiences and post them on the website.

Such exposures, while being fun and helping children to learn about what exists outside the four walls of their home, also helps them meet others who are in straitened circumstances as they. Further, it brings them into contact with people who are willing to help. By writing about their experiences the kid got in touch with other kids around the world, some of whom who wrote back, creating a feeling of fellowship and solidarity.

Children go to school in the vicinity of their homes; during the holidays they either visit their guardians or relatives, or stay on in the home. Though it was suggested that each home has a distinctive uniform for the residents, the benefactors resisted the idea because it could lead to negative labelling of the children as orphans or living on charity.

"A reason for the proposal for uniforms was because people feared these children would indulge in crime and hooliganism – it shows how prejudiced society is against these unfortunate people," said Jasikaran.

Though the five homes have names associated with the Hindu tradition, children of all faiths are admitted. There is no attempt at religious conversion and the kids could continue in the faith they were brought up. "Instilling a strong moral education is what is vital, rather than emphasising the rituals associated with any religious tradition," Jasikran said.

A shortcoming however is that reading material for the children tends to be exclusively of a religious nature. Jasikaran believes they should also have access to books on society, politics, the environment etc. written from a secular perspective. But equipping a library too needs money.

The homes are run by volunteers. Most of them are socially responsible persons of the area. However, they have no specialised knowledge on looking after children. Many of them have only time to see to the administrative requirements of the home and nothing more. Though the meals are cooked by adults, everything else is done by the children themselves. Even the soiled clothes of the very young kids are washed by the older ones.

Uthawi would like to recruit more qualified staff: those who look after housekeeping chores as well as provide expertise to take care of the educational, psychosocial and medical needs of children. "These children do not have families; we should try to substitute it as well as possible," Jasikaran said.

One of the traits among the children, Jasikaran finds, is to eat whatever is given them. He feels it is because they are too frightened to complain for fear of expulsion. Jasikaran wants to promote more amiable relations between the staff and children, so that while being disciplined, they do not let fear govern their lives.

Next to the desperate lack of finances, arises the question as to what futures these children could look towards. Jasikaran says some of those in the homes are no longer children but young adults as old as 20. A few children have been smart enough to be admitted to the university. But the others need to be equipped for the future. The question is how?

The conventional prospect of marriage is there for the girls though Sri Lankan customs might hinder prospects of finding a husband for orphans and the destitute. In the case of those who want to be self supportive, vocational training – sewing for the women and carpentry for the men – appears to be the ready answer.

"Though carpentry and sewing are a part of almost every income generation project, the question is whether it will give them a wage to live on," said Jasikaran. He said a village-full of carpenters or seamstresses does not help in providing sustainable living conditions for these people.

The prospect of the children-turning-adults having no employment, not being accepted in society due to a perceived lower status, and possible psychological scarring due to the trauma they would have undergone in their youth, is troubling.

"This combination of factors could lead to a catastrophic situation and unless a viable solution is found to fix it, it could become a social problem in the future," warns Jasikaran.

Those who wish to help, or find out more about Uthavi may look up  uthawi.net

- Jasikaran
(uthawi.net/Sri Lanka)

Source: Northeastern Monthly - April, 2005

On March 6th E-Kwality printing press Owner and journalist V.Jasikaran was arrested in Colombo. His wife Valarmathi, was also arrested. Following these arrests 4 other journalists were also arrested by the Srilankan Government the same week. Mr. Jasikaran is a liaison volunteer working for the Network uthawi