How you can help
Pens are always appreciated and are the subject of close scrutiny!
Volunteer
Read the Volunteer page of this website to learn how you can come to Sri Lanka to work with poor, disadvantaged children and adults to help them and to enable them to help themselves.
Whilst fulfilling this role you also have the opportunity, if you so wish, to support a poor local family whose daughter has heart related illness. Please download the latest version of the volunteer document, entitled Possible Additional Costs and General Information from the Volunteer Documents page on this website.
How you can help yourself get the most enjoyment and fulfillment from your placement.
If at any time during your time at the project, you are unhappy with any aspect of your placement please don't leave it until the end of your time here to tell us. If arrangements become unsuitable for any reason, we urge you to discuss it with the director of the establishment where you are volunteering and to check before leaving each day what the arrangements are for the next day in case an unavoidable alteration to your schedule has been made. This may be necessary to ensure the smooth running of the establishment for the benefit of the children or adults it serves. It's always good practice to inform Janaka, too. Everyone wants you to derive maximum pleasure and fulfillment from your volunteering experience so please don't leave informing us of any small glitches until you are leaving. Sri Lankan people are very straight forward, not easily offended and prefer honesty when politely expressed.
Don't come to Sri Lanka expecting the same levels of organisation, punctuality and reliability that you might experience in the developed world. If you do, you will be disappointed and frustrated. People don't mean to be unreliable, it's just the level of development currently reached.
Don't be deterred by that word, "No." and "It can't be done." With persistence, determination, tactfully finding a way through the obstacles and taking the reins in a respectful way - it will usually happen! And when you do make it happen, people will be so grateful. If you fail, they will still be grateful for your effort.
Be open, empathetic and patient.
Fund raise
We are always very grateful to any of our volunteers who fund raise to help the project, but we do realise that not everyone likes to do this. Any amount anyone raises is greatly appreciated, but not expected.
It's a good idea to discuss this with Janaka prior to starting so that you are clear about how your money will be spent. You have the option to choose how we spend your donation. So if you want to be specific, that's fine. Just ask Janaka what the options are and feel free to suggest anything yourself. You should also expect either to see the completion/purchase from your donation during your time at the project or at the very least solid progress towards it. At the time of completion/purchase you should expect to receive photos of what you have paid for. If we are tardy about this, please don't hesitate to contact us to remind us. Sometimes, things get forgotten during our busy days, but you are entitled to have a visual record!
Donate
You can simply make a donation to the Project which will be added to the fund until there is sufficient to pay for items the project needs. Payment may be made by bank transfer or Western Union Agencies. Please contact Janaka de Silva for details.
100% of donations will be spent on providing equipment and developing the project. Every donor receives an itemised list of how their money was spent. One of the beauties of this project is that there are NO administrative charges. Any expenses incurred are borne by the Project Manager as part of his personal contribution to this mission.
The same conditions about donor choice and visual records of how your money is spent also apply to straight donations.
Collect items
It's impossible to send items by post as they weigh too much. Airlines are now very resistant to making space available on flights. Therefore, there is a limit to how much can be sent from abroad. In fact there are very good arguments for not sending most items. There is often duty to be paid which drains the resources of the project. Many items are better bought in the country where their purchase provides local income and employment.
However, it is worth asking the airline you are flying with for an extra luggage allowance so that you can bring some items with you.
1. Second hand, fully working laptops with their chargers. These are the most urgently needed items.
2. Second hand digital cameras with chargers - working order.
3. Second hand mobile phones with charger - working order.
4. Data sticks - second hand, working.
5. Reading books in English which are up to date, in good condition and culturally appropriate. Text books other than maths and science are not required due to different syllabus requirements.
All these items are small enough that they can be packaged to go as an extra luggage allowance for which you will need to apply to the airline, or carried out by volunteers in their backpacks as part of carry on luggage provided that this does not exceed the carry on weight limit. Some airlines actually allow you two suitcases in addition to carry on luggage – check with airlines before buying your flight ticket!
6. General resource items to help you fulfill your volunteer role.
These technological and learning material items would make a big difference to the Tsunami Memorial Library, the skills centre and to local schools.
Most urgently needed by Karapitiya Teaching Hospital - Chemotherapy drugs - they just do not have enough to treat everyone who needs them. In date sterile dressings, especially for burns.
Also needed urgently:
Up to date medical text books, especially Ross and Wilson - Anatomy and Physiology in Health and Illness by Anne Waugh and Alison Grant 9th Edition or later and physiology models and medical teaching charts for the Nurses Training School which currently has only 3 text books between 130 student nurses.
Tools for carpentry, bricklaying, plastering, sewing and art work.
Exercise books, pens, pencils, pencil sharpeners, erasers, rulers, maths equipment etc.
If you have any other ideas about things you might provide, please feel free to discuss this with Janaka to check that the items are appropriate. So far funds have nearly all been spent on building, so actual teaching and learning materials and skills equipment are almost non-existent.
Volunteer Resources you may need to use to fulfil your tasks when you are with us. 
Please be aware that schools and nurseries do not provide paper, pens, pencils, blue tack, prit sticks, ring binders, dividers, etc. Their meagre budgets just don't stretch that far. Also it is very hard to get hold of certain items in Sri Lanka. So, it is a good idea for you to bring out whatever you think you may need during your time here as the project cannot afford to fund volunteers for such items - other than on a minimal basis. The small profit made from each volunteer's fee is being saved to build a skills centre and for other such development projects, as well as to provide occasional assistance to poor local people. We greatly appreciate your help with this.
An area of the house has been converted to make a small resource store, but please come prepared to make your own resources to use and add to the store when you leave. Please don't use master copies of existing resources, copy them so that the masters are available for others.
Many of the items listed above may be bought in Sri Lanka where your money will go further and where their purchase will provide employment and income for Sri Lankans.
We do wish to stress that we are grateful that volunteers come to help us at all. We don't expect volunteers to bring us or buy extra things for the Project when they are here. If they do, it is an unexpected bonus!
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