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Children on the estate during ACT's first visit. The families were living in very difficult conditions and most of the children were not attending school.

Aiding Children Together, Inc. Projects

When ACT incorporated in 2008, our hope was to support two nursery schools and a project serving families of tea estate laborers. Thanks to the generosity of our donors and the creativity and hard work of our local partners, within a few years ACT had grown to support 6 ongoing programs and numerous special projects. Details of our primary projects are featured here. Click on the photo galleries to scroll through and read more details about the programs. Join our mailing list and visit our Facebook page for current news and photos.

At right, several years later children on the estate are clearly healthier and thriving. They are attending school and have hopes and dream for their future.

Children on the Udugama estate outside the classroom ACT renovated as part of an initiative to encourage education.

SUPPORT TO LOCAL SCHOOLS

Through our involvement with children living in poverty on nearby tea estates, ACT has developed a relationship with the Upper Homadola Junior School, a public, government-run school serving students in grades 1 - 10 . The majority of students are children of laborers on nearby estates, as well as children from Udugama village. Education is the only way out of a life of poverty on the estates. When ACT first began working in this community, the school was in decline with low enrollment and sporadic attendance. Under the leadership of a new principal and with support from ACT, enrollment quickly rose, currently up to about 170 students. In 2011, support from ACT enabled Smyrna Church to bring electricity and running water to the school for the first time. We hope to continue to support the growth of this school, and the education of these vibrant children, through future projects.

MONTESSORI NURSERY SCHOOL

ACT supports a Montessori nursery school in Galle, Sri Lanka. Smyrna Church Montessori School in Galle provides a quality early childhood education to children from under-resourced families who could not otherwise afford such an excellent program. In addition to learning to read and write in their native language, children also learn basic English. This will give them an advantage in future educational and employment opportunities

VOCATIONAL TRAINING CENTER

Planning for the Vocational Training Center at Smyrna Church in Galle began in 2005 after the tsunami. The original intent was to retrain fishermen and others who had lost their means of supporting their families in employable skills such as carpentry, masonry and iron works. The plans evolved to include a computer training center, which currently provides education in this highly employable skill to dozens of young people from low-income families who could otherwise not afford such a valuable program. This opportunity will open many doors for the students, who upon completion of the program will be qualified to pursue skilled jobs in many venues or seek more advanced training. The center also provides computer classes for younger children.

UDUGAMA ESTATE PROJECT

Poverty in Sri Lanka is concentrated in rural and remote estate areas, where laborers live and work on tea and rubber plantations. ACT works with one such community near Udugama. Here, the children of laborers were living in extreme poverty, without electricity or clean water. Their parents earn as little as $3 a day working as tea pickers. Without the support of ACT, most of the children would not attend school, as they live in a remote area and many barriers prohibit their school attendance and success. By supporting ACT, you help to bring education and a better quality of life to these children, who otherwise might be destined to the same low paying jobs for survival. ACT works to alleviate inequities by promoting educational opportunities and improving nutrition and living conditions. ACT has sponsored numerous programs directly benefiting this community, including an on-site school, a clean water project, health education, and supplemental nutrition.

When ACT began working on the estate, the families were carrying drinking water from the low point of a stream where they also did their bathing and washing, shared by livestock and further contaminated by waste from nearby pit toilets and runoff during heavy rains.

Smyrna Church devised a plan to bring cleaner water down the mountain to the families.

The families worked alongside the work team to carry out the plan, and took great pride in their work.

For the first time, cleaner water runs directly to the homes.

The families were amazed by and thrilled with their first shower!

After the project was complete, families were given new water vessels and a class on proper water sanitization.

WATER PROJECT Access to clean drinking water is a basic need that goes unmet for far too many families. When ACT first began sponsoring this community, the families did not have access to safe drinking water. Mark Nanayakkara and the team from Smyrna Church quickly became concerned about the numerous health implications, and devised a cost-effective solution that improved access to clean water and quality of life, and also involved the community members in its implementation.

When ACT began working on the estate, the children were malnourished and most were not attending school.

Families were living in these crumbling rowhouses.

ACT financed repairs to the leaking roofs and improvements to the interiors.

This widow was struggling to support 7 children on the $2/day she earned picking tea.

Solar power has brought electricity to the estate for the first time.

Children on the estate are clearly healthier and thriving since ACT began working with the families.

Udugama families during a 2015 visit from ACT board members. Since ACT began working with the families, many of the young people have sought employment off the estate.

IMPROVING LIVING CONDITIONS Estate families were living in crumbling rowhouses, with leaking roofs and no access to electricity or clean water. These inadequate living conditions along with poor nutrition contributed to many illnesses. ACT provides supplemental nutrition and financed repairs to the family homes, increasing size of the living space and replacing leaking roofs. Solar panels have brought electricity to the homes for the first time.

Pastor Nanayakkara inside the crumbling shell that was transformed into a classroom.

Students inside their new classroom at a dedication ceremony.

Students outside their new classroom with their teacher, Suresh.

Jesu K., one of the oldest girls on the estate, has excelled in school. Here she speaks about how ACT has transformed her life during a visit from ACT board members.

Students greet ACT visitors outside their new classroom.

ACT executive director Lisa Kohomban and her daughter with estate children during a 2011 site visit.

B. Esther and Lakmini in 2014, (also pictured at left in 2011), are continuing their studies with support from ACT. B. Esther hopes to be an engineer and do good, Lakmini is thinking of being a lawyer.

ACT board member Jeremy Kohomban with siblings Jesu K. and Ruben. Both young people studied for advanced exams required for many employment opportunities and university admission with ACT support. During a site visit, their father tearfully thanked ACT for helping to transform their lives.

Some of the estate children with Smyrna Church staff. The older children on the estate are serving as role models for the younger children, developing a new norm about the value of education and the possibility of future employment off the estates.

EDUCATIONAL SUPPORT Education of the children is a primary focus of ACT's efforts on the estate. A shell of a structure was transformed into a classroom and a teacher was hired to work with the children and support their integration into the village school. The teacher, Suresh, has continued to tutor the children over the years and monitors their attendance and progress in school. The oldest children at the time ACT began this program are now in their 20's. Several have started small businesses of their own, thanks in part to the English they learned from the ACT teacher. The children who were younger at the time have now completed their junior secondary education at the local school and with support from ACT are studying for the advanced exams required to continue their education. And as new young children are born into and grow up on the estate, they do so in a community that has seen the benefits of education. For the first time, the children can see that it is possible to achieve a life beyond the estate.

The Smyrna Monressori School was founded by pastor's wives several decades ago in an attempt to provide a safe place for children from the slums.

With support from Swedish donors, the school grew from a one room shack to a bright new classroom several years ago.

When the school fell on hard financial times and was struggling to keep its door open, ACT stepped in to ensure that impoverished children continued to have access to a head start in their education.

Children ages 4-6 years old attend the school 5 mornings a week, where they learn to read and write in preparation for secondary school.

The mission of the school is to provide children from less fortunate families with the foundation for a good education.

The school is a cheerful and lively place, full of sounds of laughter and learning.

TUTORING AND ENGLISH CLASSES

ACT funds several initiatives that are designed to support the education of rural youth at risk of dropping out of school. In 2013, Smyrna Church launched a new program in Hingurana. This area in the Eastern Province has historically had very low educational results, with few students passing the exams that allow them to continue high school.This program provides tutoring by trained teachers to more than 50 students every Saturday. The program has been greeted with enthusiasm by local families and administrators. In 2015, ACT began offering English classes to school children in the village of Udugama. Speaking English provides a tangible advantage in seeking future opportunities for employment and in continuing education. The program brings together primarily Sinhalese children from the village with predominantly Tamil children from the estates, promoting greater understanding between two ethnic groups with a history of conflict. Response to this program has been enthusiastic with full enrollment and several classes running weekly. Tutoring and empowerment workshops for girls and young women have begun in Udugama as well, with much demand for continuing programs.

Students in Hingurana receiving tutoring with support from ACT.

One of the first classes graduates with certification.

COMMUNITY SUPPORT

ACT supports a number of projects designed to improve conditions for under-resourced children and families in several rural villages throughout Sri Lanka. Each year grants from ACT provide hundreds of children and youth with school supplies, backpacks, shoes, uniforms and scholarships. Throughout the covid pandemic and subsequent economic collapse in Sri Lanka, Smyrna Church team members risked their own health to source and provide food and medicine to community members in need.

Each December ACT partners distribute shoes, backpacks and other necessary school supplies in villages throughout Sri Lanka.

Throughout the covid pandemic, ACT partners sourced and provided food to food insecure families.

Feeding people has been a major focus in recent years with the rise of inflation and food insecurity following the economic collapse.

Through a partnership with The Foundation of Goodness MCC Centre of Excellence, ACT provided scholarships to deserving students who lacked the means to further their education. ACT also supported other FOG initiatives, including village redevelopment efforts in the war-ravaged north and backpack distribution. Visit the FOG website,www.unconditionalcompassion.org, to learn more about their great work in Sri Lanka. ACT donors also support Hope Child Development Centre, a program providing excellent residential care to 10 young girls.

HOME REBUILDING FOR TSUNAMI SURVIVORS

At right, a family living in a temporary shack after the tsunami left them homeless. Below, the family in their new permanent home, built for them in 2005 by Smyrna Church with the support of donors in the United States. Click here for more photos and information.

In May 2012, during a visit from ACT Board Member Jeremy Kohomban a ceremony was held celebrating the installation of electricity and water at the school funded by a grant from ACT.

Parents must provide school supplies and uniform, difficult for many impoverished families to afford. ACT supports education by providing school supplies and other necessary resources.

The students are always happy to greet their visitors from ACT during our annual site visits.

Despite limited resources, teachers at the school offer students a vibrant arts program. Students put on a dance performance for ACT visitors.

In response to a request from teachers for English language books, ACT collected more than 2,000 books from donors to build a library for the school.

The principal has implemented several progressive programs, including a community garden where students learn to grow their own food.

During a visit in 2015, ACT gifted the school with new musical instruments to supplement the rudimentary band put together by the arts teacher.

ACT has also provided books to build a library at the local high school.

ACT has furnished new sports equipment and many other resources to this vibrant school.

SMYRNA HIRUSARA CENTER

Street-connected children around the world are exploited and vulnerable to abuse. Since 2011 when a grant from an ACT donor enabled the Smyrna Hirusara Day Care Center to open its doors, Smyrna Church has been working to change the lives of children vulnerable to abuse and exploitation on the streets in Galle. Before entering the program, the children were malnourished, at risk of abuse, and not attending school. Smyrna Church designed a program to care for these children during the day, facilitating their healthy development and education and getting them off the streets as much as possible. The children attend 5 days a week, receiving healthy meals, clean clothes, medical attention, hygiene instruction, nurturing, and opportunities for socialization and education. The program has been very successful, with some children from the first class of attendees going on to finish school, attend training programs and obtain employment.

A young member of the Smyrna Hirusara Center with her dedicated caregiver.

Visiting the Center, it is clear that the children at the Smyrna Hirusara Center are happy, healthy, and thriving.

The Center promotes the health, education, safety, hygiene, nutrition and development of children vulnerable to abuse and exploitation on the streets.

The center is a safe place for these kids, some of whom have been abused, to form safe and appropriate relationships.

Some of the children are orphans, others have parents who are engaged in illegal activity, imprisoned, trafficked into the sex trade, or simply impoverished and struggling to survive.

The children receive two meals and several snacks each day. For many, these are the only meals they can count on.

It can be difficult for street affiliated children to enroll in school, as they lack documentation and addresses. Smyrna Church has successfully advocated on behalf of these kids, ensuring that they have access to education.

The school aged children come to the Center before school to clean up and change into their uniforms. They are transported to and from school each day.

Younger children spend their days at the Center, receiving loving care and early childhood education.

Term report cards hold very special significance for these kids!

In addition to education, plenty of time is allowed for fun, games and just being kids.

In addition to playtime inside and on the newly renovated playground, the children are taken on numerous field trips. They proudly show visitors photo albums of their trips and special events.

A teacher works with the students after school, helping with homework and providing tutoring and English lessons. Music and art are also offered.

In 2015, the Center began responding to an urgent need to provide care for infants and very young children who were at risk while their parents attempted to make a living on the streets.

The program is supported entirely by foreign donors from Sweden and by ACT. The children love to spend time with their visitors from overseas.

Smyrna Church works closely with local authorities, and has been able to secure safer, subsidized housing for many of the families who were without homes.

While the program originally planned to serve 10 street-affiliated children between the ages of four to ten, word about the program spread and enrollment quickly more than doubled.

Some of the students of the ACT English school outside the classroom built with funds from ACT donors.

Young mothers in Udugama loved the empowerment workshop ACT funded.