A future of well-being, value and equality for every child, everywhere. This is the mission that child action Lanka has been working towards since 2006. From a humble beginning at a basement space rented in Kandy, Child action Lanka started its mission with 10 children in their care. Today the organization has a national presence in 7 of Sri Lanka’s 25 districts (Kandy, Nuwara Eliya, Kelaniya, Batticaloa, Killinochchi, Galle, Akkarayan and Colombo) and serves over 1500 children and over 500 families island wide, transforming the lives of children and women focusing mainly on education, child protection, healthcare, nutrition and community empowerment provided free of charge. The work it does grows and continues from strength to strength in seeing more avenues open, while being recognized by the Government for its services.
Many children around Sri Lanka start their life at a disadvantage simply because of who they are and where they come from. Children in both urban and rural areas around the country are deprived of education, traumatized by violence and abuse (mental and physical) or suffer from illness mainly due to poverty, war and conflict. In addition to being born into such difficult situations these children also face social stigma that prevents them from coming out of the cycle of poverty, with challenges not only from society but also from their very own families. Child Action Lanka (CAL) believes that enabling these children to realize the possibilities for themselves and finding strength in their own capabilities is the key to giving them the chance to change their own lives for the better and keeping the next generation of the streets.
In order to achieve this CAL has established many projects to cater to education, health and nutrition, protection and mental health of children. Educational programmes like Day Care, Pre-school, after school care facilities, Mobile school and back to school sponsorships. Health care programmes like daily meals to children, glass of milk for a day, life 1k, bathing, and laundry facilities for the children. Child protection and shelter is provided through shelter homes, the Guardian Angel programme and advocating for justice for them. Those are some of the projects carried out by Child action Lanka. From these one of the main projects currently being carried out is the Food Pack delivery project. CAL has undertaken the responsibility to providing food packs for 500 families around the country. With covid-19 the number of families that do not have access to healthy meals has greatly increased. Providing for a child is simply not enough, we need to make sure that the family unit in itself is strong and has access to at least one healthy meal everyday and that is why CAL has undertaken this project. Rs. 1000 rupees can help CAL to feed a family for a week.
You can support this cause and many more of their projects simply by making a donation or by volunteering your skills and time. You can visit their website https://www.childactionlanka.org/donate or visit the charity website https://childactionlanka.charity/ and social media pages to see how you can make a donation or volunteer with CAL. You can also email to childaction@sltnet.lk for more details or send your CV to volunteer@childactionlanka.org to volunteer with them.
