Grace Update / Grace Profiles / Volunteer Spotlight / Sport Day
Grace Update
Progress and promise
Since its opening in 2002, the Grace Care Center has been driven by passion and ideas, plans waiting to be realized. Sadly, many of those dreams remained just that, as ‘planning for the future’ was not always possible. Our friends in Trincomalee spent much of the past eight years in ‘crisis mode,’ where simply surviving from day-to-day was an ongoing challenge responding to the latest emergency.
Offering the Grace children with the chance to know a better life was – and remains – the principal mission of VeAhavta: In post-war Sri Lanka, opportunities now exist for the Grace girls to rise above the harsh poverty and limitations of their childhoods.
Getting there is a matter of both ‘funds and friends.’ Management changes made by VeAhavta open the door for Grace to make the most of our contributions, to seek local cooperation for its programs, and to join the economic recovery of the region by bringing revenue-generating projects to the Center.
A few areas in which VeAhavta and Grace are making the transition:
The Grace Community
Bringing the children, elders, staff and friends together as a community has been the vision for the compound since the population of Grace Girls was brightened by the wise elders of Mercy Home.
In recent months, consolidating the Grace resources made meal times a (large) family-style event – to be further enhanced as the children will have homework sessions with assistance from Mercy Home’s staff and residents.
In ‘block party’ style, an ambitious ‘Sports Day’ program was organized at Grace, with games, contests and spirited fun shared by the children of Grace, the pre-school Day Care students, the staff and friends from throughout the community. (Please click here to view photos from this special day.)
Healing and Recovering
Recovering from a childhood of war, poverty and other traumas is part of the immediate challenge facing the Grace children. At the Center, volunteer psychologists and scholars are working to bring counselors to Grace for extended periods of education and counseling to better equip the children for life-after-Grace.
Classes have been held offering lessons from physical training to mental and spiritual development – courtesy of Yoga classes and workshops. Instructor Mr. Murugan offered lessons on hard work, self-confidence, determination, acceptance, conflict resolution and self-expression … all through the creative, energizing outlet of yoga and meditation.
Fund-Raising
VeAhavta volunteers added both ‘funds and friends’ to the Grace cause. Notably, in May and June a ‘Coexist’ team of volunteers (including fund-raising leading students from Ann Arbor’s Emerson School) participated in the Dexter-Ann Arbor Race; and board members and officers hosted a wine-tasting event at Vinology in Ann Arbor.
A sustained campaign, the ‘Trinco 500’ was launched to add 500 ‘friends’ (donations of $10 per month), an effort to improve our ongoing contributions (please click here for more information). VeAhavta is encouraging its many friends to share this information, and invite people to visit the web site or our Facebook page link here.
Development and Opportunity
A year after the end of the war, Sri Lanka’s once-prominent tourism industry is showing signs of recovery; the northeast coast, in particular, is poised to grow economically in the years ahead.
At Grace, the challenge is to chart a realistic course for the children to follow once they are 18 and finished with primary education. Only a small number of Sri Lankan students – approximately 20 percent – are eligible for higher education; sadly, the challenged backgrounds of the Grace girls left few of them with the fundamental skills needed for academic pursuits.
However, through the Vocational Training Center and other resources, steps are being taken to expand the life-skills education needed at Grace. VeAhavta and our staff and colleagues in Sri Lanka have identified several ways to help the Center in ways both financial and in concert with the principal mission of providing the children with the means to a better future.
Ideas being considered by VeAhavta include agricultural-based projects (farming, raising chickens), funding for vocational training programs, and retail-driven plans of a possible storefront. These projects-in-development pursued would provide income for the Center as well as vocational and skill opportunities can be taught to the older Grace children.
Charting the Course
With so many possibilities at hand, a ‘Visioning Session’ will be held with VeAhavta’s board, officers and volunteers on Saturday, Sept. 18.
VeAhavta would like to thank the volunteer efforts of Dr. Alan Krohn, Dr. Alice LoCicero, Dr. Bonnie Nuzum, Fulbright scholar Kirti Thummala for their efforts at the Center, work that provided the information necessary for Grace to move forward and, it can be hoped, prosper as a new era begins in Sri Lanka. (For observations from Alice LoCicero on her recent visit to Grace, please click here.)
