Grace Update / Meet Sinnathambi / Leaders of Tomorrow / Meet Kavitha / Donations at Work

Grace Update: Two months in Trinco:
Volunteer reports changes at Grace

By James A. Mitchell
VeAhavta

Grace Care Center is continuing to evolve, as VeAhavta’s management reviews the role of the children’s home, residence for needy elders, day care and other programs in Trincomalee in light of the dramatic changes in northeast Sri Lanka. Earlier this year, the chance for “peace” described a condition rather than a wish, and Sri Lanka now has the opportunity to envision a better future for a new generation. (The situation is far from resolved: Hundreds of thousands of civilians remain in residence at a government-run camp for Internally Displaced Persons in Vavuniya.)

When the decades-old conflict between government forces and the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam was concluded in March, the Grace Care Center and other facilities acquired more obligations to government accountability, and more opportunity in this new time of ‘peace’ for stable education and a developing local economy. Social services workers actively monitor homes for Sri Lanka’s most vulnerable citizens – children from impoverished villages or seniors with no means of support – as the government now focuses on rebuilding the northeast.

During the two months I spent in Sri Lanka beginning in mid-June, I joined in frequent meetings with and visits from members of the Social Services Department of Probation and Child Welfare. Along with the Commissioner N.P.K. Nelumdeniya and Probation Officer Ms. Suthashini, British Probation office volunteer Carole Jones became a familiar face on the Grace campus. In August, a Department monitoring team spent the day at Grace reviewing the most recent government requirements for children’s homes.

Grace met virtually all stipulations – with categories including education, housing, health, recreation and social activity – and the Department was impressed with recent on-site management changes made at the Center.

“The Commissioner has stated that the best interests of the child is the Department’s priority, which I know you fully endorse,” Jones summarized in a report to VeAhavta volunteers. “Thank you for your commitment in ensuring that the children continue to feel safe and respected by all staff members and other adults associated with the home.”

In July, VeAhavta appointed a new management team for the Center, to include naming Mrs. Angela Wigneswaran as warden of the children. We reviewed the budget and expenses and discovered savings made possible through wholesalers recommended by members of the Rotary Club of Trincomalee. In August, Grace hosted the Rotary Club’s ‘Leadership Day’ program, which welcomed honor students from the Methodist Girls College, the primary school attended by the Grace children. Following the event, one Rotarian donated a meal for all children and elders at Grace, another suggested hosting a talent show on the campus, which will be planned for a future full-moon ‘Poya’ holiday.

Local involvement at Grace – helping the community help themselves – made for a busy orphanage over the summer. We hosted meetings of a local board of advisors – including the children’s Principal, Mrs. Jothinathan, Rotarians, Fr. Lorio from the Jesuit Academy and others – and also convened a panel of older girls for a Children’s Committee, which solicited feedback, concerns and requests from the children, several of which were put into practice immediately.

It was time for a change at the orphanage, but Grace has seen many adjustments. Since its foundation in 2002, the Grace Care Center has evolved due to a change of available resources or the situation in Sri Lanka’s troubled northeast. Established as a children’s home, the Center served often in its early years as a medical facility, offering on-campus and mobile clinics courtesy of volunteer doctors from California and Michigan. These medical professionals were put to extreme challenges in the wake of the December 2004 tsunami, with volunteers serving as emergency relief workers both at Grace and throughout the Trincomalee district. A post-tsunami increase in funds and awareness allowed VeAhavta to provide life-saving support to the community-at-large and to complete construction of Mercy Home, a residence for destitute senior citizens. Grace prospered – and its vision expanded – when Ohio volunteer Diane McLaughlin spent a year as in-residence manager of the facility.

Just as the tsunami faded from prominence, the conflict in the north intensified beginning in 2006, and the northeast struggled for basic survival until the conflict’s end in March 2009. Grace waited through periods when battles were well within earshot of the orphanage, times when the shops were frequently closed and a ban on fishing further crippled the local economy, and the heightened tensions of a decades-old ethnic conflict cast dangerous clouds over Trincomalee. At times, communications were limited between Grace and their friends in America, yet the dedicated staff at the Center kept alive the hope that has always carried them through the most severe challenges.

This year, a special committee of Michigan volunteers assumed oversight responsibilities for Grace, and – working with local educators, social service officials and business owners – are bringing Grace back to its roots as a home for those most in need. With education and the overall well being of the children as a focus, the residents of Grace and Mercy homes join a community that now faces a future of peace.