VeAhavta, A Non-Profit Corporation

There is lots of news to report from the Grace Care Center.

Sri Lanka Red Cross Arranges Free Cataract Surgeries

In March 2007 the Sri Lankan Red Cross Society in Trincomalee arranged to have eye examinations conducted for the residents of Mercy Home, Grace Home and all staff. The program was arranged by Dr. Hemachandra, who administers a private hospital in Trincomalee and is a friend of Rev. Gnana’s.

During the checkups, Mercy Home residents with poor vision got free spectacles and those with cataracts were referred to Kandy Hospital for eye surgery. The Sri Lankan Red Cross transported all of the elders needing the procedure to and from Kandy and performed all of the operations free of charge.

We are very grateful to the Sri Lankan Red Cross and Dr. Hemachandra for their kindness. Thank you so much!

Worldwide Neighbors Donate to Mercy Home

In April, the “Worldwide Neighbors,” a Korean organization led by Rev. Song, a friend of Rev. Gnana’s, visited Mercy Home with his team and donated clothing and reading glasses to the elders.

Our thanks to Worldwide Neighbors for being such wonderful neighbors to our elders!

Grace Home Visitors

In May 2007, and in response to an invitation from Rev. Gnana and Mr. Hiram Labrooy, the Co-Director of Mercy Home, the Methodist Girls’ School arranged a day trip with the children’s English teacher that was dubbed, “Serving the Elders.” About 50 children brought gifts and food items to the elders and spent the day at Mercy Home and at the Grace Daycare Center. It was a wonderful day for everyone. The children from the school sang songs and preformed dances for the elders and the elders sang songs and gave speeches for the children.

Shortly after that visit, the St. Josephs Boys’ College in Trincomalee also visited Mercy Home as part of a course about “How to Obey the Elders.” Approximately 40 students and their teachers were present.

Grace Celebrates Posan Full Moon Poya Day

June 30, 2007 was the Posan Full Moon Poya Day – a very special day that is celebrated by the Buddhist/Singhalese community. A friend of Mr. Hiram Labrooy, the Co-Director of Mercy Home, had heard about Grace and Mercy homes while he was arranging a celebratory lunch for the staff and patients of Trincomalee General Hospital, and immediately decided that he wanted to provide a similar lunch for the residents, children and staff of the Grace Care Center. The lunch was paid for and joyfully served to the residents and staff by our wonderful neighbors from the Singhalese Buddhist Community. The event was a huge success and everyone had a wonderful time.

We extend our profound thanks to our brothers and sisters from the Trincomalee Singhalese Buddhist Community for their extraordinary kindness. Nothing builds peaceful relations better than a meal joyfully shared among brothers and sisters!

Friends from the Muslim Community Visit Grace

It was a summer of inter-faith/inter-ethnic cooperation at Grace. On August 25, 2007, a large group of our Muslim neighbors from Trincomalee were kind enough to visit the Grace Care Center at the invitation of Rev. Gnana and Mr. Hiram Labrooy. The visit was kindly arranged by Mr. Labrooy’s brother, Mr. Ifan Labrooy.

The visitors toured the Grace Care Center, spoke with the children, elders and staff and were very pleased to discover that Grace is open to all people, regardless of religion or ethnicity.

At the conclusion of the visit, our guests kindly inquired if they could return to the Care Center to cook a meal for and spend time with the elders of Mercy Home. With a huge smile, Rev. Gnana gratefully accepted the offer and told the guests that they were welcome anytime.

Our thanks go to Mr. Ifan Labrooy for arranging this important visit; it was yet another positive, “bridge-building” step toward a long-lasting relationship with our Muslim brothers and sisters – a relationship that continues to be marked by kindness and trust.

Mercy Home Cooperation

The residents and staff of Mercy Home are working together beautifully. Most of the elders who are active and able to work spend their time pursuing hobbies like gardening and growing vegetables, and help with maintenance.

On August 24, during a heavy rainstorm, a large tree crashed into the backyard of Mercy Home from an adjacent property. The tree contained a bee hive and a bird’s nest. But by working together, the staff and residents made short work of the clean up and even had some fun doing it.

School Awards!

The summer came to a close for the Grace Home girls on August 6, which was the first day of school at the Methodist Girls’ College in Trincomalee, where the children attend school. On September 10 – just a month after their return – we received some wonderful news regarding the children’s performance during the 2006 school year. As the table below illustrates, 12 of the Grace girls received school awards, and several others were honored for their on-going achievements since 2003.

One of our older students, Dinesha Thevasagayam (who placed first in English in 2006) also took her Advanced Level Examinations in late August. We’re confident that she did well and are hoping for the best!

Our congratulations to the kids for their achievements!

Name	Grade	Archived Levels and Subjects	Year
Thadchayini Ramesh	1	Competency level Grade 1	2006
Nirujah Nirmalaraj	2	Competency level Grade 2	2006
Sivaranjani Sivam	2	Competency level Grade 2	2006
Jesikala Shanmugalingam	6	Second in Tamil, Religion, Environmental Studies and third in Math	2006
Gajenthini Selvaraja	6	Second in Religion	2004
Sutharmina Sellan	9 10	Second in Religion Third in Religion	2005 2006
Metleena Christable Manuvel	6 6 7 8 8	Second in Religion Third in Tamil Second in Tamil & Religion Second in Tamil & Religion Second in Science & Technology	2004 2004 2005 2006 2006
Gajenthini Kanapathiphillai	6 7	Second in Religion Third in Religion	2004 2005
Kavitha Murugesu	6 7	Second in Religion Second in Religion	2004 2005
Premini Thiyagarajah	6 7 8	Second in Religion Second in Religion Third in Religion	2003 2004 2005
Chandrika Nagarajah	6 6 7 7 8	First in Religion Third in Health & Physical Education Second in Tamil & Music Third in Health & Physical Education Second in Tamil & Music	2004 2004 2005 2005 2006
Uthayashini David Rajendran	6 6 7 7	Third in Tamil Second in Religion Second in Tamil & Religion Third in Social Studies	2004 2004 2005 2005
Karthika Nagarajah	6 6 7 7 8 8	First in Religion Second in Health & Physical Education Third in Tamil, Social Studies, Health & Physical Education Second in Art and Religion Second in Art and Religion Third in Science and Technology	2004 2004 2005 2005 2006 2006
Nithiyakala Karuppaiyah	7 8	Second in Religion Third in Religion	2004 2005
Nanthini Gowrybalan	8	Second in Religion	2005
Rubini Puniyamoorthi	6 7 7 8 8 9	First in Religion First in Religion Third in Tamil Third in Tamil, Social Studies First in Religion Second in Religion, Social Studies	2003 2004 2004 2005 2005 2006
Joslin Amalathas	11 11	Second in Tamil, Tamil Lit., Religion Third in Social Studies, Health & English	2006 2006
Pathmapriya Konalingam	10 10 11 11	Third in Social Studies, Tamil Lit. Second in Religion Third in Health Second in Religion, Home Science, Music & Tamil	2004 2004 2005 2005
Theepika Mylvaganam	10 10 11	Third in Home Science Second in Social Studies, Religion, Tamil Lit. Third in Religion and Health Science	2004 2004 2005
Subananthini Sivapal	8 9 10 10 11 11	Second in Religion Second in Religion Second in Religion Third in Music Tamil Lit., Home Science and Religion Second in Tamil	2003 2004 2005 2005 2006 2006
Dinesha Thevasagayam	10 10 11 11 12 Arts 13 Arts 13 Arts	Second in Tamil Third in Tamil Lit & Non-Roman Catholic Second in Non-Roman Catholic Third in Home Science and Hygiene Second in General English Third in Christianity First in General English	2003 2003 2004 2004 2005 2006 2006

Staff Birthdays

The Grace Care Center staff celebrated several staff birthdays in August and September. Miss Jeya Jancy’s birthday was on August 26. A special lunch was arranged for all the staff including Rev. Gnanapragasam and family in the evening. Miss Jancy was kind enough to give sweets and snacks to the children at Grace Home. Miss Jancy is in charge of hospitality at Grace Care Center; she also takes a very important role in caring for the children and their education.

Grace Girls Home staff Miss. V. Vijayasanthy celebrated her birthday on September 8. She also gave out sweets to the children and stated that she was very happy to be a part of the Grace family and wants to continue to help the destitute.

Also celebrating a birthday, on September 8, was Miss R. Rathiga from the Grace Vocational Training Center. She too handed out sweets to the children and staff.

The On-Going Plight of the Fishermen

The fishermen adjacent to the Grace Care Center are continuing to have a very difficult time making a living, even with new boats.

The Government of Sri Lanka currently allows them to fish four days per week from 4:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. However, tensions are still running high in the waters off Trincomalee, and fishing boats that get too close to Sri Lankan Navy gunboats risk being fired upon. This sounds reasonable enough, but unfortunately what constitutes being “too close” is often a vague and subjective judgment made by the naval vessel commanders. Also, the naval vessels do not generally seek to avoid the fishing boats; this can make the fishing very difficult if nets have already been cast, etc., because the fishermen must then gather up the nets and get out of the way of the naval vessels. Previous encounters with the hostile boats have left naval commanders understandably nervous, but unfortunately the “few bad apples” have “spoiled the barrel,” making it very difficult for honest fishermen to earn a living.

Finally, oil prices have increased substantially in Sri Lanka – in Trincomalee in particular – making it quite costly to operate. It all adds up to a very serious problem – one that does not seem will go away soon.

Please keep the fishermen in Sri Lanka in your thoughts and prayers. Like all of us, they have mouths to feed and people who depend on them for support. Thank you.

Victim of the Crows Lands in Loving Hands

We are happy to announce that the Grace Care Center has a new pet.

Several weeks ago, a small squirrel that had been pecked almost to death by crows fell to the ground near the coconut trees in front of Mercy Home. Luckily a few of our compassionate elders saw the incident and managed to save the squirrel and nurse it back to health with the help of some of the Grace Home kids.

The squirrel has since matured and has become quite friendly with the elders and children. Even when the squirrel is released from his cage it comes back regularly, apparently preferring his new digs where he’s safe from the marauding crows and doesn’t have to forage for food.

The squirrel has not yet been named, but the residents are accepting suggestions. I suppose VeAhavta will have to find a sponsor for our latest resident!

Grace Children Learning to Swim

Last June, World Concern donated funds to the Grace Care Center to build a small paddling pool near the eastern boundary of the property. They were concerned about the children swimming so much in the ocean without the proper training. They were also kind enough to donate the funds for a swimming instructor who has been working with the children each week on their swimming skills.

Photos of some of the people and events described above can be seen here.