UAE charity helps light up Sri Lankan orphanage

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UAE charity helps light up Sri Lankan orphanage

Abu Dhabi - This orphanage cares for 50 children, and is run by Naomi Fernando and her husband, Ranga.

by

Silvia Radan

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Published: Thu 4 Feb 2016, 10:02 AM

Last updated: Thu 4 Feb 2016, 1:27 PM

It was a picture worth a thousand words: a small, three years old girl, curling on Judith's lap, holding her tight. Looking at it again, Judith gets all choked up!
"Her name is Seyoni and she is the youngest child at the orphanage. Her parents were drug users, I think. They used to leave her and her brother alone in the house all day long. Nobody knows what these kids went through. Eventually, the authorities took them away and brought them here," said Judith.
The picture was taken on January 26, the day Judith Pasztor Duffy, director of marketing at Sheraton Abu Dhabi Hotel and Resort, and her two colleagues, Rui Maroto, director of engineering, Jorge Guisasola, director of guest service, arrived at the Kalamusu Kadella Children's Home, in the Kalutara region of Sri Lanka.
The Sheraton team was there for a week to prepare and inaugurate a dining room facility, which the Abu Dhabi hotel built for the orphanage with funds raised particularly for this purpose.
"We've done similar charity projects before, in Africa. This time we decided to look towards east and decided on Sri Lanka, as we have a very large Sri Lankan community working in the hotel, over 50 people," mentioned Judith.
After doing a lot of research online, she came across this orphanage, which cares for 50 children, run by Naomi Fernando and her husband, Ranga.
"You know that feeling when you talk to someone for the first time and there is an immediate connection, that's what I felt when I first called Naomi. She was so warm and genuine, and I thought there is something really special about this place". 

Kalamusu Kadella Children's Home was opened by Naomi in 2009, with the assistance of her father, a pastor. The little funds the orphanage receives, barely enough for food, come mostly from the church.
Lack of money limits the orphanage to care for only 50 children. Some of them have lost their parents, mostly in the devastating 2004 tsunami that killed 35,000 in Sri Lanka, but most are abandoned or abused children.
When Judith offered help and asked Naomi what the orphanage needs most, she replied: a dining room.
"They got a sponsorship from US to build a kitchen in the past - the previous kitchen just collapsed one day - so they were able to build a new one, which is quite small for 50 children, but didn't have the money for a joining dining facility," explained Judith.
"The children's rooms being quite far from the kitchen, it is impractical for them to carry their plate of food every day, so what was happening up until now was that children just came in groups and sat on the kitchen floor to eat."
With money raised from the charity flea markets Sheraton Abu Dhabi organises every three months, the hotel was able to build a new dinning and entertaining facility, right next to the kitchen.
"When we got there last week the construction just finished, but they haven't started using it yet. They had the tables and chairs as well, but the room was very bare, so when we arrived we decided to bring a little life into it, and it also needed crockery, cutlery and table cloths," said Judith.
"We started doing shopping trips to get all the supplies for it. I had in mind my old school room from when I was a kid, which had a lot of pictures on the walls, and I wanted to create that sort of warmth that I remember from my own childhood."
On the day of the opening we had it all dressed up. We put up a world map and we pinned Abu Dhabi; the three of us come from three different countries and we showed them those as well."
And we got a TV. It was not on our shopping list, but where we went out shopping we explained who we are and why we are here, so a lot of merchants were happy to offer us discounts, thus we were able to save enough money and bought a TV."
Judith, Rui and Jorge went out shopping every morning during their stay, but the afternoons they spent with the children. The shopping list included not just the dining room necessities, but also toys and gifts for the children, new bed lined for their rooms and sowing machines.
"The older girls at the orphanage are teenagers, 16 or 17 years old, and Naomi wanted to give them an opportunity to learn a trade while they are there, so we bought two large sowing machines and three smaller portable ones. We also paid for a local lady to come for one year and teach the girls how to sow," said Judith.
Some of the gifts, which included arts and crafts materials, the team brought from Abu Dhabi, as it is very difficult to find them in Sri Lanka. They proved a great hit for the children.
"The first day when we arrived we did an arts and crafts session and they loved it," smiled Judith.
"I remember when we arrived, on the first day, we drove through the main gate and all 50 children were outside, waiting for us in a group, and seeing that our eyes just watered. We got out of the car and they made for us these necklaces out of flowers - it was really lovely!"
With the team not speaking Sinhalese, the official language of Sri Lanka, and the kids only understanding some basic English words, communication was expected to be a barrier, yet the excitement and joy of being there broke all expectations.
"What really amazed me, when we did the arts and crafts session, and we had 50 children, for two hours, there was no issue, no complaint whatsoever. Nothing, not one child getting up and messing around or get bored and act up a little bit, they were so well behaved and really concentrating on their task. You could see there were a few smaller children who couldn't quite keep up and the older ones were helping them out. It really was touching!"
"As the days went on, they got friendlier and friendlier with us. All the boys started gravitating towards Jorge and Rui, wanting to hang out with the guys, play football with them or search for insects in the garden.  And the girls, well, I sat down on a chair just to catch my breath for a second and the next second all the girls were around me, touching my arms, my hair, my earrings, just wanting to be next to me and have a bit of attention."
"One of them came to me and said "kind", "you're kind", and my heart just melted."
One afternoon Rui, who brought along his guitar, surprised the children with a sing along session. Even though their English was very limited, the kids had no problem licking up the words of Old McDonalds Had a Farm, which proved quite a hit with them.
On another afternoon, the last one before the big party day, Jorges amused everyone by demonstrating how to use cutlery.
"Because until now they ate on the floor and didn't use cutlery, Jorges taught them how to use knives and forks, what to eat the curry with or what to eat the icecream with," said Judith.
"We were so impressed the next day when they all used their cutlery properly!"
The next day was also the last day of the team at the orphanage.
"We went there in the morning and had a red cutting ribbon at the door. Up until now, none of the children had been inside - they knew it's a dining room, but didn't know what was going to happen."
"We cut the ribbon and all of us went in. I loved watching their little faces, looking around, checking out everything - we had balloons, party hats, straws, it really looked like a children's party."
"We all had a lovely traditional Sri Lankan meal that the orphanage organised, and a cake afterwards. After the meal, it was time for a movie matinee."
Jorge and Rui, who installed the TV and DVD themselves, could hardly wait for the children's reaction. Many of them have never seen a movie, or even a TV set before.


The team bought around 15 DVDs, all children's movies. The first screening was Despicable Me, which kept the entire room completely quite for two hours. Even though the movie was in English and they couldn't understand it well, all 50 children were glued to the screen. This was also the silence before the storm.
"After the movie we went outside and handed them all the toys. The courtyard became like a furious activity ground - kids running around in dressed up costumes, playing badminton, football, skipping ropes, puzzles here, puzzles there, it was just a beautiful mayhem," said Judith.
As the sun began to set, it was time for Judith, Jorge and Rui to say goodbye. Looking back, the team realised that they brought to these children was far beyond toys and dining tables.
"They loved the toys, they appreciated the new room, but honestly, what they wanted more than anything is for us to spend time with them. When I smiled at them, say "well done" or "you look nice", that's when their faces lit up more than ever," said Judith.
The Sheraton helping project at Kalamusu Kadella Children's Home is now over, but Judith will stay in touch, hoping to keep raising awareness about these children's needs. And their most ardent need is food.
"A lot of children when they arrived at the orphanage are malnourished, so they need extra care to get them healthy again and the budget is really tight for food," she pointed out.
In the meantime, stories from the children's home will be shared by the team with all the Sri Lankan employees at Sheraton Abu Dhabi on Sunday (07.02), when the hotel will throw an in-house party marking the Sri Lankan Independence Day, falling on February 4.


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