Dear club members, dear other club supporters,
Back from Sri Lanka. Back from my 20th trip to the ‘Land of the Rose Children’. As always, full of impressions and experiences of our various projects.
The country has changed a little since our last trip. Basically, Sri Lanka is still in a deep economic crisis. The central political situation may have improved as a result of the presidential and parliamentary elections, but the regional parliaments are still in the hands of the old rulers. Regional elections are scheduled for May/June this year. This should reduce the current regional resistance to centralised measures. In terms of foreign policy, the state is still in the hands of global lenders and their requirements. Overall, however, prices for food and general consumption have stabilised somewhat compared to the previous year, to the benefit of the ‘ordinary’ population. The country is also on a clean path thanks to the central government’s ‘clean’ campaign – collecting and sorting rubbish on the streets across the country. ‘Clean’ is also organised every Sunday with volunteers on the beaches and in public facilities. However, there is still a lot of room for improvement in all areas.
Our experiences and the status of our projects in the usual structure. This year, we were on site with a total of 13 members of the association and experienced the following:
Current project “Rosenkinder” Sponsorship in cooperation with the Lions Club Aluthgama/Bentota
We again had two large sponsored children’s meetings in Kotapola on 23.2.25 and Briefgarden on 2.3.25. Our sponsorships have remained at around 70, although 10 children have left our sponsorship programme and 10 ‘new’ ones have been added. With 44 students, the majority of our sponsorships are for students. Of these, 10 could complete their studies in the course of the year. Once again, we have personally affected almost all of the sponsored children. Some were unable to attend due to illness or exams. We have received apologies and messages of thanks from them.
As usual, we also visited 3 newly proposed children for sponsorship at home. 2 of them, the 17-year-old girl Thakshila and the 18-year-old Yogith, both from very poor family backgrounds, will receive our support with immediate effect. Thakshila is taking her A-level exams this year and Yogith is starting his maths degree.
Thanks to a donation from Regio-Kliniken Pinneberg, we had 9 iphones in good condition in our luggage. As a reward for the many years of hard work until graduation, we were able to present this special gift to 5 ‘finished’ students from the class of 2024. 4 more students from the 2024/2025 cohorts will also receive this special gift in the near future. They have already passed their exams or have yet to be graded.
Our sponsored children continue to be a great project and this year we will reach the number of 100 successfully completed sponsorships after 17 years of the project.
Current project special education at the Anula Wijerama Children Home in Balapitiya in cooperation with the All Ceylon Buddhist Congress (ACBC)
Thanks to the intensive personal support and counselling that has been provided to the oldest girls at the home for school and work for three years now, successes have been recorded for the most part. With 24 girls in Balapitiya, the number and average age is also very low compared to previous years. A new, younger challenge for our varied remedial teaching and for the 7 teachers we have engaged.
During our stay, one of the girls moved from Balapitiya to the Rosenkinder Hostel in Panadura to receive sewing training. Another girl is being trained as a dental assistant in Colombo and a ‘baker’ is being trained in another training centre in Balapitiya. However, we are particularly proud of Woshini and the start of her music studies in Colombo next month. As a ‘parentless’ child, Woshini will receive a state scholarship and a free hostel place. The ‘Rosenkinder’ gave her a good second-hand laptop for her studies.
During our presence, there were also new elections for the voluntary committee in Balapitiya. In good coordination with the ACBC leadership, 3 of the 4 important positions of the functionaries (Chairman, Manager, Secretary and Treasurer) are now occupied by teachers. It is also great that the previous ‘Chairwoman’ Ashita will remain with us as Secretary and first point of contact. Petra Gerlings will be travelling to Balapitiya again in April and will be working intensively to ensure further success in the individual support of the Balapitiya Girls.
Children Home for blind and deaf-mute Children in Mahaweewa in cooperation with the All Ceylon Buddhist Congress (ACBC)
Rosenkinder project. This is also because our member Melanie Bierut has provided a great deal of professional support for needs-based help for the handicapped children in Mahaweewa. Shortly before we travelled to Sri Lanka, Melanie was back on site and initiated a lot of changes. In a very short space of time, she managed to renovate the girls‘ sanitary facilities, reactivate the girls’ second dormitory and set up a central laundry drying area. In addition, an extension to the garden project is currently being built in the school area with a greenhouse. We were also able to make the existing computers in the school internet-enabled again. A donation for our association and the work in Mahaweewa from the organisation ‘Inclusion must be loud’ was of particular importance.
3 parcels made the long journey from here to Sri Lanka via DHL and with some effort it was possible for us to receive the parcels just as we arrived after months of transport and customs declarations. The contents were various therapeutic aids such as digital canes for the blind and reading aids of considerable value and benefit.
It is also important to mention that our increased financial contribution has significantly improved the number of matrons for both girls and boys at the boarding school over the course of the year. If we could also manage to qualify them for the difficult task of caring for deaf and blind children, that would be another great success. Speaking of success. We were once again guests of honour at this year’s sports festival for all ACBC children’s homes in Sri Lanka. Our Mahaweewa Kids managed to win 4 of the 5 main prizes there. What a great success and the joy was immense.
Current project “Rosenkinder Hostel” at the Vocational Training Center in Panadura in cooperation with the All Ceylon Buddhist Congress (ACBC)
Of course, a visit to our Rosenkinder Hostel and the Vocational Training Centre in Panadura was once again on our programme. However, the first round of 2025 started late. On the one hand, renovation work was due at the training centre and on the other, a new matron had to be found for our hostel. As a result, only 7 of the 18 girls registered from the various children’s homes in Sri Lanka were on board when we visited. More were to follow the next day. At our instigation, further renovations are also to be carried out at the hostel. Our hostel remains a wonderful project in which we have already provided over 250 girls with a qualified education. A very valuable transition from the care of a children’s home qualifies them for a free life.
„planned“ Projekt „Rosenkinder Hostel 2“ beim Boy Children Home in Payagala in Zusammenarbeit mit dem All Ceylon Buddhist Congress (ACBC)
This project continues to represent a special challenge for us. The necessary budget is available, the space for the realisation of the project and then the project start last year. Unfortunately, the presidential and parliamentary elections brought the project to an unplanned halt last year, and with it the cancellation of the army’s support for the craftsmen’s work. We were therefore very excited about the on-site visit with Suresh, our architect, and the ACBC team to see how the renovation work was progressing. The result was very pleasing. The work on the training centre is about 60% complete and has been assessed as professional by the experts. The hostel is only 10% complete, but everything is ready for the restart of the work. We will now try to finish renovating the training centre quickly and then find an operator for the training centre. This seems more promising than relying on orderly conditions and help from central and regional politics. Our local helpers are still optimistic and we are looking forward to an opening next year. Please do!
other current projects
Of course, it’s always nice when we not only take care of our established projects on our current trip to Sri Lanka, but also do something ‘new’. This year, we took care of local projects in the vicinity of our location in Moragala/Bentota. That was then:
The Moragala Junior School
A village school very close by with around 120 pupils in 10 classes. We had glasses in our luggage, toothbrushing utensils, volleyballs and thought about healthy school food. The result was the ‘School Health Camp’ campaign. We invited a team of opticians from Colombo and used the measured and cleaned glasses we had brought with us. The school teachers also invited parents in need of help with vision problems. Our former school dentist Ulrike Pape, who had travelled with us, gave tooth brushing training and our Vice-Chairman Uwe Thiesen gave volleyball lessons. The topic of healthy eating was given a high-calibre presentation by Manik Rodrigo, owner of the Barberyn Ayurveda Group. All in all, a wonderful joint project with the Lions Club Aluthgama/Bentota. This school is a good place for further help.
Care for the unborn Child
We have been endeavouring to restart this project for 2 years. It was thanks to our Lion friend Indaka de Silva that the 4th round could be organised during our stay and that we were able to experience the project launch live. The health centre in Induruwa was quickly found as the central location with a large catchment area. The necessary staff of doctors and carers are also available. Through the usual central registration of all pregnant women, 10 pregnant women between the ages of 18 and 42 in need of support were quickly found. They are now provided with a ‘healthy’ food package at the health centre on the first Friday of every month for 15 months. In addition – when the baby arrives – a complete first kit for mother and child is provided. There is then regular medical care and specialist support for mother and child at the health centre. Funding will be provided by the ‘Rosenkinder’ and the pictures of the first meeting on 7 March 2025 two days before our departure are already here today. We look forward to the arrival of the expected babies and the pictures and information from the monthly meetings.
Of course also for us and you in the following member information.
Other information
In addition to today’s extensive project information, just 2 more dates:
- 11 May 2025 – 3 p.m. – 19th general meeting in the town hall in Uetersen – invitation and further information to follow!
- 5 and 6 July 2025 – Rose Festival in Uetersen – again with our association – the ‘Rosenkinder’ with information and a collection for one of our projects
So much for today. Thank you for reading about this year’s ‘Rosenkinder’ project adventure in Sri Lanka. Perhaps also an incentive to come with us to the land of the ‘Rosenkinder’ next February 2026.
Thank you for your ‘Rosenkinder’ loyalty and stay safe and sound
Your
Dieter Kaske