St.John’s Mission
St. John’s Mission started in 1989 as a modest Church organisation in Batticaloa, on the east coast of Sri Lanka. A number of organisations from the Netherlands, Germany and the USA are the original sponsors of these projects.
The project included the setting up of Orphanages, Day care centres, Nutritional Feeding centres, Widows Empowerment projects and a number of Vocational Training centres.
In broad terms the Orphanages are for those who have lost both parents or just the one parent but the other is incapable of supporting the child.
The children are looked after completely, provided with the necessary food, clothing and shelter in addition to medical requirements. Their basic educational requirements are taken care of too. It cost approximately £60,000 to build a new orphanage. The cost to care for the children is in the region of £18.00 ($25) per child per month.
In the Day Care Centres, children from very poor families are provided with a meal and milk if necessary. Many children presently receive only one meal a day. For just £5.00 ($7.00) a month, they could be provided with two further meals a day.
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In the Vocational Training centres the older children are taught life sustaining skills so that on completion they could fend for themselves. Carpentry, plumbing, car repairs, printing, sewing, welding, electronics, refrigeration are some the skills being taught presently.
The Widows Empowerment Project provides widows with financial help so that they could buy perhaps a sewing machine or fund some other simple life sustaining project.
In the eastern province there are about 600 children in the Orphanages, around 2000 children are taken care of in the day care and nutritional feeding centres. In addition about 150 widows have received loans.
Rev. Jeyanesan and the others who are involved in this project are continuously seeking to reinforce the message of love and compassion, so that the children grow up tobe loving and caring individuals rather than individuals with vengeance in their minds who may resort to the gun at some time in the future.
Darshan Ambalavanar
has taken over from Rev. Jeyanesan as the new Project Manager of the under the Church of the American Ceylon Mission. These projects are in various parts of the island, Nuwara Eliya to Jaffna, Mannar to Batticaloa, ranging from relief to rehabilitation, vocational training to farming, children’s programs to elders homes.
Prior to this he was in Toronto as a settlement worker assisting new immigrant families to settle and find work in Toronto. A large part of his time was devoted to youth related programmes.
From 1991 to 2006 he gained various educational qualifications from Princeton Theological Seminary to a Doctorate with Harvard University. His original degree was gained from the University of Reading in the UK. He authored a number of publications during this period.
Over the years he has gained much experience which he will find valuable working with the projects he is involved with now.
E-mail: darshan.ambalavanar@gmail.com
