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| Sunday, 25 April 2004 |
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Dev Piya Sevana : Making opportunities equally affordable by Carol Aloysius
It is 4 o'clock in the evening on a sunny Tuesday. Photographer Chinthaka Kumarasinghe and this writer are seated in a cafeteria that stands bang against the dusty pavement leading to the Seylan Bank and the Baptist church at Cinnamon Gardens. Suddenly, the door is flung open and several bare footed children in tattered clothes and of varying ages, rush in. Some of the littlest ones are accompanied by their parents. Each child clutches a large cup, a bottle or a container of sorts. Standing in a line inside the cafeteria, their faces wreathed in eager smiles, they watch as a young woman carefully pours milk from a large jar into a each container. A few of them gulp the milk straightaway, but most of them carefully carry away their precious 'cargo' to share with their parents living on the streets. We have just witnessed one of the community oriented projects carried out by `Dev Piya Sevana.'
`Dev Piya Sevana'. The name, like the place itself exudes a sense of security, warmth and most of all of Love. A Brochure describes it as the "Social arm of the Cinnamon Gardens Baptist church". But its uniqueness lies in the fact that this service oriented project albeit by a Christian organisation has managed to transcend racial, religious and ethnic barriers, to embrace persons of all races and religions in this country from mainly the lesser privileged strata of society, in order to empower them and give them the new lease of life they badly need. "Our goal is to help those who are unable to help themselves because of poverty, illiteracy and lack of opportunity. Here they can acquire the tools they need to empower them" says the youthful priest in charge, Rev. Heshan de Silva, as he welcomes us into his modest home house next to the three storeyed building which was used mainly for the community service projects run by his parish. Kamani Samarasinghe, one of the volunteers involved in the Dev Piya Sevena project escorts us to the Computer room which is on the first floor. Here forty one students receive a hands-on-training in the use of software and hardware engineering. "Our students come from the less affluent classes who are unable to afford the high fees charged by various institutes that run computer courses. Our fees are nominal and the material we give them is free. We hold both certificate and diploma courses after which will be qualified to apply for a suitable job", Ms Samarasinghe explains. Courses include certificate courses in MS-office 2000/xp, in Graphic Designing and in Computer hardware engineering with Network, while the Diploma courses include Computer Studies and Computer Applications.
The three teachers, Ashok Matthew the co-ordinator, Kamani Samarasinghe and Nadeeka Pushpamali, all volunteers receiving a stipend give the students personal attention as they go through their paces. Nor does their training end with the completion of the courses,says Nadeeka. Her job is to groom the students to face an interview and train them in specific job skills. That is not all. At least one student who excels at the courses is given an opportunity of following an advanced course free of charge. Once students complete the course to the satisfaction of their teachers, the latter also take upon themselves the task of finding them jobs. "We have found jobs for at least six or seven of our students to date", says Kamani. The students following these courses hail from various parts of the island, some as far as Galle and Gampaha. Travelling such long distances have not dampened their enthusiasm. Asanka, 20, from Galle a former student of Amarasuriya College tells me, "after I sat the A/L exam I was unable to follow any suitable courses in computer studies since I was unable to afford the fees. When I heard about this place I decided to enrol as a student as the fees are much less and the training is excellent. I have no regrets even though I have to travel so far daily". His sentiments were echoed by his fellow colleagues who are confident that they will be able to find a job once they complete the course. "This training in IT is the best thing that happened to me" says Rasika Dilhani, 21 from Gampaha. "It has opened the door to new opportunities in the job market as Information Technology plays such an important part", says Dushantha, 21 from Kadawatha, who shared the opinion that the training they received here had definitely empowered them. Two foreign missionaries currently conduct the English classes attended by over sixty students. Since many of those attending these classes are either students or working people, classes are held in the evenings and on Saturdays. While neither the teachers nor the students were present on the day photographer Chinthaka and I visited the place, we were told that the students were highly motivated and the classrooms were usually packed to capacity. "Our focus is spoken English which is so important for any working person in this country. Although we would like to expand our classes, we are handicapped by the lack of volunteer teachers", says Mrs Manel Nanayakkara, a long time social worker and co-ordinator of the Dev Piya Sevana project. She emphasises the fact that this Community Project benefitted so many underprivileged persons of all religions and races." So a few hours sacrificed by those with knowledge and skills to spend time teaching the students, would be most rewarding to them and will open the door to knowledge and skills for so many less privileged persons as well", she says. The uppermost floor houses the sports room where indoor and outdoor sports are taught to young men and women who drop in during the evenings. The overall co-ordinator Asanga tells us there is a increasing number of young people who drop in at different times of the day to play billiards, table tennis and carom. In addition to these services, Dev Piya Sevana also runs self employment projects such as envelope making for women from the streets." Unfortunately we have had to shelve this project due to lack of volunteers to teach these women", says Manel Nanayakkara. The building also houses a library and a cafeteria. The clean and pleasant environment of the cafeteria with its gleaming floor tiles and attractive lay out is like a breath of fresh air when you walk into it from the dusty pavement filled with street children and their parents. Since the cafeteria is also part of the Community project, prices have been trimmed to suit the budget of the low income worker, says Sunil Jayamanne, who manages it. A cup of plain tea costs only five rupees, a piece of kiribath a mere one rupee, a roti eight rupees and a wholesome soup just ten rupees. the cafeteria offers lunches and short-eats as well at reduced prices. The Project also offers informal counselling and career guidance to its students and seminars are organised on various topics that have a relevance to the target population occasionally. "We hope to expand our programs when we expand our buildings. We hope to have sewing classes for women as well as resurrect our envelope making project since our aim is to make these underprivileged persons self reliant and give them back their dignity" says Rev. Heshan de Silva. One of the most important services offered under this community Project is the overnight accommodation it gives free of charge for patients and visitors to the general Hospital which is just opposite. Currently two rooms allocated for this can accommodate ten patients who have been provided with a TV and cupboards to put their personal belongings. Only those who bring us letters from a religious leader or some authority are accommodated here", says Rev de Silva. Funds and lack of volunteers are the two main obstacles the Project faces. `Dev Piya Sevana' is undoubtedly a trail blazing Community project. Religious as well as other organisations that have under-used building space can take a leaf from its example to utilise them for the uplift of the underprivileged. |
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