Karuna Trust - Kindness in action

by Aditha Dissanayake

Watching the demure figure descend from the stage with the award for the Book with the Best Print, 2005, in his hands, at the recently concluded State Literary Festival, it is hard to imagine that there is more to this bookish, silver-haired gentleman than what meets the eye. In fact the first words he speaks leave one convinced more than ever of never judging a book by its cover.

"I'm not quite sure how I won this award" says Mahinda Karunaratne. "Even though I am the Chairman of Karunaratne and Sons, my sons run the business now and I don't quite know what goes on".

But ask him about the Karuna Trust and he is ready to speak volumes.

Volumes that could perhaps form the chapters of an anthology of fairy-tales. "Once upon a time there lived three orphans, with their grandparents in a small hut. The grandparents made their living by washing clothes. Their income was so meagre, often they went to bed with empty stomachs.

Enter an angel who gives them land, builds them a house and provides money for the children to see them through school and university" - A fairy-tale with a real world setting. The good angel is Mahinda Karunaratne, the three orphans aged 11, 9 and 7 are now living in a furnished house with two bedrooms on land bought in their names.

"Kindness in action" is how Mahinda Karunaratne explains the work of the Karuna Trust. Initiated with his wife, on his 70th birthday in March 2003, the Trust is a voluntary non-profit organisation dedicated to improving the living standards of materially poor people in Sri Lanka.

Realizing that a large majority of the country's population is living below minimal economic conditions, sans proper housing, medical care, education, and employment, according to the Chairperson the trust funds projects to eradicate this kind of poverty.

One such programme is improving the living conditions of the villagers in Periyakulama, Katukeliyawa and Thammannakulama where ten families have been given houses. The Trust also provides scholarships for students from rural areas who have passed the Year 5 scholarship and gained admission to National Schools, but whose parents are unable to afford the expenses of placing them in hostels.

"They will be given financial assistance till they complete their Advanced Level Exams. says Mahinda Karunaratne and adds, "If they get selected to enter university we will continue to help them".

A body of Trustees, with the help of an Executive Committee as well as a Patron and an Advisory Board, govern the organisation.In addition to the donations given by philanthropists living in the country as well as in foreign lands, Mahinda Karunaratne contributes his monthly salary to the Fund while his company Karunaratne & Sons, contributes 1% of its net profit to the Trust.

Operated entirely by volunteers, the Trust works solely to provide help for extremely deserving cases, which may otherwise have little or no recourse. "We don't spend the donations for administrative work and travelling.

All such expenses are borne by Karunaratne & Sons" says Chairperson Karunaratne, leaving the donors free from worrying about where their donations go. "They can rest assured that all the contributions go entirely to charitable purposes, with no administrative withholdings".

Thus, in an era when telling the truth has become naive, getting away with crime is child's play, being a bully is the only way to get anything done - when it is believed the common citizen can do nothing at all in a milieu in which corruption reigns supreme, there are yet a few who have shown things can be changed - through mettha, karuna, muditha.