Everyone deserves to be cared for and loved. None of us can live without a sense of belonging. ‘Mother Charitable Foundation’, well aware of the value of lending a helping hand to the needy, has come a long way, conducting many projects to care for ‘the rejected’ in society.
“It all started with the compassion that originated in my mind when I went to Beruwala for a lecture,” said Dinesh Manjula Fernando, the founder of ‘Mother Charitable Foundation’. It’s eight years since they took the first step to provide for those who are in need. ‘Pathum Uyana’, the skills development centre for special needs children and adults got its maiden project off the ground in 2011. Thereafter, in 2013, its established its head office in Moratuwa as ‘Mother Charitable Foundation’ Its purpose is a blend of love, care, protection, feeding and education; and they go in search of the needy who deserve to have better lives. “Our focus is on the non-beneficial, the rejected, the disabled and the abandoned, plus patients with incurable diseases, such as, cancer and AIDS”.
The Mother Charitable Foundation is a registered NGO which comes under the Western Province Social Services Department. The Foundation was established to serve the needy to attain a better standard of living, regardless of caste, ethnicity or social standard. Its major development centres are, ‘Pathum Uyana’ in Aluthgama and ‘Niduk Piyasa in Kirinda. Both are Skills Development and Education Centres for special needs and differently abled children, and adults between the ages five and 35, including Downs Syndrome patients and children with Autism. “Where necessary they are directed to the Deaf and Blind Schools” added Dinesh.
What is exceptional about Mother Charitable Foundation is its objective. They wish to fill the gap between those children and their parents, siblings and families creating them a protective environment through better practice. It doesn’t separate the needy from their families, and they strive to educate them to raise them to a level where they would be able to manage their daily work without assistance from another.
“We teach them to acquire daily life skills, such as, eating, drinking, wearing clothes, toilet training and preparing meals, writing and reading. Speech Therapy, Physiotherapy, Dancing, Music, Art and Vocational Training are some of the programs that we conduct. There are adults who have not received any kind of education till the point when they decide to seek help from us or chance upon our centres. We have to first train them to be fit to receive education and to absorb the things they have been missing out on”. Working for the betterment of a society is not, in any sense, less than working for someone’s own betterment. None of them are easy, especially, when we know that we stand behind time, and there is so much we have to do within an extremely short period. No matter where they belong or who they are, Mother Charitable Foundation has taken up the challenge of shouldering the lives of the deprived in society. “I wish to thank the chief monk of Kaluamodara Temple in Beruwela and the Vihaaradhikaari monk of Kirinda, Puhulwella, for providing us the premises to build our centres,” Dinesh said.
Lending a helping hand to someone is not just an act of kindness, it can be priceless to that person in need. A small act like directing such people towards those who are willing to help, such as, the Mother Charitable Foundation team would mean a lot to society.