Equality-based Community Support And Training

Welcome to our first quarterly newsletter where we hope to keep in touch better with you – the people who have made all of this work possible!

In the month of April 2010, we celebrated Sinhala New Year festival with deaf and non deaf children and their parents. Everyone who participated in the event wore traditional clothes. We started our function boiling a pot of milk on wood fire and everyone clapped when it boiled over because Sri Lankan people think it is a sign of good luck and sign of success in the coming year. Beneficiaries brought traditional foods such as oil cakes (kawum), kokis, milk rice (kiribath), banana, green gram cakes (mung kawum). After the meal we carried out the tradition of giving money (ganu denu) to every child. In return children worshiped parents and elders with sheaf of betel and performed a dance in celebration of the Sinhala New Year.

Once we finished the customs everyone was ready to enjoy traditional games such as “put the eye on the elephant” and “tug of war”. Passing the balloon with water was really fun when the balloons were burst and splashed everybody with water. Children had new experience of learning the special way of making kokis. This involved scraping the coconut out of the shell and mixing it with water to blend, then making a batter using the coconut milk and adding curry leaves. Next the kokis mould was tempered in boiling oil, put in the batter and returned to the oil to cook. For many children, particularly the deaf children, this was the first time they had experienced these customs.

ECSAT gained the support of Rotary Colombo West, who donated hearing aids, and Vision Care who provided their time, expertise and Audiology equipment and organized three days in Vision Care Centre in Galle to match the aids with the hearing capacity of deaf children. 14 children were successfully matched with hearing aids and we will repeat this success with more children in the future. This community event was featured in the glossy magazine ‘Lanka Woman’.

One young girl age 15 has benefited in a special way from both events. Her father left home when she was young and her mother died in the 2004 tsunami leaving her grandmother to look after her. From age of nine she did not attend school because she is deaf and her grandmother took her everywhere. She joined one of the ECSAT inclusive kids club for deaf children and quickly made friends and learnt to communicate using sign language. Through ECSAT’s community activities she and her grandmother took part in the Sinhala New Year festival which was new experience for both of them. They had the confidence to attend the Vision Care centre and she was successfully matched with the hearing aid. Now she can hear very well and helps the teacher at the kids club like a leader. She can now write her name, address, friends’ names and simple words like “flower”. Both she and her grandmother have a very positive attitude now towards inclusion.

ECSART Handicrafts received a special order from Dwellings, a top of the range store in Colombo, for a Vesak Lantern which is made out of batik material. This was a new experience because till now we never made a lantern. This was special because normally Sri Lankan people make lanterns using paper but we had been requested to use batik material. One of our beneficiaries, who is skilled with making batik, prepared the sample which was cut and fixed to the lantern frame. This was displayed in the store during the Vesak celebration. The buyer was really happy with it.

The Swiss Ambassador, who has always been interested in ECSART handicrafts, is leaving Sri Lanka and we wanted to give her serviettes as a farewell gift in appreciation of her support. We created a bespoke design in red batik with white crosses to represent her national flag. Fringing the serviettes was done by a production team who are learning handicraft skills at Bonavista, a home for intellectually disabled women. She was so pleased that she has ordered 40 more!

Thank you to all of you – our supporters and friends – who have made all of this possible! We will send you another newsletter in three months to keep you up to date with all the news and happenings in Galle Sri Lanka!

Warm regards from everyone at ECSAT and have a wonderful summer!