We undertake to repair or restore old reservoirs to store much needed water during the rainy season.  Restoration of a reservoir enables 200-250 families to irrigate their land and hence farm their food crops.  During the last 5 years we have restored 3 old disused reservoirs; Kokabe wewa in Tantirimale, Nuwaragalatenne wewa in Amparai District and most recently Siyabalawewa in Kahatagollawa near Padaviya.  Construction of agro-wells is also undertaken.  Each well provides water to support 10 farming families.

SPONSORING FARMERS

The B.V.T.S. has also sponsored many farming families at Katukeliyawa in Tantirimale and Panama to cover the cost of seeds, fertiliser and ploughing.  In keeping with our policy of self-sustainment, the farmers are now able to purchase these materials with money from the funds they have accumulated from selling their crops.

B.V.T.S. has contributed funds for building a boys orphanage in Bandaragama, which houses many war victims.  Computers have also been donated to educate them in I.T. Land has been purchased in Pilimatalawa to expand a girls orphanage, of which all are victims of war. We provide equipment and teachers’ salaries for many pre-schools in the remote areas of the North and East as well as in the Kandy district. Last year a building was restored in Embilipitiya for use as a pre-school for 150 village children.

We also embarked on a 3 year pilot project to educate children, (in Horawapathana, Kebithigollawa and Padavi Siripara), in English and I.T.  Already, over 850 students from deprived areas have benefited from these projects. Some have even been given further scholarships to do a diploma at Anaradapura’s I.D.M. Centre.  This enables these children to have better employment opportunities, when before they had none.

Students from remote areas who have been awarded university places but do not have the funds to attend are sponsored through a 3-5 year period (depending on the duration of their course).  We also distribute medical books for our sponsored medical students. This sponsorship scheme enables these students opportunities that would not normally be available to them, in fact some of the sponsored students are already in employment. In turn they will contribute back to their families. 

Free medical clinics in remote areas are held during weekends by volunteer medical/ dental staff.  We fund expenses for travelling and medicines, over 1000 patients benefit at each session.
We also provide dry rations and items of clothing for many villagers who are returning to their homes after terrorist attacks.  For their safety, school and family bunkers have also been constructed to protect them again terrorist artillery.

The site for our Bio-Farming project is Siyabalawewa a reservoir we restored 2 years ago, together with 28 acres of farming land.  We had many discussions with the village elders, agricultural officers and farmers to study the traditional farming methods.  We felt that the modern day farmers should be educated in these traditional techniques and adopt them where possible as eco-friendly farming.  In traditional farming, people looked to the land and the environment to satisfy their basic needs. We encourage the farmers to value these methods and re-establish an independent self-sufficient way of life.  The modern system of farming introduces extreme dependence on outside factors and this leads to a vicious cycle of poverty.

In this project, we encourage the farmers to have their own supply of seeds after initially donating them free seeds (developed on bio-farming methods).  We also get them to make their own bio-fertiliser using leaf vegetation, animal waste etc.  If needed the insecticides (which is very low with bio-fertiliser) from fermented plant extracts are used. This is eco-friendly bio-farming.  Agricultural Officers will supervise the initial stages and will show the benefits to the environment, income and to the community.
We hope to set up this as a model farm for the area.

We provided emergency relief and funded medical supplies, school stationery, school uniforms etc for the tsunami children living in refugee camps.
Sponsoring of 134 tsunami orphans from the Kalutara, Galle and Matara to Hambatota districts.  These orphans are aged 4-17.  They are kept under guardianship of a close relative or family member.  Consent of the child and the willingness, suitability of the guardian has been closely scrutinised in each case.  We visit the children every year and their progress is very closely monitored. 

FUNDING

Donations, membership fees and fundraising activities. Our link organisations in Sri Lanka are Thawalama Development Foundation, Saharoda Foundation and Bodhiraga Foundation.

FUTURE PLANS

More Bio-Farming projects, skill centres for local unemployed youth and the introduction of low-tech cottage industries to utilise local resources. Also experiment on the cultivation of new crops, which are highly nutritional. We are hoping to introduce bio-gas and solar energy for use in the villages.