Photographs courtesy of Child Action Lanka.
By BGR Staff
According to UNICEF, Sri Lanka has South Asia’s second-highest rate of severe acute malnutrition. Nearly one in six children here suffer from chronic wasting. In 2022, steep inflation and economic collapse resulted in crisis-level hunger across this nation of 22 million people, as food prices rose by almost 100 percent.
BGR partner Child Action Lanka (CAL) offers education, nutritional support, and a safe daytime haven for children from impoverished families. Based in child-development centers serving low-income communities, CAL is easily accessible to children from needy families. During the current fiscal year, BGR and CAL have formed a partnership that is providing healthy breakfasts to 115 preschool children in four distinct geographic districts in the country.
A majority of these children come from families facing additional stressors beyond the inflation crisis that has devastated the lives of so many Sri Lankans over the past few years. CAL’s center in Kandy primarily serves children from street-connected families, meaning that family members are dependent on street vending, recycling, day labor, or other street-associated activities to earn sufficient income for their survival. The centers at Batticaloa and Kilinochchi, in the east and far north respectively, serve children from areas affected by the civil war; many lost family members in the conflict and a majority come from women-headed families. In Nuwara Eliya, located in the mountain district, the center serves the children of laborers at tea estates, in an area with the highest rate of alcohol consumption in Sri Lanka.
The current year’s project is also supporting the creation of a “breakfast club” in Kandy and two other centers, offering the children meals, books, and a safe and reliable place to come in the mornings. The project also funds a nutritious and diet-appropriate daily meal for 30 disabled and developmentally delayed children at a separate center in Kandy founded by a group of Buddhist monks.
Kavindu and his peers at the breakfast table in CAL’s Kandy Child Development Centre.
In the previous year, our first year of partnership, a BGR–CAL project provided regular breakfasts for 160 preschool children in need at the four district centers. Previously, the children’s breakfasts at the centers had consisted only of a glass of milk. As a result of the breakfast project, the percentage of children at the centers who were underweight decreased from 34 percent to 12 percent. With their nutritional needs met, children showed improved abilities to concentrate, play active games, and engage with peers and caregivers. Attendance at school also increased, as parents were motivated to bring their children to preschool knowing that they would receive nutritious meals there.
Diyas is the youngest of four children being supported solely by their mother, who works full time but struggles to provide the children with nutritious food on her limited salary. When Diyas arrived at CAL’s Kandy Child Development Centre, he was 6 months old and barely moved due to lethargy caused by severe malnutrition. Thanks to the feeding program at the preschool, where BGR support provides the children with daily nutritious meals, Diyas has grown to be an active and healthy toddler.
Kavindu is a preschool student being raised by his grandmother, who due to lack of financial resources struggles to provide him with nutritious food. When he arrived at the Kandy preschool, he was underweight and suffered from lethargy and decreased cognitive function due to malnutrition. Thanks to the feeding program at the preschool center, where BGR support provides the children with daily nutritious meals, Kavindu has become a lively, healthy, attentive student.
Aneesha was brought each day to the Batticaloa center by her single mother, a laborer unable to provide regular meals for her family on her meager salary of 700 rupees ($2 U.S.) per day. One day, when the center reopened after a holiday break, Aneesha fainted at school, having not eaten a proper meal in the days that the center was closed. Staff at the center provided the family with a monthly dry ration pack, and over a few months Aneesha grew to a healthy weight, in the process gaining energy to learn and play.
“BGR as the sole donor for the preschool breakfast programme has transformed the lives of the children,” Child Action Lanka wrote, “enabling them to be more engaged, active, and thriving in every aspect of life.”
This article is based on reporting provided by our partner Child Action Lanka.
