In February, BGR Vice-Chair David Braughton (front row, in blue) and Raimund Hopf, President of Mitgefühl in Aktion (at left, in pink), met with students at a school for developmentally disabled young persons and adults run by BGR partner Child Action Lanka.
By David Braughton
As I walked off my plane at 2 a.m. (Sri Lankan Standard Time), I wasn’t sure what to expect. I had come to Sri Lanka to see how our partner organizations had weathered the economic maelstrom that had thrown this small island nation, approximately the size of Connecticut, into bankruptcy, resulting in massive unemployment, food insecurity, and long lines at the gas pump, and causing then-President Rajapaksa to flee amid widespread protests over his handling of the country’s worst economic crisis since independence in 1948.
Having spent nearly 50 years leading and managing nonprofit organizations myself, I was eager to meet the staff who ran and worked in our partner organizations as well as the people they served—and, admittedly, to see how our BGR grants were being utilized. Knowing Sri Lanka’s important contribution to Theravada Buddhism, I also looked forward to experiencing the island’s distinctive culture and heritage and visiting its many iconic temples, stupas, and other holy sites.
Over the next fourteen days, I would travel nearly 1,500 kilometers, crisscrossing the central and northeast parts of the island four times, going from densely populated cities like Colombo and Kandy to remote rural villages like Mullaitivu and Padaviya. During our long drives between villages, my time was filled with exotic sights of wild elephants, monkeys, dense jungles, surreal landscapes, and countless monasteries, stupas, and temples. When we weren’t discussing their agencies or the Dhamma, my hosts enthusiastically educated me on the history of Sri Lanka, how the Buddha visited the island three times, the reign of various kings, and the specific relics of the Buddha contained in each holy site.
I cannot begin to recount the many lessons I carried away from my trip to Sri Lanka or how profoundly moved I was by the people I met, the vital work they performed, or the deep devotion to the Dhamma that drove them; that would take pages, if not volumes. Rather, let me offer a few highlights instead which capture the essence of what I learned, if not the particulars.
First water from a Shraddha Charities reverse osmosis plant.
Extraordinary Agencies, Exceptional People
During my years in the executive suite at several human service and behavioral health agencies, I came to understand the signs of a well-run, highly effective organization, and from what I observed of our Sri Lankan partners, there is no doubt that they are among the best of the best.
The Board members and executive team of each organization I visited—CENWOR, Shraddha Charities, Child Action Lanka, and Karuna Trust—were articulate and passionate, and they surrounded themselves with equally committed and competent administrative and management personnel. Everyone seemed to be smiling all the time, and when I inquired about why they did what they did, the answer was the same: “Because we love the people (children, young people, special needs adults) who we work with!”
People’s responses were even more impressive when I learned that the average teacher or caseworker earns the equivalent of $150 USD a month! Although the cost of living in Sri Lanka is approximately half of what it is in the U.S., $150 a month cannot begin to sustain a single person living alone, much less a family of four.
Many of the folks I met made clear that it was their Buddhist faith that led them to charitable work and motivates them to accomplish so much. Take Prasad Binuwara, who left behind a highly lucrative career in advertising and television to become the CEO of Shraddha TV and Charities. Although he is earning a fraction of his former pay, Prasad’s buoyant and seemingly indefatigable leadership has resulted in the installation of 153 reverse-osmosis facilities providing pure water to thousands and the provision of hot lunch programs and math and science classes in remote rural schools (increasing daily attendance from 54 percent to over 90 percent), as well as expanded TV and radio programming.
CENWOR-sponsored students at the University of Vocational Technical.
A Little Goes a Long Way
During my first full day in Sri Lanka, I was picked up by staff from CENWOR, the Center for Women’s Research, and driven to the University of Vocational Technical, where I visited with six young women who are earning degrees in IT with BGR support. Each of these women hail from a rural part of the country. Their fathers were all farmers or drivers, meaning they earned on average about $80 USD a month; as is customary, their mothers worked in the home, tending the children, raising a garden, going to the market, cooking and so on. Without the support of BGR, none of these young people could even dream of getting a degree in computer science.
Later that day, CENWOR arranged for virtual visits with several young women attending medical school. Each of these women receive the equivalent of $10 USD per month through CENWOR’s BGR funding. Most use the money to pay for school supplies or lecture printouts, but when I asked one participant what she does with the funds, she replied, “That’s the money I buy my monthly groceries with!”
A Karuna Trust computer lab in the remote village of Padiviya.
Innovation and Filling the Gaps
Our Sri Lanka partners are excellent stewards as well as inventive and resourceful. Take Karuna Trust for example. Led by Mahinda Karunaratne, a robust, kindly 92-year-old, who 22 years ago quit a successful printing business in order to devote his time to charitable work, the Trust began with an investment of $3,330. Today, it has built houses for single mothers, donates books to libraries, operates an after-school program on weekdays and Saturdays for young people living in a very depressed suburb of Colombo, and runs a computer lab to teach IT and math skills in the far northeast village of Padaviya.
The 153 reverse-osmosis plants constructed by Shraddha Charities is another example. Several years ago, Ven. Subodhi Thero was on his way to give a lecture when he saw several houses flying a white flag, a symbol that someone has died. On the return trip, he stopped at one of the houses and was told that the husband, a farmer, had died from kidney disease, one of the top killers in the rural parts of the country. The cause? Drinking water laden with heavy metals and fertilizer chemicals. In response, Ven. Subodhi Thero reached out to engineers who designed efficient, low-cost, low-maintenance reverse-osmosis plants. Today, these plants are not only providing pure drinking water to Buddhist, Hindu, Christian, and Muslim families, they are also bringing together people who in 2009 ended a civil war that had lasted 25 years.
Child Action Lanka students ready to have lunch.
It’s All About Partnership
I was joined in Kandy by Raimund Hopf, President of Mitgefühl in Aktion, BGR’s European counterpart. Raimund is a delightful human being and a devoted Buddhist, Dhamma scholar, and meditation teacher. Together we spent three days visiting a preschool, child development center, foster home, and special needs school for developmentally disabled young persons and adults run by Child Action Lanka. All of the several hundred children and young people enrolled in these programs come from single parent, at-risk families, and all of the food that they eat is paid for jointly by BGR and MiA!
Final Reflections
As my return flight back to Florida took off from the Colombo Bandaranaike International Airport, I heard the words of Nisansala Karunaratne Rajapaksha as we sat with the Karuna Trust students in Padaviya having lunch: “So BGR sponsors programs around the world. That means that the sun never rises or sets without someone having food to eat because of BGR!” and a feeling of gratitude welled up in me. Gratitude for the quiet stirrings of the Dhamma those many years ago, urging me “to come and see”; gratitude for the advent of BGR; gratitude for our Board and staff and many partners organizations who each day make our BGR mission and vision a reality; and gratitude for you, our supporters whose generosity and selfless contributions mean that children in an island nation southeast of India can attend school, learn new skills, eat nutritious meals, and drink pure water.
May the Triple Gem bless you and may the Devas rejoice in the good you do and protect you.
David Braughton is vice-chair of Buddhist Global Relief.
