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Dear Friends and Supporters,

Our first project in Sri Lanka was paying for roof repairs of the girls’ dormitory building at St. Therese’s Convent and Girls Home in Elpitiya/Sri Lanka plus washing and toilet facilities adjacent to the building so the girls did not need to go outside. This was in early 2005, when the home had a long waiting list to take in girls affected by the dreadful Tsunami on December 26, 2004. Several other building projects followed, helping to minimize the suffering of children who lost parents, or whose parents lost everything due to this natural disaster. It is hard to believe that almost 20 years have passed since then.

 

Our first scholarship program in Sri Lanka covered 20 students in 2 different schools for the 2006 school year.

 

Thanks to your loyal support we have come a long way in these 20 years.

 

In 2025 in both Sri Lanka and Myanmar a total of 

324 Students (302 girls and 22 boys)

 

will be on our scholarship programs in the first half of the year.  


1. Sri Lanka
221 students (204 girls and 17 boys) will be on three scholarship programs in 2025. (For details, please refer to the 3rd article: ‘Scholarships Sri Lanka 2006 – 2025’ under section “Scholarships”.)

2. Myanmar
103 students (98 girls and 5 boys) are on our two programs. (For details, please refer to the 2nd article: ‘Scholarships Myanmar 2013/14 -2024/25 under section "Scholarships''.)

The very special news is that to date 234 students (209 in Sri Lanka and 25 in Myanmar)
have graduated from High School, completing their education.

 


Allow us to express our sincere gratitude for your financial help for the Scholarship and Christmas Programs. Each student who can attend school and each child that will receive a Christmas gift will be grateful for being in your hearts.

Please share our pride in the achievements in the past 20 years. All of you have played a vital part in this.

 

With great appreciation for your support.

Your Trustees of IFESCSF

 

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Dear Friends and Supporters!

Although Christmas is still 3 ½ months away, our Coordinators need to start working on the Christmas gift programs. Due to significant increases in poverty, bringing joy to poor children at this special time of the year is becoming ever more important.

With great pleasure I would like to advise that the following 3 Christmas gift programs have been approved:

1.    Myanmar – Chin State
1,331 children in Preschool, Kindergarten. Elementary School Grades 1-3, plus our 96 scholarship students will get a Christmas Gift package.

2.    Myanmar - Christmas Parties organized in different locations
It is estimated that about 1,000 underprivileged and internally displaced children in several poor towns and villages in Myanmar will attend these parties, getting a decent meal and some small gifts.

3.    Sri Lanka
Our fund supported a Christmas gift program in Sri Lanka from 2006 to 2012. This was moved to Myanmar in 2013, due to 2 reasons: the Coordinators in Sri Lanka had difficulties handling it and the tremendous need in Myanmar.

With the economic situation in Sri Lanka continuing to be very dire, many people cannot afford enough food for their children and themselves. This prompted the coordinator of our Main Scholarship Program in the country to ask whether we could help 150 children, whose parents will not be able to send them to preschool at the beginning of 2025, because they cannot afford the school uniform, stationary, etc. needed for the children to attend.
Apart from the fact that these children would lack the preschool education, they would also not get the warm meal which they will be getting in preschool.

This additional program was unanimously approved. Each child will get a gift package containing a school bag, school uniform, stationary, a bottle for water, etc.


One additional positive news about a Special Project:

Sri Lanka – Holy Angels Girls School of Hope (HAGS)

3 years ago, the Principal of HAGS approached us asking if our fund could finance a new building to house 5 primary school classrooms. This was beyond our financial possibilities.  
Two months ago, the Principal advised that a Japanese Conglomerate agreed to construct this building. The work has started and is scheduled to be completed by the end of this year.

What HAGS still needs are the necessary cupboards/whiteboards for each classroom and 2 TV’s to support their education efforts.
One of our trustees
has agreed to pay personally for the cupboards/whiteboards for the classrooms; our fund will pay for the 2 TVs.

Why is this extra building so important for HAGS?
The available classrooms in the existing buildings erected after the Tsunami in Dec. 2004 became insufficient to cover the demand for the school to take in additional students. Once this building has been completed, the school will have the capacity to add more girls, especially in primary grades.


Without your strong support the scholarship programs, the Christmas programs and the occasional special project would not be possible. May we express our gratitude for your heart for the children. Getting a good education and a bit of joy at Christmas will make a big difference in their lives!

Thank You So Much!

 

Your Trustees of IFESCSF

 



Last Updated on Wednesday, 16 Oct 2024 17:47