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The Plantation Community in Sri Lanka mainly consists of the Indian Origin Tamils who are presently known as the ‘Malayaga Tamils” meaning Upcountry Tamils. As per the historical evidence, the arrival of the 1st batch of Indian Origin Tamil Speaking workers happened from 1823 to 1824, thus making 2023/2024 as the 200th years of their…

Caritas Sri Lanka encourages small-holder farmers to ameliorate their capacity and attentiveness to be resilient to food insecurity over a decade. Caritas Norway / NORAD-funded Food Security Program is being a pillar of strength for the communities to enhance the self-sufficient family economy at the grassroots level. Recently the CSL team visited random target locations…

Caritas Badulla- USCOD organized a tree-planting campaign at Kahagalla, Haputale on 26 March 2022 under the Stepping Stone Environment Project implemented with the support of the funding partner, ‘MISEREOR’ The tree-planting campaign was organized by the Village Level Children Group (VLCG) with the support and coordination of the Village Level Elders Group (VLEG) formed under…

Caritas Colombo-Setharana organized a beach clean-up campaign on 31 March 2022 from 10am to 10:50am at Diyalagoda. Over the recent years, the environmental composition in Diyalagoda has been rapidly changing due to high levels of human activity and other human-related environmental issues.  During a community gathering in view of forming a Village Level Environment Group by…

Caritas Sri Lanka National Centre team made a Monitoring and Evaluation visit (M & E) to Galle Diocesan Caritas Centre under the “Stepping Stone to Safeguarding Sri Lanka’s Natural Environment Project’ (SSEP) on 30th and 31st March 2022. Rev. Fr Lasantha Fonseka, Director of SED Galle and Mr. Priyantha Indunil SSEP Project Coordinator of the…

With The United Nations theme of International Women’s Day 2022, ‘Gender Equality for a Sustainable Tomorrow’, We Caritas Sri Lanka-SEDEC organized a special program on 18th March 2022 under the vision and guidance of National Director of Caritas Sri Lanka – SEDEC, Rev. Fr. Mahendra Gunatileke to celebrate, appreciate and honor behind the curtains heroes…

Protecting and restoring mangroves is hugely important in the battle against human-induced climate change. By realizing all the importance of planting mangrove trees, under the  project ‘Stepping stone safeguarding Sri Lanka’s Natural Environment’, Caritas EHED Batticaloa Diocesan center organized a Mangrove Planting Campaign on 17 March 2022.   This tree planting campaign was organized by…

We experience conflict in every stage of our life. The ability to resolve conflicts with one another is a critical life skill, especially in today’s disruptive society. Looking for ways to resolve a conflict that meets the needs of both parties is challenging. Taking this matter into consideration, Caritas Sri Lanka –SEDEC jointly with Caritas Chilaw organized…

The ecosystem can be safeguarded from degradation only when humans start working towards it. In achieving this objective Caritas Sri Lanka with the collaboration of 13 Diocesan Centers, covering the entire island is in the process of forming 156 environmental groups, under the project titled, “A Stepping Stone to Safeguarding Sri Lanka’s Natural Environment” funded…

“Thalassemia” is a genetically inherited, non-curable but easily preventable disease in which normal hemoglobin level in a patient is partially or completely surpass and necessitates blood transfusion approximately at month intervals. The safest approach to prevent the birth of a Thalassemia child is for the carrier of the gene to marry a non-carrier. For this…

Sri Lanka, a country that suffered a recent genocide (2019 Easter Terror Attack), two major youth insurrections, and a 30 years of civil war, is now facing an unprecedented set of economic challenges. The causes of the present economic crisis are primarily attributed to the collapse of revenues generated from tourism that was completely deterred…

Every year, International Women’s Day is celebrated on March 8 with great enthusiasm across the world to honour and treasure the women in one’s daily lives and womanhood in general. This year the theme for International Women’s day for 2022 was ‘ Gender equality today for a sustainable tomorrow.” Caritas Sri Lanka –SEDEC celebrated International…

The feast day of St. Bakhita the patron saint for the victims of modern slavery and human trafficking was celebrated on 8th February. St. Bakhita, a Sudanese nun also known as ‘Mother Moretta’ experienced the moral and physical humiliations associated with slavery in the hands of kidnappers at the age of nine itself. Her story…

Sustaining interreligious dialogue in a persuasive manner has been a pressing need of the time. Examining the trends of interreligious dialogue requires continuous review, learning, and reflection. Hence, Caritas Sri Lanka in consultation with the Secretariat of the Vatican’s Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue convened a lecture and experts’ discussion, on 23rd January 2022, on…

Caritas Sri Lanka, the social arm of the Catholic Church has been instrumental in promoting sustained relationships through justice, peace & reconciliation in Sri Lanka. Our initiatives have focused on ensuring greater inclusion of vulnerable communities in social, political and economic life; access to quality basic services; freedom without exploitative practices; ability to voice their…

“Fish” contribute significantly to the protein intake of the people of Sri Lanka with 70 percent of the annual protein consumption being derived from fish. According to the statistics, Freshwater fishery contributes about 20% of the total fish production of the country. Aquaculture in Sri Lanka is based on pond fish culture and seasonal village…

A 2-day pre-orientation programme was held in Mahagastota, Nuwaraeliya on 29 and 30 November 2021 under the new programme designed for the empowerment of the tea plantation communities in Sri Lanka. The programme comes with a 10-year vision and is titled, “Lighting the Lives” – Empowering the Green Gold Harvesters, which is an extension of…

Caritas Internationalis celebrate its 70th Anniversary today, and it has passed seven decades since the constituent assembly of Confederation met in Rome from 12 to 14 December 1951. During the early years there were only 14 caritas members in the confederation while today there are 162 operating in 200 countries and territories. Since its inception,…

“I was so impressed with this VKC model to render distant services from a single window point to rural masses of remote areas” -Issatheen- Village Focal Point / Key local driver for knowledge service   Issatheen is one of our passionate smallholder farmers and retired government worker from Minukkan Village, – Mannar who has joined…

Mr. Aron Halfen, Senior Advisor, Caritas Norway visited the Food Security program field locations in Chilaw, Mannar, Jaffna, Vanni and Kandy on 17th to 22nd November 2021 accompanied by the Rev. Father Mahendra Gunatilleke, National Director, Mr. Priyantha Fernando, Program Manager, Mrs. Nilani Tissera, National Program Coordinator, and Mr. Nishanth, Regional Coordinator (North & East) from Caritas…