OrphanCare has successfully completed its 9th consecutive quarterly fund distribution benefiting over 3,000 orphans from 80+ orphanages across the island. Despite the challenges of the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, the OrphanCare Trust continued to distribute funds while also increasing the number of beneficiaries, showcasing the growing interest on the initiative.
In addition to the periodical fund allocation, OrphanCare has identified and profiled orphans who have reached the age of 18 through a structured qualitative support process. Individual orphan profiling is done taking into consideration their educational levels, language skills and career aspirations and matching their requirements with donors of both individual and institutional capacity.
OrphanCare was established as an independent trust with Amana Bank PLC as the founding sponsor with the objective of addressing an important yet mostly unattended need of orphan children. The Trust aims to secure the fate of orphans who reach the age of 18, at which age they are compelled to leave institutional care. OrphanCare’s approach seeks to intervene in a vital and decisive aspect of their problem which is funding. To that end the OrphanCare Trust has been making periodic deposits into orphans’ accounts until they reach the age of 18, at which point the funds will become accessible to them. A unique highlight of the initiative is that Amana Bank ensures every rupee donated would reach the beneficiary since all administrative and operational costs are fully borne by the Bank.
Sharing his views on the progress of OrphanCare, Trustee Sharad Amalean said, “In the backdrop of a challenging environment, we are indeed pleased to have been able to once again reward our OrphanCare beneficiaries with another disbursement of funds to their accounts. We are once again grateful to our valued donors and well-wishers who continue to support our cause both monetarily and qualitative care. ”
In enrolling orphans to the program OrphanCare has honoured Article 2 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child where all enrolments are irrespective of the child’s or their parent’s or legal guardian’s race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinions, national, ethnic or social origin, property, disability, birth or any other status.
The OrphanCare Trust is administered by a team of trustees who have a track record of passionate social service and includes Chairman of the Trust Ruzly Hussain (founder of the Rotaract movement in Sri Lanka), Osman Kassim (Founder & Past Chairman Amãna Bank) K R Ravindran (Chairman, Board of Trustees of Rotary Foundation USA and former President Rotary International ), Jazri Magdon Ismail – Treasurer (Past President AAT), Sharad Amalean (Co-founder MAS Holdings), Tyeab Akbarally (Senior Director Akbar Brothers) Harsha Amarasekera (President’s Counsel), Deshabandu Tilak de Zoysa (Chairman Helpage Sri Lanka) and Mohamed Azmeer (CEO Amãna Bank). The OrphanCare Trust also had the valued services of late Rohan Tudawe who was serving as the Honorary Treasurer of the Trust. The Trustees have instituted a strong governance framework to maintain the highest standards of integrity and ensure the long-term sustainability of the Trust.