RSSSEEMAWELIYA, Sri Lanka (UCAN) — A priest is providing food security for some of the country’s poorest thanks to two hectares of land donated by a Catholic landlord.
“Dimuthu” (Center For Poverty Alleviation), run by Father Jude Nicholas Fernando provides plots of land to grow fruit and vegetables, as well as assistance in children’s schooling in Sri Lanka’s Western Province.
The land in Seemaweliya village is now home to 15 Catholic families mostly Sinhalese. It is named “Joseph Vaz Village” after the 17th-century Indian missioner to Sri Lanka.
The center is looking to provide cows, goats and carts to families so they can be self-sufficient, as well as a library and medical facilities for their other needs.
Father Fernando, 50, director of the Family Apostolate of Chilaw diocese said his aim was “eradicating every form of poverty.”
“The people suffer from not only material poverty but also spiritual poverty. So we are focusing on life education,” Father Fernando said.
Dimuthu was established in 2000. It has built community centers, run health services and ministered to people’s spiritual needs.
The land of Joseph Vaz Village, which was thick jungle before it was cleared, was given to the center in 2004.
The biggest problem the villagers face is lack of water. The only communal well in the village was built by Dimuthu at a cost of 350,000 rupees(US$3,000) but it dries up when there is no rain. To wash, the villagers must walk more than a kilometer.
Children also face a long journey to get to school on roads that are impassable during the wet season.
The Dimuthu program has given 15 bicycles to children to help them get to class and provides clothes, bags, books and stationery as well as financial help when necessary.
Illiteracy is a major problem. “Over 90 percent of people can’t read or write,” Father Fernando said.
Pushpa Rani, 34, a Tamil Catholic who lives in Joseph Vaz Village says she is slowly getting her life back on track thanks to the center’s work.
Her husband died three years ago and she survived by doing odd jobs such as shelling coconuts for around US$5 until she was offered the small plot of land.
She told UCA News the opportunity has given her the courage to face life without resorting to begging.
The Dimuthu program is made possible by donations from Father Fernando’s friends and contacts in Sri Lanka and Italy, where he studied.
SR08518.1584 January 12, 2010 40 EM-lines (402 words)
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