Givology - give to learn, learn to give

Kaladevi is a girl from one of the surrounding Tea Estates from Maskeliya. She is from Brunswick (approximately 5 km away from the centre) and travels to school by bus. Her mother works as a tea picker and earns US$60 a month (Rs 6,000/-) and her father works in Colombo and also earns US$60 a month.

She has 1 brother and 1 sister. Her brother is waiting for his A-level results and is not working. Her sister is doing her A-levels and boards in Hatton (approximately 45 km away from Brunswick), as there are no colleges in the local area. It costs her sister US$60 a month to do her A-Levels (board, food and bus fare to come home at the weekends). All of her father’s earnings are used to support Kaladevi’s sister through her A-Levels.

Her mother’s wage is used to support all of the rest of the family’s needs, which includes sending a little money down to Colombo for Kaladevi’s father. As a result Kaladevi’s mum is insisting that Kaladevi get a job. Kaladevi has her A-Levels, but feels she needs to improve her English and I.T in order to get a long-term better salaried job. She is very keen to stay at Tea Leaf Vision, despite the constant fights with her mother. Her mother tries to obstruct her everyday from coming to school, refuses to let Kaladevi take lunch (Kaladevi saves some of her breakfast secretly and brings it in for lunch) and continuously subjects her to verbal abuse. Kaladevi has tried to explain that this one-year could advance her job prospects enormously but to no avail. All this is taking its toll on Kaladevi’s emotional health.

Tea Leaf Trust currently sponsors her bus fair, but we are looking for additional sponsorship of $25 a month (Rs 2,500 /-), so that Kaladevi can support herself whilst she is studying at the centre. Her mother has agreed that if Kaladevi can find the money, then she will have no problem with her coming to the centre this year.