Trincomalee, Sri Lanka
Through our "Sri Lanka Orphans and Widows Project," which commenced in 2001, VeAhavta is providing much-needed aid to orphaned children, needy widows and "Internally Displaced Persons" (IDPs) in the war torn eastern region of the island nation of Sri Lanka – a country that has been ravaged by civil war, poverty and ethnic hatred for over 20 years.

To read a brief history of Sri Lanka, please click here.

A Brief History of Our Work in Sri Lanka
VeAhavta was born out of a friendship between our founder, Eric Parkinson, a California attorney, and Rev. Dr. Selvadurai Jeyanesan, a Sri Lankan born Christian minister with the Jaffna Diocese of the Church of South India.

Dr. Jeyanesan is a highly dedicated and intelligent man and his excellent reputation for peace and service to others is well known throughout Sri Lanka. For several years Dr. Jeyanesan had been taking care of children – orphaned by the long-standing civil war – in five orphanages located in eastern Sri Lanka. Eric offered to help him develop another orphanage and VeAhavta was thereafter incorporated in July of 2001.

In October of 2001, we purchased an abandoned and dilapidated hotel on a seven-acre beachfront property in Trincomalee to use as a new orphanage. From the outset, VeAhavta’s goal was to develop a facility that integrates people of different ethnic and religious groups in order to help foster mutual understanding and, in some small way, contribute to the Sri Lankan peace process.

After restoring and furnishing the buildings (roughly 15,000 sq. ft.), the former hotel was transformed into the "Grace Care Center," which – along with the “Grace Girls Home,” an orphanage for 100 girls on the property – opened its doors on August 31, 2002.

Grace Home was quickly filled to capacity and, though VeAhavta, each child in the orphanage became financially sponsored by families and individuals in the U.S.

Since its opening, the facilities at the Grace Care Center have been expanded to accommodate the following additional programs:

• Grace Daycare – Shortly after opening the Care Center, VeAhavta started a free daycare program providing services for children, ages 3-8, living in camps for IDPs ("Internally Displaced Persons") located adjacent to the property. VeAhavta now provides an average of 90 children per day with nutritious meals and educational opportunities and allows parents the time to earn an income or search for employment.

• Grace Vocational Training Center – On October 1, 2003, VeAhavta opened the Grace Vocational Training Center (VTC) at the Grace Care Center. Through the Grace VTC, VeAhavta can provide 90 needy students per year with free vocational training as a long-term solution to combating the devastating effects of regional poverty. On April 9, 2004, VeAhavta expanded the Grace VTC to offer additional courses, and on May 28, 2005, VeAhavta opened a dormitory for the Grace VTC so that students from outside the Trincomalee area could also benefit from the program.

• Grace Widows’ Empowerment Project – Widowed women in Sri Lanka lead particularly difficult and vulnerable lives so devastated by poverty, violence and cultural stigma that it is difficult for westerners to comprehend. Rape and other forms of violence and abuse are commonplace, and with children to care for and virtually no way to earn an income, these widows have little hope for the future. Through the "Grace Widows' Empowerment Project," VeAhavta is providing a ray of hope by empowering widows with the tools to become self-sufficient, including educational opportunities, grants and no-interest loans. Since the start of the program in early 2003, VeAhavta has helped over 320 needy widows break the cycle of poverty.

• Mercy Home/Mercy Clinic – In early 2003, VeAhavta began planning a new facility at the Grace Care Center to provide care for destitute senior citizens in the tradition exemplified by Mother Teresa of Calcutta (1910-1997). The dream became a reality on May 28, 2005, when Mercy Home opened its doors. Through Mercy Home, VeAhavta is providing free, full-time residential nursing home care for up to 82 destitute senior citizens – the abandoned of society from all ethnic groups, castes and religions who, if not cared for, would spend the end of their lives mired in loneliness, pain and sorrow.