Christ Church Parish Priest Father Neil Fernando is organising a mission trip to Sri Lanka in June through the church’s not for profit outreach mission called “We Care”.
Fr Neil is planning to support the children, unemployed women and the poor during the trip.
Through generous donations, We Care has provided educational resources such as bags, books and stationery, along with clothing and nutrition and skills development for employment and self-sufficiency to youth and children living in poverty in Africa and Sri Lanka.
We Care has also helped locally, partnering with AnglicareSA, to distribute items in Adelaide to Indian, Nepalese and Sri Lankan families and international students in need.
Fr Neil said the country was in a difficult situation due to inflation, meaning individuals may only have one or two meals a day.
“Last time a group of people went with me on the tour, and anyone is welcome this time,” he said.
“Last time we took 200 school backpacks and distributed them among the needy children.
“We also distributed heaps of winter clothing to the tea pickers in the highlands.
“We bought some sewing machines and trained a few unemployed women – today they make a living out of that.”
We Care started a sewing project in 2020 to support unemployed women and after proper training in sewing they provided sewing machines which created a small garment factory.
We Care volunteers will again visit the women on this year’s mission to listen to their stories and provide a couple of machines to give more opportunities.
As part of the 2023 Sri Lankan tour, We Care mission is planning to take about 200 backpacks filled with winter clothing and stationery.
They aim to meet children at the beach and distribute some school backpacks and food, allowing the children to perform activities and interact with the mission staff.
When they reach the highlands with the cool climates, the team will meet the tea pickers and distribute the winter clothing.
Volunteers are encouraged to take nearly new clothing particularly for infants, children and the aged.
There will also be a program at a rural village school for mission staff to share their resources and volunteers will establish an ongoing nourishment program as the children are malnourished and live in abject poverty on two meals a day.
There are multiple options available for the mission trip, for more information please contact Fr Neil via email frneildo@gmail.com or phone 0478 085 894.
