For homeless children in Kandy, Sri Lanka’s second largest city, life is one serious risk after another. “Many live and work on the streets,” says NGO Child Action Lanka (CAL). “Hunger, neglect, lack of education, exploitation and abuse are just a few of the countless challenges they face every day.” Most will grow up trapped in the poverty cycle, and work on the streets as their parents have done. 

CAL runs centres that want to break that cycle by reaching into the lives of street children with love and support, giving them education, food and holistic support. When the children are in such safe hands, their parents can focus their time and energy on working hard to support the family. Throughout this year, as the pandemic spread in Sri Lanka, these centres have sometimes been forced to close. The poorest families they serve, though, still needed urgent help. 

When hundreds of face masks were offered on our Global Hand website, Child Action Lanka were excited to receive some of them. They wrote, “Masks have been essential in supporting some of the neediest families, like when providing emergency food packages.” It was indeed a welcome donation at a time when charities are battling chronically low funding and access to resources.