I begin with the Name of Allah, the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful!

AL-MUSLIMAATH

Association of Sri Lankan Muslim Women and Girls

14A, Campbell Place, Dehiwela, Sri Lanka

Telephone: +94-1-729653- E-Mail: almuslim@telenett.net

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2003 Events | Previous Projects | Tsunami Rehabilitation | Qurbani 2006

REHABILITATION OF ORPHANS AND WIDOWS

AFFECTED BY THE TSUNAMI DISASTER 

PROJECT FOR RELIEF WORK 9.0 TSUNAMI  SRI LANKA 

Introduction 

Organizational Profile:

Name of the Organization:  Al Muslimaath, Address:  20, Initium Road, Dehiwela, Sri Lanka

Contact Person:  Dr. (Mrs.) Reffai, Coordinator , Al Muslimaath, Phone Number: 011-94-777707775, 0112 726392/2727507 (Office)

Email: reffai@telenett.net

4.   Nature of Registration:  Charitable and Developmental Organization Approved by an Act of Parliament

5.   Geographical Coverage:  All over Sri Lanka

6.   Networking: Working with over 44 organizations , and Connected to around 1,800 mosques all over Sri Lanka.

7.   Previous/Current Partners/Donors: One Ummah Foundation USA and  Hidhaya Foundation, USA, SLMQ, Qatar

8.   Banking Information:

For local Remittance:

Account : Almuslimaath,

Account number: 0090503472

Name of the Bank:  Hatton National Bank, 100, 102, Galle Road, Colombo 06, Sri Lanka.

 

ALL FOREIGN REMITTANCES, FOR TSUNAMI RELIEF OR OTHERWISE, TO BE SENT TO:
The Bank Account : Almuslimaath Post Tsunami Remittance
Account  Number: 0090649973
Hatton National Bank, 100, 102 Galle Road, Wellawatte, Colombo 6, Sri Lanka.

The wire transfer instruction is through Dutch Bankers Trust Co., New York, to Hatton National Bank Head Office.  The Swift Code is HBLILKLX. 

 

 

REHABILITATION OF ORPHANS AND WIDOWS AFFECTED BY THE TSUNAMI DISASTER 

 

INTRODUCTION

 

The tsunami which affected the Asian region on the 26^th of December 2004 brought about tragedy and misery to  many a close knit families living in the coastal belt of Sri Lanka.  One third of those affected were children.  Many children died, and  many more were left parentless, one or both,  and homeless.  Through   information gathered from the affected areas at present, it is estimated that around 5,000 children appear to be orphaned.   Most of the orphaned children are in various refugee camps, churches, temples and temporary shelters or  with the relatives.

 

Unless a careful plan is made for these orphans they will end up as beggars, servants or victims of child abuse. It is essential a plan is set up to place them in the society, nurture and educate them in order to make them grow into self respecting, responsible citizens.

 

Al-Muslimaath

 

Al-Muslimaath is an organization that commenced its operations in the field of Islamic education, charity and development in 1989; in 1997 Al-Muslimaath was approved by an Act of Parliament as a charitable and developmental organization. At the moment  we are involved in Health, Education, Water supply, Environment, Vocational training and Publishing.

 

At the beginning we drew our resources through individual and member contributions and widened this to include assistance from our donors  in the USA, UK, Europe, Australia and the Middle East.

 

We have heard about discriminations based on the ethnicity and have joined with other organizations and  formed a stronger group consisting of most existing Muslim organizations  namely CCRR, Coordination Center for Relief and Rehabilitation.

 

Al-Muslimaath looks at this disaster in terms of immediate, medium and long-term perspective. 

 

As immediate measure Al-Muslimaath has been concentrating on providing support for network members to fulfill the immediate needs of the affected people, mainly supplying food, clothes,  medicines, arranging medical personnel, supplying water, sanitary items etc.

Now we are concerned with medium term goals which place great importance to rehabilitation of orphans. Our organization has well planned this operation

 

The Approach

A Five phased action plan has been set up to safe guard these innocent children and at the same time have included  plans to resettle the widows too.

Phase I: Identification of Orphans and Verification in order to place them with their own parents

A data proper collection is being initiated to document immediate identification of Muslim children placed in refugee camps, temples and churches or with their relatives by photographing and documenting whatever available details.  These photographs are being  circulated  in mosques and other public places to be identified by next of kin of these children.  

Phase 2: Placing them with Relatives  

Maximum efforts are to be made as much as possible to reconcile parents with the children. For the children who have lost their father/ parents we are working on a project to place them with their immediate relatives, while sourcing  sponsors to provide the requisitions of  the children. In cases where a child has no relatives at all,  the pictures will be placed in the newspapers to be  identified by any next of kin living far.

The relatives will be helped to bring the children up through a network of Almuslimaath members who will visit them frequently and follow up the child’s educational, moral and religious growth.

Regular reports will be obtained form the relatives, the school to find out the progress.

Meanwhile the situation of the relative also will be taken into account and necessary help will be given to them, since most of them too have been affected by tsunami and it will not be feasible to help an orphan in their household if their own children are suffering.   

Phase 3: Homes for Mothers with orphans 

The best option, we feel is not to displace the children from their mothers. Therefore we have a novel idea where the children will grow up with the mothers in a home, comprising of many such families, until such time the mothers become self sufficient.

The plan, InshaAllah! is as follows:

1. Many mothers with children of 12 years or less, will be placed in a home.

2. These homes should be equipped   with facilities  in such a way each mother will have a room for herself so that  she will have some privacy with her children.

3. The home will have common toilets, play area, dining area and study area for the children.

4. The mothers will have an option of cooking separately or together.

5. The children will be enrolled in local government schools

6. The children will be brought up with good Islamic moral values and excellent manners, through classes conducted by the volunteers of Almuslimaath

7. The mothers will be motivated to marry again They also will be learning  a vocational skill in order to sustain themselves and the family. The assistance of the Vocational Training Authority of the Vocational Training Department of the Government will be sought to achieve this.

8. Assistance will be given to the families through  monetary help either from the organization or  the governmental assistance.

9. At  the same time efforts will be made to  get the mothers re-married. The marriage bureau of Almuslimaath will help in this. 

10. If not by the end of one year they will be resettled in individual homes with  means to self sustain using the skills they leant during their stay in these homes. 

 It is envisaged that, ater, once all the widows are settled this building can be converted into a community center or a school. 

Phase 4: Placing them in the orphanages  

We are not very keen on establishing orphanages for two reasons:

1. This is not the best Islamically approved mode of looking after the orphans.
2. Even in most of the existing orphanages, with the best of intentions, we find the environment is not conducive for the children to grow with love and care.

However in our attempts to place the children with possible relatives, we have found that after two months, the tsunami victims are no more welcome at many of their relations’ homes, due to the problems of restricted space and lack of privacy both for the host and the visitor.  Since we are left with large number of orphans, we have looked at the possibility of leaving the children at one reputed orphanage that provides a cordial reliable atmosphere and good Islamic education.

Phase 5: Giving them for adoption:  

The request for adoption by outsiders is also looked at with great care since often in Srilanka these children end up as glorified servants or are not told they are adopted and face severe mental trauma in later years. Unless we are certain of  the sincerity and Islamic adherence of the adopting parents we will not assist them is adoption; and that too,  if at all, will be done only  through the  legal channels of the government.  

The project 

Background

The Muslim children, who may have been left as orphans by the deadly disaster need assistance till they can stand on their own.  Many Christian NGOs and non-Muslim families are volunteering to adopt these children. This will lead to a generation of Muslim children being absorbed into an alien religion, culture and lifestyle.    Furthermore there are alarming reports to say that some of these children have been victims of sexual abuse, being sold for organs or being employed as servants. Placing them with their relatives and funding these children will give them protection and the best chance of growing up normally. 

The scope of the project 

To provide sponsorship to 5,000 children who will be placed with their relatives. They will be provided with the basic needs, such as food clothing  educational facilities and religious education  and also the family which is looking after  will be helped in case they need assistance. The children will be looked after by the local Almuslimaath members who are in the vicinity or will travel to he areas and these officers will be trained in checking the details of the child at frequent intervals. The report of the child, educationally and otherwise will be on record for the donor to peruse them if necessary.

It is intended to look after the children till they pass at least the O/L  exam and even in the university till they obtain a job. Since looking after orphans has been  an on going project at Almuslimaath even before the tsunami disaster, this will be an extension of the existing project on  longer term and on a  larger scale.  

Method:

At present the orphans are being identified and photographed and detail information is being collected with the help of Srilanka Jamaathe islamiy and MFCD. As the requests come from possible donors the children will be allocated to the donors avoiding duplication.

Donors may pledge for one year or more for one or more children.  

COSTING:

Phase I: Identification of Orphans and Verification 

a) Data collection :

Equipment  and stationery                                    Rs.1,00,000

Cost  of food and lodging  for the data collectors    Rs. 1,00,000

TOTAL                                                                 Rs. 2,00,000

b)Photographing and advertising cost:

Cameras                                                             Rs. 100,000

Film rolls                                                            Rs. 100,000

Advertising cost                                                 Rs. 100,000

TOTAL                                                               Rs.  300,000                                     

Grand Total                                                      Rs. 500,000 = USD 5,000 (approx)

Phase 2: Placing them with Relatives  

Cost of maintaining  the   children:  

		USD/month	USD/year	Rs./Month	Rs. /Year
1	Cost/ child	25	300	2500	30,000
2	For 1000 children	25000	3,00,000	12500000	1500,00,000

 Note: 1 USD = about Rs.  100

 Phase 3: Homes for Mothers with orphans 

The houses can be either built or purchased.

1.Temporary measure

To buy an existing house and house 6 families as a pilot project, until the houses are built.

The cost per house: 

House                                                  Rs.5,000,000

Cost of furniture                                   Rs. 200,000

Cost of maintenance  30x12x2000          Rs. 720,000

Incidental expenditure                           Rs.   80,000

Total                                                    Rs.  6,000,000

2.  Permanent Houses

Location	Approximate Cost (land  and building)
1.  Colombo	Rs. 25,000,000
2.  Galle	Rs. 25,000,000
3.   Batticoloa	Rs. 20,000,000
4.  Ampara	Rs. 20,000,000
5.  Trincomalee	Rs. 20,000,000
Total	Rs.110,000,000

Furniture                             Rs. 5000,000 x5      = Rs.25,000,000

Equipment                          Rs. 10,000,000 x5    = Rs. 50,000,000

TOTAL                                                                 Rs.185,000,000 

GRAND TOTAL FOR  HOMES                                  Rs.188,500.000 = USD 1,885,000 (approx) 

Phase 4

The cost per child is: 

Admission fee                                 Rs. 8000

Monthly Fee 3000x12                       Rs. 36,000

     Total                                               Rs 44,000 = USD440 per child per year 

Phase  5    

Not estimated at this oint of time since it is the last option.  

Conclusion

We believe that  providing their needs while they live in the same place where they belong to, will best allow the children to get back to their normal life sooner.

Whatever said and done the best for a child is to be with his/ her mother and it is the best option for the mothers too.

 We appeal to the Muslim ummah to act now to safeguard our precious children, who are our future generation, from being abused or being neglected in any way  and gain merit  in your  dunya and aakhiraah.  All brothers and sisters who are able to help us in any form are invited to join the Almuslimaath in achieving this noble goal.

 

Prepared and submitted by :Dr. Mareena Thaha Reffai,

Project Coordinator/ Almuslimaath

 

 

 

 

 

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