On average over the past five years, we have sponsored 8 girls per year in Sri Lanka.

The following story is from one of our beneficiaries, highlighting her ambition and the obstacles that prevented her from completing secondary school before she was sponsored.

To protect her identity, the name of the girl has been changed.

Nehara’s Story

“I live in marsh land and twice a year we face flood water which flows through our house and causes damage. We get free medicine from the government because most of the children get sick from the flood”

Nehara is always a top five student in all of her subjects because she understands that education is the only way to ease her mother’s burden. When she was 10 years old, her family sold everything to pay for her father’s medical treatment. Despite a successful operation and three subsequent years in hospital, he still died from a brain tumour, leaving the family destitute. Her mother became the sole breadwinner who suffered a lot of hardship in order to provide food and education for her daughter and son. Nehara’s brother no longer attends school due to lack of funds, so the only hope for the family rests on Nehara’s shoulders. The CGEF wanted to see this bright, compassionate girl succeed and looks forward to seeing how she progresses over the next four years of secondary school.

“I want to look after my loving mother. She is having a very difficult time, doing so much to ensure my success. I want to make her proud and give her all of the happiness in the world. To do it, I need to have a good education”.