Working with Special Needs and Disabled Beneficiaries

At the Foundation of Goodness, one of our overarching goals has always been to bring resources to communities that do not have easy access to such opportunities, and while our main focus on bridging the gap between the urban and rural communities means we work predominantly with beneficiaries battling to overcome poverty, we also strive to work with other marginalized groups who find it more difficult than most to access a better standard of life, such as the disabled and special- needs communities in Sri Lanka.

In recent years, several opportunities have come our way to deliver services to these groups. The Foundation of Goodness provides support to the Navodaya Centre for Special Children every month in collaboration with our trustee Muthiah Muralidaran, and also maintains a close relationship with the Methsewa Foundation in Moneragala- a home for special needs children.

Over the past month, Barbara Dietrich from Germany who has been working with children who have special needs has been visiting the Foundation of Goodness to conduct a variety of programmes for these kids. She has weekly physiotherapy programmes which take place at the FoG medical centre giving differently abled children specialized care which they will find hard to access in rural Sri Lanka. Barbara, together with our Sports Academy coaches, also conducts special swim sessions (at the kiddies’ pool) and cricket coaching programmes to help the kids improve their mobility, coordination, motor skills and get moving while also having fun.

The needs of these children are often overlooked due to a lack of specialized and skilled professionals to provide the right guidance or simply neglected by overwhelmed parents who do not know how to provide proper care. As such, giving free access to these resources help to greatly improve the quality of life experience by these children.

The sports academy has also made its facilities available to disabled beneficiaries, to assist in their recuperation process. The pool is used by many of these beneficiaries to aid in their rehabilitation as overseen by their physiotherapists.

In a bid to get them more active and improve their mobility and fitness we have also introduced table tennis sessions for the same beneficiaries, so that they can have fun while also learning balance and coordination after the loss of limbs.

We feel lucky to be able to make a positive impact in the lives of these villagers and hope that participating in these activities will help them experience a fuller life.

02nd February 2017