My presentation is about the foundation "Van Hand tot Hand". A foundation is a group of people who want to do something together, for example make music, play soccer together or do something for poor people in distant countries. This last example is what the foundation "Van Hand tot Hand" is doing.
In Sri Lanka, which is an island 13 hours away from the Netherlands by plane, a lot of poor people live in cabins made of clay and straw. The children of these people can’t go to school because the parents can’t pay for the books and school uniforms. About 13 years ago a teacher from Tilburg went on holiday in that country and he was shocked that there was still so much poverty. He then founded the foundation "Van Hand tot Hand" together with some other people. Because he was a teacher it was important to him that as many children as possible would be able to go to school.
He wrote a letter to a lot of people to ask them for money to help these children. A lot of people give money every year now to make it possible for a child to go to school. This is done by almost 200 people now. A few years ago something tragic happened. There was a big flood in that country (tsunami) and a lot of people died. Also a lot of daddy's and moms and the children stayed behind alone. A lot of these children went to a children's home. The foundation wanted to do something for these children.
The children's homes are also very poor and the children often don't have a bed to sleep in. They are sleeping on a mat on the ground. Good dormitory's were built in two of these children's homes and the foundation also bought a bed and a mattress for all the children. They also got a small case to put their stuff in. 50 children will sleep in one dormitory. They don't have their own room. More people give money now so they are able to do more and more. The children who can go to school now live in small villages in very bad houses most of the time, often without water and electricity. The children often have to make their homework by the light of a few candles, because in that country it is dark by seven o'clock in the evening.
The foundation also helps these villages to place waterworks and electricity. They buy the materials and the people dig the drains to put pipes in themselves. They don't mind to work because they know that they will have water in their house. They don't have to go to the well anymore to get water with buckets. Sometimes people have to walk for three kilometres to get water. The foundation will take care of building a well in the village so people don't have to walk so far anymore. Sometimes people go on holiday to Sri Lanka to visit their sponsor child. They are so shocked then by the poor houses that people live in that they ask the foundation to build a new house for these people. They will ask family and friends for money. They give this money to the foundation who will take care of building a new house with this money. This is not so expensive in that country. You can build 25 houses over there with the money you need for one house in the Netherlands. The daddy of my friend Willem also helps a child in that country. Her name is Shama Perera and she is 13 years old. She also has a little brother and her mother is blind. Shama has to take care of everything at home, making dinner, take care of her mother and little brother. The father is not around anymore.
Her mother couldn't go anywhere because she has to pass a broad ditch if she walks from her house to the village and that is much to dangerous. The foundation took care of building a bridge across the ditch so the mother is able to go to the village with her children. Before that time she would sit and wait in her house for the children to come home from school. I will show you a picture from the bridge later on.
For all this work the foundation obviously needs a lot of money. How do they get this money? I already told that a lot of people give money to help a child every year. Schools also organize something to gain money, for example a sponsor walk or an empty bottle action or a service for odd-jobs. Also companies and firms give money. Last month there was a couple who had been married for 50 years. They didn't want presents but asked for money for the foundation. The foundation got an envelop from these people which contained more than 1000 euros. It's not always that much money that people can give, but also a little bit of money will help.
Now I will show you a few pictures and then my presentation is over.
