I sponsor a child in rural Sri Lanka through the International Foster Parents Plan — a global organization founded more than 70 years ago. I have been a sponsor of kids through the Plan since 1979. A sponsor selects from the Plan’s list of 25 countries and the organization assigns a child for sponsorship. The idea is to pay a monthly fee (about $30) to help the child remain in school, get regular health checkups, support his/her community projects, etc. until the child reaches 18 years old. So, I have sponsored kids in Columbia and Zimbabwe in the past. When my last foster child unexpectedly died at age 11 in Zimbabwe, I had the chance to select a country from my bucket list: Sri Lanka. And, in January, 2017 I was able to talk my traveling companions into accompanying me to Sri Lanka to visit my newest one in a farming community in the North Central region (about an hour north of Anuradhapura). [I visited again in January, 2019]

All donors can meet the children they sponsor. But, they have rules you must follow. The organization does not want you to independently visit your foster child. You must be careful not to divulge the exact location of your child or publish photos of him or her — there is the fear of exploitation. In our case, Plan staff provided a chaperone/guide/liaison/interpreter, Badra, and picked us (incl. William and Keith) up at our guesthouse in Anuradhapura and drove us to the rural home of my sponsored girl where we met her and her extended family. We visited her school where the children were expecting us and welcomed us. The school principal introduced us to the teachers, toured the school grounds and reviewed the additions the Plan organization (through Plan donors) had provided the school: a playground set, bathrooms and washing facilities.

William & Keith with the school teachers and principal (middle)

We had a nice lunch in the family’s home, and got to spend time with my foster child, her mom and dad, her sister and cousins. The child’s uncle is an English language tutor which was very handy since everyone in the family speaks Sinhalese — most of the teachers, the principal and Badra spoke good English.

Lunch table with local region’s Plan coordinator, our chaperone Badra, me, Keith & William

We were told of an interesting archaeological site 1 km from the family’s home and the child’s father took us to the site — he said that when he was a young boy, growing up in the same farmhouse in which he continues to live, the site was completely overrun by the jungle. During the intervening years archaeologists excavated the remains to include it in the list of ancient religious sites. We visited many ancient archaeological sites in Sri Lanka but this one was noteworthy because of its obscurity — it is hardly mentioned in the long list of historical sites in Sri Lanka. The picture below is the remains of the main temple built between the 3rd – 1st century BC with a gigantic, square monolithic stone slab, which takes up almost half of the space — the object is called an asana, a throne symbolic of Buddha’s spiritual rule built before they got the idea to create statue likenesses of the Buddha.

Temple ruins 1km from foster child’s home

My visit with my foster child was a very rewarding and emotional experience. William and Keith were both impressed with the treatment the community is receiving as a result of the financial contributions made by sponsors like me. One thing we had decided to do was fund the construction of a classroom at the little school. Currently parents of the school’s children are working on the construction of the new classroom — we witnessed 2 or 3 parents mortaring a brick wall — the building needs more than walls. It needs a floor, electrical, ventilation and sound proofing — the principal gave us an estimate of $1050 to professionally complete the project. Upon my return home I setup a GoFundMe fundraiser and within one week my cyber friends and extended family completely funded the project. Construction began on April 27, 2017.