Kirby's Warehouse vision

Hemantha Dep

The satisfaction one gains by engaging in social services is immense. It is indeed a pleasure to reach out to the needy. As the founder of the Warehouse Project Kirby de Lanerolle says one need not necessarily be a politician to help the downtrodden people.

Lanerolle is a well known social worker who is always in the forefront in helping and assisting the needy people. The architect of the Warehouse project, Lanerolle is a prominent social worker and a consultant.

He has taken the leadership in uplifting the standard of education among the children of poverty stricken families. The Architect of the Sri Naradhe Foundation, Ven Kollonawe Narada Thera is also actively involved in this noble venture which renders an enormous service to the society.

Creative programmes have been already launched under this project to serve the poverty stricken people throughout the year. A new educational programme is in progress at the Auditorium of the Warehouse Project which consists of both knowledge and recreation.

While education is provided under this project to the children of homeless families, the elders are provided with nutritious meals for breakfast and lunch.

The objective

The objective of this project is to provide knowledge in the fields of IT, English, Mathematics and Science while providing facilities for extra curricular activities.

Furthermore, these children are offered scholarships annually and facilities are also provided to enhance their dancing, singing and other skills in performing arts.

Yet another Meritorious act is to conduct clinics for ailing adults and provide them with spectacles.

Meanwhile, various Leadership and Psychological Programmes are being conducted for the benefit of the public servants as well. Action has also been taken to facilitate the poverty stricken families to engage in self employment.

Both Lanerolle and Ven Kollannawe Naradha Thera are exemplary characters who firmly believe that the utmost duty of human beings is to serve mankind.

Exploring new avenues

The architect of the Warehouse Project further emphasised that "We should always do whatever possible to help others. We provide a nutritious breakfast and lunch daily to the members of the poor families. Educational facilities are also provided free of charge to school leavers."

They do not want poverty to hinder the path of children who are blessed with many talents. "Such children usually do not get the chance to explore new avenues open to others, such as Information Technology and leadership opportunities."

"This should not happen in any society. If so we should always commit ourselves to help them to get over this backwardness."

"We who value inherent indigenous talents cannot simply ignore this precarious situation. The children of well- to- do families get opportunities to pursue education and acquire knowledge in specialised fields to keep abreast with the latest developments.

Opening up avenues

As they said they have already taken steps to promote the sports skills, IT, English and know - how in various other fields free of charge. "We have deployed a team consisting of students of prominent International schools to impart knowledge to these less fortunate children.

A programme is underway to promote their dancing, drama and aesthetic skills to international standards. Furthermore, we have introduced a programme to impart vocational training to these children in order to open up avenues of employment. Coffee shop, hair styling programmes have been already implemented."

Several programmes have been launched to provide medical services, legal advice and leadership training to the needy people.

As Lanerolle emphasised the temple, police, Grama Sevaka, religious dignities etc. have always assisted him in making his endeavour a success. "Among them the Sri Narada.

Foundation stands out. A special mention has to be made regarding the yeoman services rendered by Ven Narada Thera.

Serving the poor

Expressing his views Ven Narada Thera said that the dedication of those involved in the project was the key factor which made it possible to successfully serve the poor. "First I taught Sinhala and Buddhism to these poor children. The appointment given to me by the Ministry of Buddhist Affairs was an incentive for me to go ahead with these programmes effectively."

The environment has been already created for the poor families to setup self employment projects. Some are already engaged in successful self employment projects.

"The genuine views exchanged between the architect of the Warehouse Project and myself assisted in providing a range of social services. We serve all without any discrepancy. We serve both the elders and the children. It is not necessary to have a boss to launch a programme of this nature. What is required is leadership." We impart Leadership Training to the beneficiary children as well. We conduct an Art competition annually. There is a strong team to assist us to proceed forward. All of them are voluntary workers.

"We kindly solicit the entire society to join hands with us to render services to the young and old people of poor families and to make this noble venture a success" said Narada Thera further.