In the December 2024 News Release, we announced our intention to issue a quarterly news release, starting 2025. The end of the first quarter has recently passed, so it is time to follow up on this intention. In this first News Release of 2025 you will read about:
- The grand party we were able to celebrate on 23rd March in connection with the 20th anniversary of Havonos;
- Father Ramesh's visit to Raalte (and the Netherlands);
- A report by Sister Sumithra who is in charge of Anna's Home;
- And this time, a short report on the projects.
We hope you enjoy reading!
The grandiose party we were able to celebrate on 23rd March in connection with the 20th anniversary of Havonos
Thanks to the great and selfless efforts of Ton Zwakenberg and his team of Bar-Brasserie and Zalencentrum Zwakenberg on the Schoolstraat in Raalte, as well as donors, volunteers and board members, we were able to celebrate a great party on 23rd March 2025.
Upon entering, everyone could enjoy genuine Sri Lankan tea and cake.
Henk de Weerd of Aspergebedrijf De Weerd and one of the co-founders of Havonos, opened the festive afternoon.
Our guest of honour father Ramesh, spoke about the Havonos projects and thanked everyone present for the continued support to his fellow countrymen, which enables him and his fellow priests to do their good work in our project area. Over 100 people enjoyed a delicious Sri Lankan dinner in a great festive atmosphere. Supermarkets in and around Raalte and shopkeepers from the Raalte community also generously contributed to the success of the party, so that the raffle table was filled with wonderful prizes. On seeing these prizes, the raffle tickets were sold in bulk. Everyone joined in to make it a wonderful party. We now know that the party raised the amazing sum of €3,572 for the Havonos projects.
Violins sales Soroptimists SallAnders for Anna’s Home
And if that was not enough, our president Sieni Schouten, together with project manager Mirjam van den Berg, received a cheque from Elise Venemans on behalf of the Soroptimists SallAnders. For the third year in a row, the Soroptimists campaigned for the Havonos project Anna's Home. Through the sale of violins, an astonishing sum of no less than €3,250 was raised for Anna's Home. Pleasantly surprised and grateful, the cheque was accepted.
Words are really not enough, so here are a few pictures to give you an idea of what the party was like.
The guests went home happy and satisfied, which added an extra crown to the event. An event to look back on for a long time to come.
Father Ramesh's visit to Raalte (and the Netherlands)
Our chair, Sieni Schouten, has been struggling with health problems for quite some time, so much so that the celebration of the 20th anniversary of Havonos was almost cancelled. It was Father Ramesh who kept insisting that the anniversary was a milestone that needed to be celebrated. Also the Havonos board members pressed on celebrating this anniversary. But the presence of Father Ramesh, with whom Sieni is contact several times a week about the projects, is highly desirable at the celebration of this anniversary. And we managed to do that! With our partner in the Netherlands, Wilde Ganzen, we were able to get Father Ramesh to the Netherlands in time. Wilde Ganzen is familiar with Father Ramesh and his work in the north of Sri Lanka and invited him to the Wilde Ganzendag at the beginning of April. Wilde Ganzen paid for Father Ramesh's travel in connection with this invitation, for which we are very grateful.
The visit to Wilde Ganzen was one of the highlights of Father Ramesh's visit to the Netherlands. He gave two presentations on Havonos and OMI's approach to Havonos-projects to an attentive and interested audience. Father Ramesh spoke about all the major projects, with particular interest in the activities of the Youth Empowerment Centre (YEC) and the women of Food Always In The Home (FAITH). Consequently, after the event, Father Ramesh and our chair Sieni were inundated with questions and requests for more information from other Wilde Ganzendag participants.
All in all, Father Ramesh stayed in the Netherlands for a few weeks
He attended the celebration on 23rd March, was interviewed by a journalist from a newspaper (24 March 2025), attended the Wilde Ganzen dag and other events organised by Wilde Ganzen, and in between got to know the Netherlands by visiting local and regional businesses. As OMI also runs agricultural projects, Father Ramesh is interested in how we deal with agriculture in the Netherlands, such as at Aspergebedrijf De Weerd and the cow farm of Erik, de Knapenvelder.
At the time of writing, Father Ramesh has returned to Sri Lanka. We thank him for his visit and wish him a successful continuation of the projects on returning home.
And this time a short report on the projects
During the 20th anniversary celebrations of Havonos, Father Ramesh reported on the hopeful progress of the projects co-founded by Havonos and Wilde Ganzen. For example, he told us that the number of young people attending the Youth Empowerment Centre (YEC) is growing steadily and that the learning/working farm is in full operation. He drew particular attention to the FAITH (Food Always In The Home) project, which he has developed and which now involves over 900 women in groups of 20. Most of the groups focus on growing vegetables and spices from which they cook a nutritious meal once a week. This feeds themselves, as well as the sick and elderly in their community. Alongside these groups, there are also groups that focus on sewing and weaving Palmyra palm leaves. When asked, Father Ramesh explained that part of the reason for FAITH's rapid growth is that when a group runs well for a while, it is split into two groups of 10 women, and then each group tries to recruit new women until the groups have 20 women again. The women also do community work together, for which they are paid. Some of this money goes to the women who look after the children while they work, and some goes into a pot that is used to give microcredits to women who have the ambition to grow in their work.
Read the report of Sister Sumithra of Anna’s Home. Click here
All in all, we can say that the Havonos projects are doing very well. Soon, chairman Sieni and secretary Alinda hope to visit the projects in Sri Lanka together again. You will undoubtedly read more about this in the news item that will appear at the end of June.
With the above beautiful and hopeful message, we conclude this news item. Thank you very much for your attention and interest.
We look forward to seeing you in our next news item.