This is the Havonos second news release of 2025. The first half of the year has already passed. We hope you are enjoying a wonderful summer, relaxing and taking in what we have to share with you. In this news item, you will read about:
- Chairman Sieni and board member Alinda visiting Havonos projects during their holiday in May 2025;
- The latest project made possible by the sponsor dinner celebrating the Havonos 20th anniversary;
- De opening van het nieuwe waslokaal
- New project wishes Sieni and Alinda brought back from their visit to Sri Lanka
- A new report by Sister Sumithra on Anna's Home;
- Call to action: Good ideas regarding Havonos!
Once again, we hope you enjoy reading!
Chairman Sieni and board member Alinda visiting Havonos projects during their holiday in May 2025
It is exciting every year: will Chairman Sieni manage to go to Sri Lanka despite her physical limitations? Fortunately, the answer was 'yes' again this year. Board member Alinda went with her to assist her on several fronts. Sieni thrives on the warmth, environment and people of Sri Lanka. She therefore returned feeling enthusiastic and as relaxed as possible. What contributes to this?
Experiencing the projects
Sieni and Alinda visited many projects. Unfortunately, they could not visit them all because of the bad roads and the strain this put on Sieni. The projects were presented as running very well. The people who benefit from the projects were mostly present, showing their gratitude and enthusiasm. The Youth Empowerment Centre (YEC) organised an exhibition to showcase what they had learned. Sieni and Alinda were filled with admiration at the quality of the work on display, including products such as Ari-work and Sari sewing items and beautifully made cakes. Sieni was asked to officially open the exhibition and present the coveted diplomas at both the YEC and the OBTEC (Oblate Technical Centre). It was a touching moment; most of the recipients had never obtained a diploma before.
Official recognition:
In recognition of all their efforts, Sieni and Alinda received a Golden Garment as a tribute, a kind of cloth of honour, a sign of 'exceptional achievements'. You can read more about Sieni and Alinda's journey in the latter's travelogue, which you can access via this link. You can read more about Sieni and Alinda's journey in the latter's travelogue, which you can access via this link
The latest project made possible by the sponsor dinner celebrating the HAVONOS 20th anniversary
As mentioned in our previous news item, the sponsorship dinner held on 23 March raised an impressive €3,572. We would like to thank you and all those who contributed to this wonderful sum. It soon became clear what we wanted to do with the money. Father Ramesh had long wanted to help deaf, deaf-mute and amputee people in his community. It pained him to see how these people were excluded from society, and how they were sometimes blatantly bullied and humiliated by their own community. When Wilde Ganzen heard about our intention to support this group, they decided to make a substantial contribution. This meant that an impressive €6,000 became available for the project!
Father Ramesh can achieve a great deal with this money, especially as there are other people in his area who care about the target group's fate. For instance, concerned teachers have volunteered for the project.
What is this project about? Ultimately, the project aims to empower the target group and make them self-reliant, enabling them to generate an income independently and become full members of society. This involves training them in suitable trades, such as sewing and sari work, as well as carpentry and engineering. Many of them also learn sign language to enable them to communicate with each other and with family members.
Although sign language is officially recognized, few people in the north master it, which also leads to exclusion from the community.
In May, Sieni and Alinda visited the project and donated locally purchased sewing machines. Impressed by the people's drive and gratitude, they then returned to the Netherlands. Sieni told the board that some of the project participants had been moved to tears. For the first time, they experienced genuine compassion and commitment to their situation.
New project wishes Sieni and Alinda brought back from their visit to Sri Lanka:
It's not the first time. During her visits to the projects, Sieni sees how wonderfully they are run, but also where things could be improved. So, once again, Sieni and Alinda have brought wishes from Sri Lanka back to the Netherlands. These are real wishes we would like to work towards. Among those wishes, we mention:
At the YEC, expansion with a classroom and a wash/changing room. The purchase of air conditioning and fans, as it is extremely hot due to the flat roof. The flat roof causes leaks during the wet season. The cause now needs to be addressed. Finally, the YEC needs new furniture as the centre currently attracts so many young people, that there is no decent sitting/working area. The girls need cupboard space where at the end of the day they can store their workpieces, among other things.
Around the learning/working farm in Iyakachchi the construction of a stone wall and motion detectors. The current fence has been destroyed several times, resulting in a lot of theft (chickens, turkeys, etc.). The stones will now be made on the farm itself; A water filter for pure water and also furniture is needed at the pre-school; For the FAITH project (Food Always In The House): washing facilities and clean drinking water.
A new group of women has recently started under the FAITH banner. In particular, they want to make chilli powder and rice flour. This requires materials, for which Havonos has been called upon.
New report from Sister Sumithra on Anna's Home
Sister Sumithra, who is in charge of the home, sent her quarterly report to Mirjam van den Berg, Havonos contact person for the project. Read the full report by Sister Sumithra here.
Call: would you like to think with us?
Since Havonos was founded in 2005, the proceeds from supermarket packaging (i.e. deposit receipts) have been our main source of income. You can find our buses all over the country, from Limburg to Groningen and Friesland, and from the west coast to Twente. Now, 20 years after its establishment, many charities have discovered this source of income. This means we are no longer allowed to stand by a supermarket's packaging for one or more years as we sometimes used to. Nowadays we are happy with one month a year. Furthermore, many supermarkets more recently only support local charities, and some supermarket chains refrain from supporting charities altogether. In short, raising funds to make our projects possible is an increasingly challenging task.
Therefore, this appeal:
Do you know of any charitable organisations or similar bodies that we could submit a concrete application to? We are not talking about large sums of money. Since we only work with volunteers both in the Netherlands and in Sri Lanka, no money is lost to overheads. With a few hundred euros, we can make a big difference.
Suggestions for instance could include staff associations that spend part of their income on charities, sports associations that organise charity events, and schools willing to take action on our behalf.
Please contact Sieni Schouten (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.) or Els Holland (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.) member of the Havonos board, with your suggestions.
That's all for this news report. We hope you enjoyed reading it. We also appreciate your response. If we were to conclude, it would be as follows:
Overall, we can say that the Havonos projects are doing very well. The new project targeting deaf and disabled people has been well received locally. There will always be wishes. We carefully consider the usefulness and necessity of each request. Thanks to our long-standing cooperation with OMI, we can be confident that we are only presented with meaningful projects, which gives us peace of mind.
With this positive message, we conclude this news item. Thank you very much for your attention and interest. We hope to see you at our autumn 2025 news release, but first enjoy the summer!
Kind regards,
The Havonos board