How our Sponsor Program Works

Mahalir Illam works only with registered charitable institutions in Sri Lanka, approved by the Government of Sri Lanka. The Institution should have homes where the children (many being orphans or semi-orphans) have the basic essentials such as; food, clothing, shelter, and education. The Institutions provide profiles of the children. The profile outlines information such as; Full name, Date of Birth and a brief family history of the children available for sponsorship.

Upon receipt of a request for Child Sponsorship, the profile of a child is matched and sponsorship agreed upon. The sponsor then commences remitting the sponsorship fee.

The Institution in Sri Lanka serves as a link between the sponsor and their sponsored child. Mahalir Illam maintains the communication link between sponsors and children via those Institutions and use the sponsor’s funds directly and exclusively towards the welfare of the child.

Your sponsorship contributions are not given directly to a child. Instead, your contributions are pooled with those of other sponsors and we make a quarterly remittance to Institutions in Sri Lanka that care for the sponsored children.

Sponsors could communicate with their child in the form of email, letters, photos, gifts, and share whatever else between them. In addition, sponsors can also provide funds for child's futures welfare by depositing money (via the Institution) in the child’s individual bank account. This program is called Sisu Udana.

Most importantly, the children are grateful for the sponsorship and view their sponsor as someone who cares about them personally and individually.

Our child sponsorship program started with $40 per month per child. In view of additional cost incurred to run the after hour’s educational program at the Girls’ Home, most of the donors increased their donation to $50 per month to cover both child sponsorship and after hour’s education respectively. From year 2018, we secured the services of five teachers – three for mathematics, two for science and one for English to address the needs of the children. As supportive teaching tool, the teachers use video technology to deliver lessons in Mathematics and Science distributed by Jaffna University Graduate Association, Melbourne, Australia (JUGA) for students enrolled for Year 9 and GCE O’level.

The sponsorship provides children with the basic essentials such as; food and shelter. The cost covers for the day to day running of the children’s Institution. Having access to the essentials gives the children the opportunity to finish school, gain the skills required to go into the workforce and start a family.

If your circumstances change, you can discontinue your child sponsorship at any time.

In the event - if a member notifies Mahalir Illam of withdrawing the sponsorship or should any member's sponsorship end for any other reason, we will continue to support the child until we find another sponsor.

If and when any sponsored child leaves home and our program, Mahalirillam provides the prospective member either with the particulars of another child to continue with the sponsorship or consider funding student/s waiting to pursue higher education.

If any child ultimately qualifies to gain admission to higher learning centres, Mahalir Illam will seek the endorsement of the sponsor in using sponsorship money for boarding and tuition fees in these institutions. Our new scholarship program implemented from last year (2018) supports young disadvantaged adults to pursue higher education. Poverty tests were used to identify academically able students for the award of $40/month scholarship to support their tuition fees and living expenses for higher studies. The test is designed to rank applicants by differentiating students based on poverty and performance for scholarship merits

When a child finds out she/he has been sponsored, the joy it brings to her/him is indescribable. Just knowing that someone far away from her home cares means more than you can ever imagine. Sponsoring a child could change her/his future in a profound manner and will offer you immense satisfaction. Sponsor a child through us today.

Donations outside the sponsorship program

Whilst child sponsorship is our primary goal, other ways to assist us do not involve the commitment of a sponsor-child relationship. These include contributing to the maintenance of the Institution where the child lives, projects and excursions. These are needs that cannot be met via individual child sponsorship, and thus donors play an important role in our work for children. Your donations allow us to serve larger-scale Institution-wide needs, such as providing better facilities, building amenities; celebrate festivals, and excursions to create good memories for all the children collectively.

Day Meal at Girls Home

The cost of providing a day meal at the Girls Home: non-vegetarian meal - A$150; and vegetarian meal - A$120. Photos and a thank you letter from the SWO will be emailed to the sponsor.

For further information, please contact Mahalirillam via Contact-Us.