Obviously, talented rural children in Sri Lanka encounter numerous problems and hardships. Our goal is to provide solutions to these problems and difficulties the best way we can so that these talents will be able to realize their capabilities and help rebuild the country in future. At the same time, we also focus on cultivating cultural and moral values in the hearts of these children in order to help them become humanistic citizens in future.

Presently, our projects are centered on the temples in rural areas. The primary reason to select a temple for this purpose is the existence of a close relationship between a traditional village and its temple. Evidently, temple is the focal point of our villages and is a part of our culture. We found it easier and more meaningful to set up our centers at these temples.

By launching the Lak Datuwo project, we strive to fulfill the following objectives:

Provide English Education to the children in rural Sri Lanka:
The lack of English skills is a major discriminating factor these children encounter when they grow older. Lak Daruwo has identified this inadequacy as a major problem that needs to be fixed. We select experienced and talented teachers, employ more efficient ways of teaching English, and focus mainly on the communication aspects of the language. We use the new teaching techniques developed in other countries to effectively teach English as a second language.

Provide Computer Technical Education:
Computer Professionals will be very valuable to the future of Sri Lanka. Asian countries such as India are gaining major economic advantages in the IT industry. Our talented children can also be trained to be proficient in computers. The goal is not to make all the children computer professionals but to provide them considerable computer skills that will be an essential prerequisite for their success in future. We need to have our children ready to accept the challenge on their way to success.

Making arrangements to give computer education to children is a major challenge for Lak Daruwo at the moment. Insufficient village-level infrastructure (building facilities, power, telephones, and teachers) has been our main obstacle to carry on this task successfully. We expect considerable help in this area from our expatriate community.


Guide children, give them hope, and provide counseling when required:
Mostly, the parents in rural Sri Lanka are less educated and, as a result, they are less capable of identifying their children's talents and guiding the children. Consequently, these children make mistakes when major decision needs to be made in their lives. Also, many of these children lack hope due to various reasons including the prevalent restlessness in Sri Lanka. Also, there are many other harmful forces waiting to exploit these children.

To help solve this problem, we educate our teachers and the project coordinators to provide guidance to these children. We also monitor the children's progress and identify talents so that the children can be directed on the right path. Lak Daruwo gives the children hope that would motivate them to go forward with education.

We change our strategies when more solutions are identified to the problem our children face. Implementation of strategies is an ongoing process in Lak Daruwo project. We have learned a great deal from our pilot project at Attanagalla and are constantly changing the strategies we use. We haven't achieved perfection, but with the above strategies, we are truly making a change in the children who benefit from our programs. We have already achieved measurable positive changes in the children who participate in our pilot project.