- Hemas Outreach Foundation (HOF) celebrates milestone with coffee table book
Twenty years ago, in 2002, Hemas Holdings launched Piyawara, a project that is now celebrating two decades of enhancing and enriching early childhood care and development (ECCD) in Sri Lanka. In celebration of this milestone, Hemas launched the coffee table book Piyawara: One Step at a Time, written and edited by journalist Kumudini Hettiarachchi. The book was launched at an event held last week, where the Hemas team spoke about the Piyawara journey.
Piyawara aims at nurturing young children with good care in order to provide a solid foundation for a lifelong journey. At present, there are 62 Piyawara preschools across the island, which are attended by over 4,000 students. The preschools employ over 200 teachers and cover 22 districts in Sri Lanka.
Importance of early childhood care and development
Piyawara is implemented through the Hemas Outreach Foundation (HOF) and HOF Executive Director Shiromi Masakorala shared the 20-year journey made by Piyawara. She explained that HOF is established under Hemas Holdings and managed by an independent board of trustees.
“It is a registered trust focusing on early childhood care and development in Sri Lanka. It is the CSR arm of Hemas Holdings and our initiatives are aligned with the corporate objective of creating a healthy life within the framework of early childhood care and development. We believe in an inclusive world where no child is left behind. These are the core values of Hemas,” Masakorala explained.
She added that the project would not have been successful if not for the partnerships with the Ministry of Women and Child Affairs as well as the Faculty of Medicine, University of Kelaniya.
“Our mission is to enrich the lives of underprivileged children of Sri Lanka through early childhood care and development,” Masakorala said, sharing that 80% of brain development takes place during the first five years of a child’s life, making early childhood care and development a national need. She shared that her personal belief was that Sri Lanka, as a country, failed to invest in ECCD, the repercussions of which we are now facing.
“We find 41% of our children failing mathematics in O/Ls. This is because the conceptualising did not take place when they were children. That’s the time cognitive, physical, emotional, social, and language and speech development take place. This is a very important area, but when I meet members of local councils, they say ‘these are just Montessori kids’. That’s the kind of attitude we have in this country. It is a sad situation.”
Masakorala went on to say that Sri Lanka’s investment in ECCD was less than 0.0001% of the gross domestic product (GDP), and added that it could be lesser now. Citing World Bank data, she said that, on the other hand, developed countries spend 0.6% of the GDP on ECCD.
This is why projects like Piyawara are of great importance and value. Masakorala added that in addition to Piyawara, the Hemas Outreach Foundation has two other initiatives – Ayati, which enables children with disabilities to reach their unique potential, and Ekase Salakamu, which creates a social movement to empower children with Down syndrome and their families to live a dignified life.
Brand ambassador’s message
Former cricketer Roshan Mahanama is the brand ambassador of Hemas Outreach Foundation. While he could not be at the event in person, Mahanama shared a message via video. He explained that his relationship with Hemas began a decade ago, when they reached out to him regarding a fundraising event.
“Since then, I think they felt that I would play a part in supporting and promoting the Hemas Outreach Foundation. And I have been involved with them for the past 10 to 12 years,” he said, thanking them for giving him a platform to be of service to the less privileged.
“It’s a great initiative. It’s an initiative they’ve come up with through the involvement of the Government. We all know the importance of education. Some of these children are deprived of an education not because they do not want to go to school but because they don’t have the means to do so. Their parents don’t have the means to send them to school,” he said, highlighting the importance of early childhood education.
Hemas Founder’s continued legacy
In 1948, Sheikh Hassanally Esufally founded Hemas (Drugs) Ltd., a wholesale and retail chemist and druggist. In 1993, the company was restructured and renamed Hemas Holdings. “When my grandfather started Hemas in 1948, 75 years ago, his purpose in life was to give back to society. That’s how Hemas (Drugs) Ltd. was born,” Hemas Chairman Husein Esufally recalled.
He joined the business in 1980, and shared: “Twenty years after that when Piyawara was born, we all got together and thought we should honour that intent and continue that legacy. That is how we gave birth to the initiative. Nobody expected it to reach the heights it has.”
Husein Esufally went on to say that at the time, they were engaged in various philanthropic initiatives, but weren’t making a single-minded impact. “As a company, we were investing in factories, brands, and various other things but we also saw that we were not investing in the thing that really matters most of all: the children of our country.”
Sustainability
Speaking about initiatives like Piyawara, which touch a child’s life and impact the entire ecosystem, Hemas Group Chief Executive Officer Kasturi C. Wilson shared that such programmes must be sustainable. They must also be integrated into the school system.
“It also has to touch on the sensitive topics we talk about, which are child protection and women’s protection,” she said, adding that the partnership with the Ministry of Women and Child Affairs has been crucial for this reason. “I don’t believe the private sector can do anything alone,” she said.
When asked what one word best describes Piyawara, Wilson said it would be hope. Meanwhile, Hemas Non-Executive Director and Hemas Outreach Foundation Chairman Abbas Esufally said his word of choice was long-life.
Abbas Esufally spoke about their work establishing preschools after the tsunami struck in 2004, as well as their work at Menik Farm located in Vavuniya, which housed 325,000 people displaced as a result of the armed conflict.
With both initiatives, the team visited the affected areas to see for themselves how they can be of assistance. Abbas Esufally said the initiatives posed different challenges, but that they were able to assess the needs of those affected.
The coffee table book paints a clear picture of the work done by Hemas throughout the last 20 years, from model preschools that rose from tsunami-affected areas to setting up preschools, play areas, and child-friendly zones in Menik Farm and beyond, with a focus on early childhood care and development.
Sri Lanka’s children
Speaking at the event held last week to celebrate Piyawara’s 20-year journey, Women and Child Affairs State Minister Geetha Kumarasinghe shed light on the plight of children in Sri Lanka. She acknowledged and thanked the team for their silent service over the years. “This carries out an immense service towards children in their early childhood years. There are 565,000 children in early childhood in our country. Of these, 155,000 children are at the brink of malnutrition.”
Kumarasinghe shared that this was a pressing issue in the country, and proper nutrition for children was a priority. It is in this light that the Government has launched a programme to provide breakfast for 155,000 children.
“The amount the Government is spending for the children and the amount you are spending is incomparable,” she said, adding that the budget of Rs. 14 billion covers not just preschool children, but all children below the age of 18 years.
“The Government is responsible for them all and we know this. The Government has a right to do this and cannot dodge it. We are facing financial collapse, but children cannot be held responsible for it,” Kumarasinghe said. She commented that she couldn’t even start her speech by saying she was proud to be at the event, because she was ashamed, given the situation faced by children.
The State Minister went on to say that a project like Piyawara is no easy feat.
She also spoke about what drew her to politics, saying: “I represent the village, and I come from the village. I’m a Southern girl. I come from down South.” She said the movie industry was a fabulous place, but that fame, money, and so on make you a different person. She got involved in business because of her husband, which also took her to a different world.
“But all these things can’t stop my roots. I am a village girl from a very rural area – Bentara Elpitiya. I gave up most things to do something for my people. That’s how I became a politician.”
Concluding her speech, Kumarasinghe referred to a question presented to a panel comprising Hemas Chairman Husein Esufally, Group Chief Executive Officer Kasturi C. Wilson, and Non-Executive Director and Hemas Outreach Foundation Chairman Abbas Esufally, where they were asked which word best describes Piyawara. Kumarasinghe said her choice would have been love.
“Love is the most important thing. You can have love for animals, you can have love for this country, and you can have love for everything. That’s very important. And our children deserve that,” she said, adding that children don’t demand a lot.