• The Affinity Foundation’s Founders Michael David and Dinesh Gardiarachchige speak on the need for tackling childhood malnutrition in order to ensure children’s school attendance and participation in academics and extracurricular activities 

Although Sri Lanka has led the South Asian region in terms of human development indices, the Human Development Index (HDI) growth rate has seen a dip. While the top HDI rankers are Switzerland, Norway, and Iceland, all at the 0.9 point level, Sri Lanka is in the 73rd place with 0.782 points. We have gone from 76, to 72, to 73 in the HDI ranks, and now we are stalling. 

Those most impacted by the economic crisis have been children, with most of them battling malnutrition, acute malnutrition, and being underweight, which naturally impact physical and mental development. Last year (2022), the percentage of underweight children increased to 15.3% from 2021’s 12.2%. Severe acute malnutrition among children in 2022 stood at 1.4%.

On Kaleidoscope this week were the Affinity Foundation’s Founders Michael David and Dinesh Gardiarachchige, childhood friends who joined forces to ensure that those most left out of the nutrition equation will at least get a basic meal. 

Following are excerpts from the interview:

What is the status of childhood malnutrition in the country today?

In the rural context, it has been getting worse. While the urban population has adjusted to the cost of living, the rural population has not. With inflation and the cost of goods increasing, the parents of children living in rural areas are finding it difficult to tackle providing proper nutrition to their children. The food is available, but the right nutrition is not. 

What are the major issues preventing children from having the proper nutrition that they need? 

The major issue, first and foremost, is money. While parents will give their children to eat, it is done within their financial means and that doesn’t necessarily mean that the child is getting anything nutritious. Most often, it is to assuage hunger. Proteins like fish, egg and meat are left out because of the cost. These children do eat, but it’s not food that would give them the nutrients that they need. 

What is the correlation between school attendance and having a good meal?

The meal actually provides an incentive to send children to school. The main problem that we face head-on is the issue of children being taken out of school and being placed in the workforce for economic reasons. By eliminating the cost of providing the meal to their children, we have created a source of economic relief to the parents and provided families with an incentive to send their child to school. We have tangible evidence of attendance increasing and children having the energy to participate in not just academics but also extracurricular activities. They absorb what they learn with great retention. This is very positive feedback for us.

How did the Affinity Foundation come about?

We are two childhood friends who were active in social service even before the aragalaya (the people’s protest movement to overthrow the former Government led by then President Gotabaya Rajapaksa). But, we realised after the aragalaya that things were not going to get better for the next five-10 years. Without waiting for the Government or anyone else to do something, we decided to see what we can do ourselves, so we registered the Foundation, hoping to do as much as we can, for as many as we can. 

How do you tackle the provision of meals in impoverished areas?

The Affinity Foundation follows a system. We start off by getting in touch with the zonal education director and obtaining the information about schools lacking or not falling under the Government’s food programme. It’s these schools that we take on board and we utilise the zonal education director’s connections and direction to meet the schools’ principals and teachers. We then customise a menu for five days containing a well balanced meal for the children. This menu is introduced to the school. Cooking a meal for a large number of students can be challenging. We overcome that hurdle by engaging a parent who lives close to the school and because she is feeding her child as well, she will cook the meal with love and affection. This is very important too. We pay her a stipend for her work, but we know that she will ensure that a tasty and nutritious meal is given to the children of that school. We also get daily reports from each school and photographs sent to us. With this system in place, we monitor our schools daily.

For many years, Sri Lanka has been ranked very high in the HDI, especially in South Asia. However, our HDI ranking has not been doing too well over the past few years. What specifically impacted this downward trend?

The initial breakdown came post-aragalaya with the inability to access goods and difficulties in obtaining basic essentials. That was the root. Then came the economic collapse, the Sri Lankan Rupee depreciation, and the cost of living rising exponentially. The system strayed. Although in terms of numbers we are high on the HDI, we have actually been going down in value. This is very visible in the rural schools that we visit regularly.

Your Foundation works in 10 schools around the country. What are some observations that you have made during your outreach at these schools?

One would be the passion that the children have to attend to school. They love to participate in their studies and activities, but come to school in tattered clothes and broken shoes or slippers. It’s heartbreaking. We have hence decided to concentrate on more than providing meals. Our approach is three pronged: growth, education, and attendance. The food provides nourishment and we monitor the children’s education, checking as to whether they’re actually absorbing the lessons and actively participating in school rather than going to work or attending school for a few days in the week. We try and emphasise this to the principals and children, in an attempt to uplift the children’s lives. Hopefully, the outcome will be positive. 

What can we, as normal citizens, do to help this situation?

Rather than waiting for someone else to do things, whoever can come out and help us should help us help the children. People must try to help anybody, even directly. Affinity is a platform that welcomes anyone who can come on board to help these children. 

What’s next for the Affinity Foundation?

We would like to see the need for such foundations declining, but the reality is that we need to keep on growing. One hundred per cent of our donations goes towards the children and we bear the cost of the operations. If anyone doesn’t want to partner with an organisation, they should, in their individual capacity, provide even one meal. We all need to rise together so that we can come out of this ditch someday. 

What would you like to see happen in this country during the next 10 years?

Ideally, a big change in the system would be great to see. Bringing in proper processes would be great too. We really would like to see change. Policy changes in terms of many things are needed, but are specifically necessary in education. Education is where you can get the best outcomes. We see how the rest of the world works and how education has brought in results, the way people work and operate because of education. This way of life doesn’t start in adulthood but rather from day one, in school. Your second home is your school, which is where you’re taught the right way, the values, and the contribution that we can all give. Education is not just about memorising answers to questions but rather life skills and helping others. This is exampled well in countries that have a holistic education system and this is what Sri Lanka needs to have as well. In 20 years, we hope to see an extraordinary group of young citizens coming out of our schools, a set of children who are well read and who want to challenge the status quo. That is our dream.

(The writer is the host, director, and co-producer of the weekly digital programme ‘Kaleidoscope with Savithri Rodrigo’ which can be viewed on YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn. She has over three decades of experience in print, electronic, and social media.)