Kohomada's "family for family" project functions as follows:

A Belgian family can support a Sri Lankan family with a fixed monthly contribution of 25 Euro. This amount, converted to the local currency, inures completely to your supported family. At this moment Kohomada supports about 50 families in this way.

What can a family do with 25 euro per month?

At present 25 euro correspond to approximately 3500 rupees. This is a substantial amount of money for a Sri Lankan. For example: a young Sri Lankan can earn this amount by working 6 days per week during one month in a factory. Because the temptation could be there to stop working we don't give more money. There is always an agreement with the family for which the donated money will be used in the upcoming month. For example: each family will do improvements to f.e. their overall housing situation with the help of our local Kohomada co-workers.

Is there control?

Strict control on the supported families is performed by our local people. Once a month, each family (except those who live too far away) must come to the office house nearby Kandy. During a relaxing talk we keep track of how the money was spent in the last month and what the future plans and needs for that particular family are. In this way Kohomada tries to work in a very personal and constructive way. At the same time, our local people, who each control a predifined area, do regular on site visits to monitor the actual situation. For Kohomada it's very important that effective progress is made by the supported family. In case a family doesn't handle the donated money in a responsible way, or doesn't want to cooperate at all, it will first receive a warning. If a family continues to go the wrong way (f.e. drunkenness etc...), the offered help stops immediately.

Apart from the overall living situation and other primary needs it's very important that children have sufficient means to go to school. Indeed, the future of Sri Lanka lies in their hands. Also the health of our families is very important to us. This means we will assist family members that need medical care. But also we financially help families in case of death or birth. Our co-workers will also assist people who need overnight medical care, because these can be unusual circumstances for the local Sri Lankan people.

How do Belgian families keep in touch with the family they support?

A file with the most important information about the supported family and some pictures will be given to the supporting Belgian family. About twice a year, Luc Maes the founder of the Kohomada organisation, travels to Sri Lanka and follows up their situation. Communication in English is possible by e-mail or letter. Our local co-workers will translate to Sinhalese or Tamil, the two most important Sri Lankan languages.