Milk of human kindness

By Shezna Shums 

To give a glass of milk to a child is certainly a blessing but to give a glass of milk to a child who cannot afford one is much more than a blessing.

Poor parents however hardly manage to give their children a glass of plain tea before they start their day, let alone a glass of milk. Although they want to give their children a glass of milk, their economic conditions stop them from doing so. Sometimes even after hard day of work to bring home bread and butter, milk does not come into their list simply because of the high cost of milk as well as the rising cost of living.

Free glass of milk

However, one man is trying to overcome this problem by providing a free glass of milk to the Montessori children in poor regions of the country.

Leon Weerapass from Thimbolketiya who has a diploma in agriculture, animal husbandry and animal farming, first provided a glass of milk to Montessori children on May 27 and from then onwards has increased the number of glasses of milk he freely gives to these children.

Speaking to The Sunday Leader, Weerapass said today he is able to provide 65 glasses to poor children in Montessori schools. Two hundred milliliters of fresh milk during the first two months were given to each child. Five Montessories in the Sevanagala area benefit from this project and while nourishing these children he is able to help three small dairy farmers as well.

After carrying out a feasibility study for one year, he was able to find a way of giving that one glass of milk to a child and continue the project - to give more milk glasses to more children.

Further he said that whilst serving this one glass of milk, this project would also help to increase the present milk production in the country. He will thus be uplifting the standards of living of the poor dairy farmers as well as help them take to other fields such as organic vegetable farming and free-range poultry.

He said today there are hundreds of milking cows in the Sevenagala area who are not milked and emphasised that these dairy farmers are willing to hand over the cows to him to implement this free milk campaign.

At the moment more than 1000 Montessori children in Sevanagala benefit from this project and he hopes to take this free glass of milk to all parts of the country.

Assistance

Weerapass was also helped by the Sevanagala Divisional Secretary, K. A. Premalal and Monaragala Veterinary Surgeon, K. R. Dayananda in implementing this free milk project.

His next step is to provide free milk to the Montessori children in the entire 17 divisional secretariats of the Ratnapura District within the next six months.

Explaining further he said there are two ways of accumulating cows milk, one is by cluster farming and the other by individual farming. The chosen villagers will be given a cow on condition some of this milk will be delivered to the school by the farmer.

He said that if the cow can produce seven to eight liters of milk per day, the cow will be given to this farmer. In this way 25 children will be able to receive a free glass of fresh milk from one such farmer. "Two parents will take turns in boiling this milk," he stated.

He also pointed out that he ensures that the farmers keep to good hygienic standards when milking the cow and they will also be regularly checked by the Public Health Inspector (PHI) and area veterinary surgeon.

A chart will be maintained and signed by the teachers at the Montessori, parents and the farmer everyday and the cow will be monitored by the vet in the area.

Farmers benefit

"Not only will the children benefit but there will be a benefit to the farmers as well." It is observed if the cow is able to give eight litres of milk, five litres will have to be given to the children daily and the farmer will be able to keep the remaining three litres. "He can provide some milk for his family while selling some milk," said Weerapass.

He also noted that with every Rs. 1000 given by a sponsor, one Montessori student will be able to receive a glass of 200 millilitres of fresh milk free for 276 school days.

Villagers themselves will run this project and the Buddhist monk in the area will take the lead in this project.

Weerapass has written to the former Prime Minister and received a letter thanking him for his services but what he wants is assistance in order to expand this milk project successfully. He has also written to the present Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse and is yet to hear from him. However, he said that after writing to Hambantota Member of Parliament, Sajith Premadasa about this project, he has got some encouragement and is also hoping to take this project to Hambantota.

"What we need is support and assistance to make this a success," he stressed.