Lighting Candles

Minister Bandula Gunawardena came on TV and told the nation that they will save all the fuel till 11th July and distribute it to people. That was the government plan. He said as if he was a modern-day Santa Claus giving gifts to children.

Gunawardena’s speech made us so disappointed in the system that governs us. No fuel, no lights, no food, no gas and no solution in sight. The worst – No hope. Dil and I had three options to simmer our total frustration.

1/ To get on a plane and go to London visiting our family. 2/ Curse President Gotabaya and the parliament.

3/ Get up and do something about peoples’ hunger We opted for the 3rd choice.

It took us three days to set things up with our capable office staff and our network of volunteer coordinators.

Today, CandleAid is all set to gift Rs 10,000 worth of dry rations to 100 families who live below the poverty line. They are spread from Jaffna to Dondra.

We also picked two poor schools attended by mostly children from low-income families. CandleAid will arrange for each student to get one free meal per day for a week.

The first school has 198 students and the second 121.

We are glad we did not go to London, and we did not waste time cursing politicians.

I am not writing this to ask anyone for any donation. I must say we have experienced in the last few years of COVID, the kindness and generosity of people across the globe. I am merely sharing this so that if anyone is looking for a cause to support in the sad plight of our country today, this might be an opportunity to do so. As we always say, “it is better by far to light a solitary candle than to curse the darkness”.

Please feel free to share this message with others. If ever there was a need for collective kindness, this is it.

Thank you Blue skies Capt Elmo

CandleAid is the most important thing I did in my life. The organization helps people in need, irrespective of what race they belong to and which God they worship. We may not have moved mountains, but we did level a few anthills through the years. There were many Starfish we picked from the beach and threw back to the sea. Do think about it. You too maybe able to save a Starfish or two.

 Check on www.candleaid.org – It tells the entire story.