Nayabedde is a tea estate in the remote high country of Sri Lanka.  The local Tamil population are the descendants of those brought from India in British colonial times to work the tea plantations.  Nayabedde remains a working tea estate today, and is the only source of employment for the local residents, much as it was 100 years ago.  The community itself surrounds the tea processing factory, and is itself surrounded by endless tea plantation.  Every man and woman is either picking tea leaves, or working in the factory, or in some other support capacity.  But it is not a lucrative trade, and times are very hard on the tea-estate.  Most families live in relative poverty.  But in the most dire families, illness, alcoholism, domestic abuse, and child abandonment are the common results of desperation.  For these children, besides their present need, their lack of education and lack of future prospects assures that the cycle will continue.  It is such children that OSI is assisting at Nayabedde, serving their present needs and keeping them in school to help assure them more options and better prospects for their futures.

Photos (click for larger image)

	Nayabedde Estate Entering Nayabedde Estate tea plantation...		Tea Plantation Main road through the plantation...
	Nayabedde View The multi-story tea processing factory, with the school below...		Nayabedde View Tea factory and school on the left, with most of the estate housing visible cascading down the hill...
	Nayabedde School New school building (a much older building, down the hill, is still utilized by the school as well)...		School from the Road With its lovely mural of religious harmony...
	School Interior On exam day; otherwise divided into classes by the simple wooden partitions seen on the right...		View from School For the daydreaming student...
	Village Center With tea-pickers returning on the road...		Ganesh In front of the colorful village Hindu kovil...
	Typical Line House Multiple residences in a row, sharing facilities...		Residence Grandmother with Dilu, Diviya, and Hari, in front of their simple home...