New Dormitory Furnishings

OSI-Sri Lanka (Wattegama)

April 2007

The Wattegama home consists of 5 primary dormitory rooms, sleeping 10 children per room. The rooms were dark and colorless, except for a "bay" area with wrap-around windows, at the end of each room. The rooms were crammed with beds, necessary to accommodate all of the children in the home, making the rooms useless for anything other than sleeping. The beds were in ill repair, and the mattresses were ancient, -stuffed in the old way with coconut husks, mite-infested, and falling apart after the use (and accidents) of generations of children. Even the largest beds were much too small for the older girls, and the youngest girls had to sleep in old cribs meant for babies. The children also had no personal storage space, -just a few small cabinets, and books and clothes were stacked on the floor. With the dormitory rooms arranged such, the kids were largely limited to the front veranda area of the home for all of their leisure and study time.

Thanks to the generosity and care of donors Rusi Captain of Sri Lanka and Connie Carlberg of the USA, we have been able to address all of these needs by completely refurnishing all of the dormitory rooms. This, in addition to our interior restoration project, has greatly improved the comfort and living conditions in the home, and the happiness level of the kids. Their new, sanitary beds provide much more comfort for them, and since they are bunk beds much more space has been created in the rooms. Their old dark dormitories are now bright, warm, multi-purpose rooms where they have room to study, play, and socialize.

Project Cost: US $6131
Donors: Rusi Captain, Connie Carlberg

The Project

We first provided all new beds and mattresses, -52 beds total. The beds are long enough even for our oldest kids to grow! -and standard-sized, so mattresses can easily be replaced periodically. And since the beds are bunked, a lot of space was created in the rooms. So, in the attractive windowed "bay" end of each room, we put a hardwood table and four chairs, creating a wonderful study and social environment for the kids. We also provided a large mirror and dressing table for each room. Several large storage cabinets were also provided for each room, -large enough for each girl to have plenty of secure space for her own clothes, books, and other belongings. Finally, the single hanging light bulb was replaced in each room by bright new multi-light fixtures.