About us - Sri Lanka Verein Hamburg e.V.

Our Mission

"Paths are made by walking." Franz Kafka

After the devastating Tsunami of 2004, life as many people in Sri Lanka knew it, was destroyed. Yet, they found the strength to embark on new paths – with courage, hope and a firm determination to build a future. New opportunities also emerged after the end of the long civil war.

By supporting affected families and their children, we help restore their confidence in their own abilities, enabling them to take steps toward improving their livelihoods.

Since 2005, Sri Lanka Verein Hamburg e.V. has been accompanying people on this journey. Join us and help create a future full of opportunities and hope.

Unsere Hilfe kommt an bei denen, die sie brauchen.

Our Board

We operate entirely on a volunteer basis. This keeps administrative costs low, allowing available funds to flow directly into the projects. With our experience and local knowledge, we, together with our local teams, offer a wide range of skills and abilities in the implementation of our projects.

Our engagement was awarded.

In 2020, the Sri Lanka Association Hamburg e.V. won the One World Prize of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Northern Germany (Nordkirche), endowed with €3,000.

We were recognized for our commitment to supporting women, providing them with microloans of between €120 and €150 to help them realize their creative business ideas.

As the first recipient, we were presented with the “Golden Giraffe,” traditionally carved in Kenya.

Our Teams

in Sri Lanka

Anslem Nanayakara leads the Kandy Team and organizes a team consisting of a field worker and an assistant (seed packaging/distribution). They provide on-site advice to farming families on vegetable cultivation and support the procurement and distribution of seeds. Activities focus on establishing and maintaining organic home gardens in the Dambulle/Matale region. They also organize school meals and purchase and distribute teaching materials.

Creative Womens Foundation (CWF) has been operating since 2012 with the goal of helping women better organize their lives and secure their families’ livelihoods through initiative and productive activities. By imparting knowledge and practical skills through training, they can set up a small business and generate their own income. Microcredits granted over a longer period of time have supported their path to self-employment. In cooperation with governmental and non-governmental institutions, CWF provides these creative women with access to trade fairs and sales events so they can offer and sell their products.

Shilpa Shakthi Foundation was founded in 2019 to help children unleash their creative energy and take their rightful place in society with increased self-confidence. The foundation works with local institutions to ensure children have better and healthy nutrition and facilitate their learning in school through improved facilities and the provision of materials. This applies to children of all communities in Sri Lanka – regardless of race, religion, or caste – and ensures a just and peaceful society in which every child is treated equally and with dignity.