The kindness in the cup

touch with friends and acquaintances around the world. One fan of the website wrote, “Congratulations on a wonderful site containing very valuable information about Ceylon Tea as well as other related historical data from ancient times. The site is very professionally designed and easy to use”. And Victor Melder of the Sri Lankan Library in Melbourne, Australia, wrote, “HOCT is one of the greatest projects undertaken in Sri Lanka as it will open a new spectrum accessible to all. My compliments and salutations to Mr Merrill Fernando and Dilmah for undertaking this worthwhile project.”

Dilmah has appealed for the donation of any other anecdotes, books, papers, letters, and manuscripts that have a relevance to the history of Sri Lanka’s tea industry.

The web address is www.historyofceylontea.com

The MJF Charitable Foundation

Dilmah channels a significant share of its profits into the MJF Foundation whose primary charter is that of alleviating poverty, helping the underprivileged, the sick and the disabled. This decision was inspired by my conviction that people – our employees and customers worldwide – have assisted the growth of our family business and in turn, it is our duty to return these earnings to those very communities that support us. Merrill J Fernando

All his life Merrill has shown an immense concern for the underprivileged in society, for those who struggle against poverty, sickness or abuse, or have less material wealth than ourselves. As Dilhan and Malik were growing up, he taught them that we can each only eat three meals a day, wear one pair of shoes, drive one car. Each one of us only needs just so much and when we have all that and much more, what can we do with the extra wealth? The Fernando philosophy is to give back, to serve a higher purpose and help those who are less fortunate.

In 1962, Merrill set up the first of his own companies with a staff of 18 people and he decided then that his employees and their children should share the profits and benefit from their hard work. And so, he gave them money to buy school uniforms, books, shoes and other necessities, and to pay for essential medical treatment for family members. His humanitarian gestures became part of company life and, as he explained it later himself, “I made it my duty to extend a helping hand to my employees and to the community. This is my way of practising corporate responsibility and social justice.” Since those early days, the concept of giving back to the workforce and to the community has grown to become an integral part of the MJF Group

and Dilmah Tea. By 2000, the companies were employing thousands of workers in the tea industry, on the plantations, in other businesses within the MJF Group, and so the charitable aspect of the MJF approach needed restructuring and formalising to make the work more effective.

In 2002, the MJF Charitable Foundation was incorporated with the initial objective of expanding its activities. Today, its amazing work runs more than 100 projects every year and touches the lives of more than 60,000 people in the tea industry and the wider community. The work is funded by revenue from the companies within the MJF Group (including Dilmah Tea), and from Merrill’s personal wealth; Dilhan and Malik have also pledged to bequeath some of their wealth to the charity in their wills. At a conference in Melbourne in 2006, Dilhan explained clearly how the idea had developed: “What started out very simply with my father helping those less privileged amongst his small team evolved into an effort of some significance. All this followed a natural and very logical path; as the business grew, more revenue was available and greater benefit could

be shared. Most importantly, the entire effort is made possible by our consumer - the person who buys our product. My father’s dream was to bring quality back to tea. He wanted to reverse commoditisation which was a by-product of consolidation in the industry. He also wanted to give producers and the industry a fair deal, a just reward for their labour. He desired a truly ethical tea”.

Merrill’s philosophy, now the mission statement of the Foundation behind this remarkable work, is quite simple:

“We came into this world with nothing, we leave with nothing. The wealth some of us acquire is owed to the efforts and cooperation of many others around us. Let us, therefore, share that wealth, while we are still around, so that the goodwill and contentment created thereby make our world a happier place for others as well.”

In the very early days, Merrill would give money whenever his employees approached him with a problem. As the work grew, Dilhan became involved and recruited Hiran Fernando (no relation to Merrill, Dilhan and Malik) as Administrator of the Foundation to assist in co-ordinating and implementing the various projects. Whereas many charities and NGOs spend approximately 40% of their funds on administration costs, the Foundation kept its expenditure to 2% in the early years and today, even with the marked expansion of the work, staff, and with the increased distances involved in operating in remote regions, that figure has now been increased to 5% and the full amount of the overheads is reimbursed by the Dilmah Tea companies. In keeping with the Dilmah philosophy and to keep costs down, staff working for Dilmah and for other companies within the MJF Group contribute their own time and talents to the various projects and events. Several company employees are now involved in the many projects that are run every year both inside the company and in the wider community and this willingness to give back, inspired by Merrill and his own family, has brought a great sense of unity, loyalty and commitment. The pleasure of helping others and the sense that they are helping to improve lives is the only reward they seek.

In 2004, the tragedy of the tsunami and an immediate sense of urgency forced the family and the company to take stock, to assess how they could help to ease the loss and pain of so many thousands of Sri Lankan people living and working around the island’s coastal belt. Dilhan took on two more members of staff, Merrill donated vast sums of money, land, buildings and assets and an extra division was added to the Foundation to only work with tsunami victims. As the team started to examine and assess what they could do in areas struck by the tsunami, they uncovered other secondary issues where they felt they could help.

The Fernando family involve themselves directly, getting to know the families concerned, considering carefully how to make a difference, planning for a future that empowers individuals and allows them to take control of their own lives, often for the first time. The MJF Foundation does not limit its role to helping any particular religious or social group and so projects are in progress with Tamils, Hindus, Buddhists and Christians all over the island. During the civil war between the government and the Tamil Tigers, the work often took the MJF team into the war zone where the Tigers were fighting for an independent Tamil homeland, and so could be dangerous and unpredictable. This obviously had to be taken into account but the driving force was simply the desire to help, to get the job done, and even government officers recognised that the Foundation achieved more than long years of peace negotiations simply because it brought people together to talk to each other across a table. Now since the end of the conflict, the Foundation is working towards programmes of reconciliation amongst the communities and empowerment for the war affected families, especially war widows and single parent households.

Dilmah and the MJF Foundation recognise that they cannot solve all of Sri Lanka’s problems but their work is making a difference by providing educational scholarships, funding medical facilities, paying for crèches, providing midday meals for retired tea workers and for estate children, assisting with hospital costs, eye clinics, shelters for abused women, funding for vocational training and homes for the disabled and so much more. But the work is not simply about providing financial assistance. Once a need or a problem has been identified, each project is researched, implemented, managed and monitored so that it brings long term, sustainable results that empower families and communities and give them a brighter future. The Foundation maintains its involvement in every project over a period of up to four years to ensure that it is running according to plan and achieving social, economic and environmental sustainability.

It would be impossible to document every single one of the major projects that are run every year, so what follows is a summary of just a few of the remarkable achievements

Tsunami Relief Programme

On December 26th 2004, Boxing Day, an underwater earthquake north of Sumatra in the Indian Ocean caused waves up to 30 feet high to swamp the southern and eastern shores of Sri Lanka as well as areas of Thailand, Indonesia, India, and East Africa. Sri Lanka’s fishing villages and tourist areas were totally devastated, entire communities were wiped out, parents lost children and children were orphaned. Businesses were ruined, houses washed away, hotels demolished, people’s lives decimated in seconds.

Within hours of the appalling tragedy, Merrill had committed 25 million rupees to a special MJF Foundation relief fund and, as the scale of the

On December 26th 2004, an underwater earthquake north of Sumatra in the Indian Ocean caused waves up to 30 feet high to swamp the southern and eastern shores of Sri Lanka as well as areas of Thailand, Indonesia, India, and East Africa. Sri Lanka’s fishing villages and tourist areas were totally devastated, entire communities were wiped out, parents lost children and children were orphaned. Businesses were ruined, houses washed away, hotels demolished, people’s lives decimated in seconds.

disaster became clear, that was increased to 50 million. And, as Dilhan, Malik and Merrill realised that the normal aid channels and organisations simply could not cope with the enormity of the event, they used the resources of the MJF Group of companies to organise a relief programme of their own. They set up a relief logistics centre on the outskirts of Colombo and drew up plans for a short-term emergency operation and a longer term rehabilitation programme. On Wednesday 29th December, medical teams were dispatched to Hambantota, Ambalantota, Rakawa and Kilinochchi, while at Tangalle, a refugee centre was set up in partnership with local charity Navajeevana and provided 4000 meals a day. MJF were involved in delivering supplies of food, candles, matches, nutritional supplements and clothing. Volunteer staff from the MJF Group Engineering Department and the Production team worked with generators, pumps, high pressure cleaning equipment to pump sea water out of wells, clear debris from homes and clean houses and other buildings. When, with the blessing of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (the LTTE) and the Sri Lankan army, the Foundation went into LTTE territory, they found the 128-bed hospital at Kilinochchi trying to look after more than 800 people who all needed urgent medical care.

This work demanded immense sensitivity and patience, understanding and tenacity. When the Foundation expressed an interest in working inside LTTE territory, they encountered wariness and a suspicion that Dilmah perhaps just wanted to make some publicity mileage out of the tragedy and suffering. But gradually Dilhan and his team managed to win the trust of the locals and persuaded them that the company genuinely wanted to help.

Dilmah personnel demonstrated that they were just ordinary people trying to help. They visited the families in their homes, they drank tea together, they chatted and discussed the best ways to tackle the enormous problems facing the island. It was essential to understand that the fishermen who had lost everything were not poor or downtrodden before the tsunami; they were successful, rural, middle-class men who now faced having to work as labourers in the city. Dilmah staff knew this and behaved accordingly. The MJF approach is always to become involved at the micro-level, to get to the heart of the matter, to listen and to discuss the best way forward – never to impose their own will but to work with the communities to really help with long-term solutions.

After the Tsunami

With a clear understanding that world interest would dwindle once the immediate news coverage was over, the Foundation planned its longer term programme to help tackle the psychological, social and employment problems in the worst-affected areas. As a first response, the Foundation established centres in four towns in the Hambantota District where up to 100 people could be accommodated and fed, receive any necessary medical and psychological care, and have a place in which they could come together with their families and neighbours to talk about what had happened to them – something that is recognised as a crucial part of coping with the shock and mourning that followed the tsunami.

Once the immediate needs had been met, the Foundation embarked on a programme of mid- and long-term activities and projects that would help the affected communities to recover socially, economically and psychologically. And the key to the way in which all the projects are now run is the aim not just to help with money or facilities but to empower the victims and help them take control of their own lives in a way that they had never previously known or understood.

One of the most pressing needs was to have fishing boats repaired or rebuilt and to repair or provide new fishing nets and outboard motors. The Foundation worked with CeyNor Foundation (a Sri Lankan government and NORAD joint venture) to buy nets and to repair and replace the fibre glass boats that are essential to the fishing community. Less than 10% of the boats had survived and the meagre income of the fishermen would never have allowed them to acquire more. BBC Southern radio sponsored new boats at Lunama and MJF Foundation facilitated that operation while also providing boats to the villages of Wanduruppa and Welipatanvila. When the BBC said that they and their listeners would like to help, the MJF Foundation told them that it would only accept the money if each listener or group of listeners donated a specific item – a bicycle or an outboard motor, for

example - and the donor’s name then had to be painted on whatever was given. The Foundation felt that this was important because they wanted the aid to be completely transparent and felt that the results of the donation had to be visible and tangible. It was an emotional day when the first of the boats were handed into the care of the villagers who could once again fish for their living.

The fishermen had also lost the bicycles on which they travelled to and from their work and more than 200 bicycles were donated by the Foundation. Also provided were storage facilities for boats, nets and for the outboard motors which previously had to be carried two or three kilometres home every evening for safe keeping and back again the following morning. But with the fishermen back at work, Dilhan and his colleagues began to look at the exploitative relationship between the fishermen and the middle men who regularly bought the fish.

Although the price was almost always too low, what could the fishermen do? They needed to sell their catch before it started to lose its freshness so they took whatever price they could get. But the MJF Foundation saw a better way. They built ice factories! And they established links between the fishermen and local restaurants and hotels. So if they want to work with the brokers, the fishermen still can, but they are now equipped to run their own businesses without having to rely on any middle men. They can catch their fish, pack it in ice, and transport it in refrigerated vehicles donated by the Foundation to their new customers. These customers also benefit by gaining the attention of tourists and other local clients who admire them for the fact that they are helping the local community. It runs as a beautifully simple, neat, satisfactory, sustainable cycle that has advantages for everyone involved. And since the fishermen also received training in technology, in marketing, in the best ways to preserve their fish, in organising their finances, they are now better equipped than they were when the tsunami so cruelly stole the tools of their trade.

The children of the communities that were ripped apart by the tsunami obviously had and still have special needs, and the Foundation has been working since early 2005 to establish pre-schools in affected villages and towns. Pre-schools are an essential element in the healing process and have an important role to play in equipping the children with essential life skills. Four schools catering for approximately 320 children are now operated by teachers specially trained by the Foundation in managing issues of trauma, poverty and malnutrition. Equipment and materials were provided by MJF, and the Foundation keeps a monitoring watch over the work in order to identify any new needs as and when they arise. With so many houses simply washed away by the massive wave, there was and still is a need for new housing in many parts of the island and the Foundation is working with local government officers to build new road networks and new houses. This is a programme that involves the community, the residents, the planners and the Foundation to create new villages where everyone belongs. The MJF Foundation, with Sri Lanka Government and UN Habitat, pay for the construction of the necessary new roads and then oversee the planning of such essential buildings as a community centre, pre-school facilities, hospitals and housing. Each of the new residents is assigned a plot of land and materials for the construction of the first stage of their own house. On-site engineers then check the foundation and inspect their work before the next batch of necessary materials is provided. Imagine the pride of each villager when they are finally inside their own house – a house they have built with their own hands.

In December 2008, ‘Sithijaya’ – the Merrill J. Fernando Centre for the Differently-Abled was opened in Ambalantota, a division of Hambatota District where 27,300 people were displaced by the tsunami. In 2006, MJF Foundation identified the need for a facility to care for the disabled and so solicited the expertise of organisations already working with disabled people in other parts of Sri Lanka. The state-of-the-art Centre, designed by Sri Lankan architect, Nihal Bodhinayake, provides occupational, physical and supplementary therapies for approximately 600 people who receive training in sewing, agriculture and the crafting of accessories from locally-available raw materials such as palm leaves. To encourage and inspire those who would be attending classes and taking part in

the therapies offered, the opening ceremony included a display of items made by two carpenters - brothers who are both hearing-impaired – and a performance of singing and dancing by differently abled children who were among the first to benefit from the service offered at the Centre. As Merrill said at the opening, “Although these people suffer from disabilities, they possess the mental faculties to do great deeds and should therefore be provided with the opportunities of their peers.”

Small Entrepreneur Programme

In the tsunami, many people lost not just their loved ones and their homes but also their business premises and the tools of their trade and so the Foundation set up a ‘Small Entrepreneurship Programme’ (SEP) to help them re-establish themselves in business. Dilhan and the Foundation team went out to find individuals who had been marginalized by the disaster and who had the capability, commitment and desire to better themselves and their families by translating their commitment and dedication into a product or a service. The evaluation process to find suitable candidates is exhaustive in that each person is interviewed several times and their capabilities, skills and talents tested. Only individuals who support their families in the traditional rural way and so care for parents, parents-in-law, brothers and sisters as well as their spouse and children, are considered for the scheme. If they qualify, SEP then assists to provide equipment, materials and machinery, but never cash. If an individual project runs successfully, more assistance is given to develop the business further. SEP also includes an apprenticeship programme whereby successful enterprises are monitored on a quarterly basis and required to take on trainees who then also benefit by learning a new skill. This then allows them, in turn, to possibly qualify for SEP, build a new business, take on apprentices and so increase the benefits that ripple outwards into the community to benefit the lives of more and more people. In just the first two years of the programme, 264 SEPs were initiated, and upto now over 750 SEPs have been supported through the programme. New entrepreneurs that have been helped by the scheme include ayurvedic medical practitioners, carpenters, builders, hairdressers, potters, mushroom farmers, beauty therapists, and textile manufacturers. To date, SEP has touched the lives of over 2,500 people. SEP has been internationally acclaimed as one of the most effective self-help programmes since it focuses on building on an individual’s talents and makes them independent, thereby avoiding the ‘dependency syndrome’ that is so common in many charities projects.

In 2007, the Small Entrepreneurship Programme was further extended to work with people who had been in prison through the Reform & Integrate Programme. In Sri Lankan communities, people who has been convicted (rightly or wrongly) of a crime and has spent time in prison is generally not accepted back into the community or given a chance to rebuild their life. People rarely help them to start building their lives again and so the offender and his or her family are stigmatised and live as outcasts. The MJF Foundation decided that they wanted to work with ex-prisoners who showed a genuine desire to reform and make amends. So, in collaboration with the prison service, the Foundation carefully selected people who had performed well in the rehabilitation programme and were due for release on parole. Dilhan met with those people, tried to assess their talents and skills as well as their attitude, and money was then given to help them set up small businesses. Through the existing parole monitoring system, the participants were monitored to check that they were working well, earning, saving, and taking care of their children. As with all the SEP projects, every single person involved is doing well - no-one has let themselves or the Foundation down. To date, nearly 200 former prisoners have benefitted from the programme which supports prisoners with their vocations and has been hailed as a success in combating recidivism.

The Small Entrepreneur Programme initiated by the Foundation to address issues of poverty has reached out to more than 750 people around Sri Lanka. The success stories that emerged from the distribution of equipment following the tsunami, to enable communities to resume their vocations, prompte d the MJF Charitable Foundation to develop this poverty alleviation programme – a long-term, socio-economic relief effort.

Different products developed under the Small Entrepreneur Programme.

The Small Entrepreneur Programme has touched the lives of over 2,500 people and has been internationally acclaimed as one of the most effective self-help programmes since it focuses on building on an individual’s talents allowing them to live independent and productive lives.

Vocational training for prisoners initiated under the Reform and Integrate programme of the MJF Charitable Foundation.

Samantha, a recipient of the Prison SEPs is now a successful tailor and businessman thanks to the MJF Charitable Foundation and its Reform and Integrate programme. Today, he is also a community leader in his village Pahalalanda in Siyambalanduwa where a successful orange plantation is flourishing under the patronage of the MJF Charitable Foundation.

Following page: The orangery in Pahalalanda interspersed with pineapple plants grown as a secondary crop.

As part of the Small Entrepreneur Programme, nearly fifty bicycle repairman in Batticaloa were supported to upgrade their existing repair shops to facilitate better services to the people. This initiative aims to uplift the livelihoods of beneficiary communities while supporting long term conservation of natural resources.

Empowering the People of the North through the Small Entrepreneur Programme. Fishing communities that lost their livelihoods due to the war and the December 2004 Tsunami were supported by the MJF Charitable Foundation through the provision of fishing boats and equipment.

In an effort to support women in the Northern peninsula, the MJF Charitable Foundation implemented the Small Entrepreneur Programme in Point Pedro, Batticaloa. A majority of these families headed by widows are supported to carry out various vocations including processing of dry fish, goat rearing, sewing and dress making. Over 160 war affected women have been supported through the initiative.

Following pages: Recipients of the Small Entrepreneur Programme in the North busy at their vocations.

The ‘Local Heroes’ Scheme

When MJF Foundation had funded 300 SEP projects, a decision was taken to continue the work at a moderate level - with the objective of 100 schemes each year - but to extend the concept into what is now called the ‘Local Heroes ‘ programme. This involves a much larger contribution approximately ten times higher than the initial ceiling on SEP assistance. Local Heroes works on a much larger scale and takes a much broader perspective of humanitarian assistance through entrepreneurship.

The first Local Hero was D M Dharmadasa, a hard-working, committed papadam manufacturer at Kumbukkana near Moneragala. He had constructed his factory of clay and mud and ran his business with no electricity and no automated machinery and he was, in his small but determined way doing for his business what Merrill had done for tea. With Rs 500,000’s worth of assistance, he was able to secure a small loan from the bank, upgrade his factory, invest in new equipment and machinery, install solar panels and increased his workforce. The Foundation stipulated that he must employ 20% of his workforce from the nearby home for disabled people, he must pay 25% higher wages than the national average, he must stop buying ‘Undu’ flour (the raw material for the papadams) from an Indian supplier but must switch to a local Sri Lankan Undu producer, and he must buy that local flour at 25% above the market price. Dilhan’s team helped him to find a good local Undu supplier and worked with government officers to help improve the quality of the crop. The local Undu producer was encouraged by the fact that he knew he would have a Dharmadasa as a guaranteed, long-term customer and that he would be paid more for his product than other suppliers. The Foundation organised advice on ISO and HACCP food

safety and quality requirements, and assisted in organising electricity and proper road access to his property. The Foundation team also worked with Dilmah Marketing to design an innovative new pappadam product made from fibre-rich Kurakkan, a health food ingredient popular in Sri Lanka. Since the start of the project, Dharmadasa has responded to MJF advice to put his prices up and, with MJF help and support, has found new customers outside the local area. He currently employs eight people from his village, including two who are differently-abled and he has installed renewable energy sources. Profits from the initiative will help develop the pappadam factory, pay higher wages to the workers, pay a higher price to local Undu farmers and also assist the Home for Elders. Just as with all Foundation projects, this is another ‘win win’ situation.

The second Local Heroes project was set up at Ilukkumbura Village in the Knuckles Conservation area where the Foundation worked with a

Pottery triumphs over poverty – Mankada, established through the MJF Centre for Empowerment through Sri Lankan Traditional Art & Craft is supporting community upliftment in villages adjacent to the Udawalawe National Park in South Eastern Sri Lanka. These community members are trained in pottery making and are now able to provide a better life for their families.

Following page: Beautiful and original craft created by the women potters of Mankada.

community of tomato growers. In the past, the villagers were financially dependent on the local ‘mudalali’, the local money lender whose loans were set off against produce delivered to him during the growing season. But very low rates of pay and debts to the mudalali left the villages very poor and so MJF has established a village-level Farmers’ Association which now extends loans free of interest and uses money paid back to fund seed and other materials for the following season. The Foundation also set up links between the villagers and the regional wholesale market at Dambulla and the local producers were trained how to negotiate with the traders and achieve the best prices for their goods. Their produce now fetches prices ten times higher than when they were dealing with the mudalali. The success of the programme has led to similar programmes in 5 more remote villages in the area.

The third project has turned communities living adjacent to the Udawalawe National Park in South Eastern Sri Lanka, who were previously dependent on the nearby sugar cane plantations for livelihood support, into a successful community of potters named Mankada – The MJF Centre for Empowerment through Sri Lankan Traditional Arts and Crafts. The Foundation discovered that earlier generations in the village had been potters who manufactured curd pans, and so set up a scheme designed to empower the villagers by establishing a sustainable pottery industry that they could run themselves. The Foundation team seconded Ajith Perera, acclaimed potter and designer, to train the local residents in traditional skills and the potter now make truly beautiful hand-crafted tea pots, tea bag holders, jewellery, kitchenware and various ornaments. Having achieved the required level of competence, the Mankada potters received their first order from Poland for handmade pendants in ten different designs based on endangered species of fish and animals found in Sri Lanka and the promotion has since been extended to other countries such as Australia and New Zealand. The proceeds of the sales are given back to the community through a Co-operative Society established by MJF Foundation, and the money has been reinvested in Mankada to expand the operations and to build a direct sales centre close to nearby Udawalawe National Park.

The exquisite Mankada pieces have now captured the attention of world renowned chef Jamie Oliver who will feature several Mankada items in his Jme Collection this year.

Udawalawe National Park is home to many species of wild animals and among the products now being made by the potters are decorative casts of footprints of some of them – elephants, deer, buffalo, mongoose, monitor lizards, leopards and sloth bears. With the help of park wardens, the villagers venture into the park to look for fresh footprints, fill them with plaster-ofparis and turn them into moulds within minutes. The footprints are also used to decorate plates, ornaments and jewellery. Tourists can buy these as mementoes at a stall at the entrance to the park which is manned by the villagers, and the profits go back to Mankada. The next stage of the project is to eventually form a group of pottery villages that produce handcrafted ceramic jewellery and handicrafts.

In 2008, Animal Tracks was picked as one of the five best environmentally sustainable projects profiled by IUCN at its International conference in Barcelona. Dilmah was congratulated by IUCN for its unique effort in integrating humanitarian and environmental aspects into their company’s business model and at a ceremony at IUCN headquarters in Switzerland, Director General Julia Marton-Lefevre commended the MJF Foundation for “the visible improvement in the lives of communities that depend on natural resources, and enhancing community appreciation of the need for conservation of natural resources for future generations. ” The partnership between IUCN and Dilmah began in the aftermath of the tsunami and the contact was solidified later when Dilmah sought the agency’s help in streamlining its social responsibility work. It is a mutually beneficial relationship in which, according to Dilhan, “we learned sustainable work while IUCN learned management techniques and how the private sector works.”

Hospitals and Medical Care

The MJF Foundation was already involved in many charitable projects before the tsunami struck the island and that work has continued. In 2003, Dilmah Tea announced that it would adopt Hope Cancer Hospital at Maharagama as its key corporate social responsibility project. The project started with the donation of one hundred thousand cricket posters to be sold as fund-raisers, an outright contribution of money and a link to sales of tea in Sri Lanka. For every 500 gram packet of tea sold, one rupee was pledged to the Hope fund and so sports fans, tea drinkers and the company supplying that tea joined forces in supporting the Cancer Hospital. The connection between Dilmah Tea and cricket was strengthened through the Dilmah Cricket network website which tabulated the amount of money raised, not just through sales of tea but also paid for every run scored, every catch and every wicket taken during matches played by the Sri Lankan cricket team. On the day when the formal partnership between Dilmah Tea and Hope Hospital was announced, Dilmah’s contribution had already reached one million rupees.

In June 2005, the Foundation donated a kidney dialysis machine to the Teaching Hospital in Kurunegala. And, since identifying an urgent need for optical care, the Foundation held a free eye clinic at the Houpe Hospital in Kahawatta. Partnering with the International Centre for Eyecare Education (ICEE), an Australian-based NGO, the Foundation ran morning and evening clinics over five days and after extensive examinations, 1395 people were prescribed glasses. Having identified such a great need for eye care, a new eye unit has been established at Pelmadulla sponsored by the Japanese company ALCON who paid for the equipment, and by the MJF Foundation which provided everything else. Treatment for such conditions as cataracts is free and any necessary medication is also given at no cost to the patient.

A medical camp organised by the MJF Charitable Foundation for plantation communities in Dickoya.

To date, six eye care programmes have been run, 4563 people have been screened, 3289 have been equipped with glasses and 352 have had cataracts removed.

In 2004, Houpe Estate Hospital was in a rather dilapidated state and was badly in need of refurbishment so the Foundation donated funds for the necessary work and provided an ambulance, technical and material support. Today, the hospital provides facilities for 3200 plantation workers and approximately 2000 from nearby villages and plantations. As a result of commitment and support from the MJF Foundation, the board of Kahawatte Plantations Ltd. pledged money to also build a Health Training Centre at the hospital.

Schools, Further Education and Community

In 2008, the MJF Charitable Foundation completed the development or construction of 74 Child Development Centres as part of an ongoing programme to construct or develop and equip such centres and primary schools. Some 3,500 children below the age of 5 are cared for at the

centres where they are provided with a nourishing meal, and where their care, intellectual and social development are facilitated using materials, equipment and training offered by the Foundation. Traditionally, tea estate crèches are of fairly basic standard but MJF Foundation’s facilities have set a new standard with spacious layout and high quality equipment.

MJF also awards scholarships to high-achieving students whose parents could not otherwise afford to send them to university or other establishments of further education. An area of particular concern, Merrill has placed special emphasis on supporting secondary and tertiary education for children in the plantation sector. Plantation workers have continuously been deprived of accessing higher education and the numbers that have gone on to receive university educations have been shamefully below the national average. Such a damning statistic demonstrates the endemic lack of opportunities and resources that have systematically impeded plantation workers and their kith and kin from accessing higher education. In rectifying this anomaly, the Foundation set up MJF Scholarship Scheme, which has thus far provided scholarships to more than 206 students, of which 106 students have already gained entrance to universities – an enlightening and encouraging statistic within a relatively short space of time. Students preparing for the General Certificate of Education – Ordinary Level examination are supported since 2010 with free English and mathematics classes under the special education project for students in 22 schools in the Talawakelle Educational Zone. Already, two batches of students have sat for the examination and the Talawakelle Zone has become the best zone in the Nuwara Eliya District.

Those with relevant qualifications and training are offered employment within the tea estate sector by MJF Plantations, so enabling them to use their education to empower themselves and to secure white collar and clerical jobs which would otherwise have been outside their scope.

Several schools in the tea regions are being supported with improvements to their infrastructure and new or enhanced IT facilities, and more than 1,500 children from Dilmah plantations are provided with school bags, books and other essential equipment at the beginning of their school year.

Nurturing children in the plantations – the MJF Charitable Foundation has built 14 new crèches and renovated nearly 60 situated in the Dilmah tea estates where over 3500 children under the age of 5 receive care, nutrition and attention.

Following pages: MJF Kids Dancing the traditional ‘Kawadi’. A nursery and crèche managed by the MJF Charitable Foundation in the Dilmah plantations.

“Knowing that your children are being cared for is a big burden off our shoulders. Now we can actually concentrate more on our work but it wasn’t always like that.” Devi, Tea Picker on Somerset Estate

Following page: “Education is a tool to get beyond a hopeless situation. I want to give these children that chance.” Merrill J Fernando

MJF Kids programme

In the vicinity of the MJF Group, lie some of the most impoverished urban dwellings in the country’s capital, Colombo. The majority of the people in these ‘slums’ are uneducated, which is a trend that tends to repeat itself from one generation to the next as products of their environment. Sadly, therefore, the children miss out on an education as their parents often keep them at home to care for other children or to help with work.

Essentially, the future prospects of these children are bleak and most are destined to work in menial jobs later in life.

Compounding this issue is the prevalence of domestic violence and abusive behaviour, a trait that manifests itself in impoverished, uneducated and crowded communes. As a result, it is impossible for these children to enjoy a normal and secure childhood.

In an endeavour to break this vicious cycle of entrenched poverty in the nearby slums, the Foundation set up the MJF Kids programme. The objective of the programme is to provide these children with education, life-skills training, and a general exposure to progressive alternatives outside of their own limited and often dreadful life-experiences. As a consequence, they will be equipped to step outside of their existing environs and establish a better quality of life for themselves and their families, one day.

Today, more than 700 children from the MJF Kids and are exposed to a life of possibility. The children gather a few times each week at the MJF premises and are guided by caring teachers in arts, crafts, sewing and IT, and are assisted in their school curriculum such as in English, science and mathematics. The children also undergo character-building exercises, leadership programmes and group activities.

The ‘MJF Kids’ are the pride and joy of the Founder and following its success, the programme is being replicated in other impoverished areas including the Founder’s hometown of Pallansena, a little fishing hamlet in Negombo, and at the Diri Daru Piyasa in Moratuwa. At the 2007 3rd Dilmah Global Distributor Conference, a boy named Lahiru stood up in front of the large international gathering and told his story. “I am from a motherless family,” he told the crowd. “I have a brother and sister and live close to the Dilmah company. Despite the adversities we are faced with in terms of housing, schooling, family and many others, we are fortunate to have the blessings of Dilmah to support us physically, mentally and spiritually. We go to the Dilmah complex every Saturday, where we are provided with opportunities to enhance our English and mathematics, computer knowledge, life skills and leadership training, sewing and cookery and other interesting things. I am aiming to make maximum use of the support extended to us by Dilmah and hope to be a doctor when I grow up. I wish to make my life and that of my brother and sister somewhat different to what we live today and I am confident that Dilmah will be with us in our life journey. On behalf of my fellow MJF Kids I thank you all.”

In 2006, a school was built at Maha Ara with money raised by Peter Kuruvita, owner of Flying Fish Restaurant in Sydney, Australia, and handed over to the community and local education authorities along with a computer training facility, library books and a herb garden which students and staff now look after. The building fulfils a duel role, functioning both as a school and a community centre.

When the Development Society of the School for the Blind at Ratmalana appealed for an Index Braille Embosser for the production of reading materials for its 300 students, the Foundation arranged for such a machine to be imported and delivered to the school for use with its computer system.

For the past 60 years the Sri Lankan Federation of University Women has provided training for undergraduates and graduates to help them prepare for the world of work but had no training centre of their own and worked out of a room hardly big enough to hold three people. In 2005, the MJF Foundation pledged its support for the establishment of such a centre where the women can run a wide range of courses in the use of computers, English language and interviewing skills.

MJF Kids Programme – A life away from the poverty, hunger and despair of Colombo’s urban slums. The MJF Kids enjoy their time at the various MJF Centres island-wide.

Following page: Using puppetry to create harmony – MJF Kids at the Moratuwa MJF Centre enjoying an evening of creativity during a puppetry lesson.

“Every time I watch the MJF Kids perform, I feel deeply moved by their boundless energy and talent. It takes so little to appreciate this talent and to harness it.” Merrill J Fernando

Following page: Traditional dancing lessons for MJF Kids at the MJF Centre in Peliyagoda.

The Daron Curtiss Centre for Graphic Design was unveiled at the MJF Foundation Centre in 2011. Supported by long time friend of the Founder, Daron Curtiss of New Zealand, this centre offers classes in Graphic Design for underprivileged children and young adults from across the country. The first batch of students, who receive entirely free training, include several who are physically disabled and for whom graphic design represents a way of economic advancement.

Following page: The MJF Foundation Centre in Moratuwa.

The MJF Foundation Centre in Moratuwa provides a multitude of facilities for children, youth, women and the differently abled.

More Work at The Plantations

As well as the schemes described already, the Foundation is constantly working to improve the overall quality of life for the plantation workers, with specific emphasis on the lives of women and children. Upto now, 14 new crèches have been built and 60 have been upgraded at the tea plantations providing the best teachers, excellent facilities, medical care, medical charts for each child to track any nutrition deficiency and oversee the administration of protein supplements and milk. All the children on the tea estates now get free milk, which is crucial for their physical and mental development. And at all plantation Child Development Centres, there is now provision of pipe-born water, nutritional midday meals for all the children under 5 years, Grade ‘A’ facilities and services, and the provision of a television and video recorder. Parents are encouraged to send all their children to the Child Development Centres at the proper age of 6 and in 2007, as an incentive, the Foundation gave 575 children a smart new school bag and school equipment on the day they started their first term.

The MJF Group continues its care of the children of plantation workers and provides scholarships for those who wish to go on to university or other further education establishments. More children from the plantations are now attending school than ever before, 206 students have gone on to further education and 106 of those have gone on to university. In the January 2012, the 100th university scholarship was awarded to the daughter of a Dilmah Plantation staff member. Merrill is aware that they will inevitably see a labour shortage on the tea plantations in the future once many of the younger generation have qualified. But as Dilhan explained, “We say to the youngsters, ‘Tea has helped you. Can we get you to come back and work for us as clerks, accountants, managers, doctors, opticians?’ The more we improve conditions on the plantations and in the villages, the more people will stay and not automatically leave for the big cities.”

Improved housing, water supply, sanitation and electricity ensure that plantation workers live in decent conditions. At Kahawatte, the Foundation has embarked on a programme to provide clean drinking water for 1600 workers and their families. Prior to the enhancement of the water supply, local people had to walk long distances to fetch water. The Foundation is also funding training in Household Cash Management and in the reduction of use of tobacco and alcohol. Because of the vastly improved conditions, educational programmes for pregnant mothers and the provision of maternity units and local clinics, post-natal deaths have dropped by 90%.

At the 2007 Distributor Conference, a woman called Devamani stood up to address the assembled crowd. She told them, “I am a tea picker from Endane Estate which belongs to the MJF Group. After the MJF Group took over that estate, things very quickly began to improve and change a great deal. We now have better roofs on our houses; water is available right at our doorstep and within our homes. Our children have been cared for and are looked after very well and there is a spacious crèche that has been given to us where the children can enjoy their time. They have much in the way of pre-school activity and outdoor play for physical stimulation. We are provided nutritious meals every day at the crèche, such as chick peas and other pulses, and we are also taught hygiene practices, and the children benefit from that. We are fortunate to be working for a plantation within the MJF Group and we thank the Foundation for all that they do to make the place were we work and live a much better one that what it was before.”

For many estate children, pursuing further education is just not possible as most parents do not have the means to support on-going education. The MJF Scholarship Scheme has enabled these children reach their full potential.

Anuruddhika Vidhanapathirana (extreme left), MJF Scholarship recipient and budding lawyer with the Founder.

Balakrishnan Satyaraj (left), the son of a tea picker on Somerset Estate, became the first child from the plantation sector to enter into medical college. He says “My success has motivated and given new hope for other students in the plantation sector to put in an extra effort in order to get a university education”.

Providing a better education for our children, supporting schools in the plantations sector and providing support classes for Ordinary Level students.

Following page: An initiative of the MJF Charitable Foundation to enhance educational standards of plantation kids.

The Diriya Centre, Siyambalanduwa

Siyambalanduwa, situated off Moneragala is one of the poorest and most underdeveloped regions in the country. The communities in this rural region have little access to education and few employment prospects and are therefore destined to be farmers who barely manage to eke out a living.

Recognising their helplessness, the MJF Foundation established the Diriya vocational training centre through the Ethical Tea Society. Diriya offers Diploma level courses in IT and dress-making, and also provides special revision classes for students sitting for the General Certificate of Education Ordinary Level examinations.

Approximately 500 students benefit from the centre and the pass rate at exams increased by 57% in just the first year of the centre’s establishment. Most students who complete training programmes at the Diriya centre find gainful employment or become self-employed based around the training programmes that it conducts.

Several programmes to uplift the lives and livelihoods of rural Sri Lankans were initiated through the MJF Charitable Foundation. The programme aims to enhance the lives of impoverished, rural women in the Weerawila and Ambalantota communities and has built and equipped two vocational training centres with sewing machines and computers, providing over a thousand women with the means to a better livelihood.

Right: Students leaving the Diriya Centre in Siyabalanduwa after support classes.

Empowering women from marginalised communities and providing a livelihood source for the future.

The arts and crafts turned out by the talented students of the School for the Hearing and Visual Impaired in Monaragala. The MJF Charitable Foundation established the Daskam Nivasa or House of Talent as a venue for carrying out vocational training and as a place to exhibit the different products developed by the students.

Following page: Differently abled students of the School for the Hearing and Visual Impaired in Monaragala busy at their sewing machines.

Caring for differently abled children is an important part of the MJF Charitable Foundation. The Foundation manages the Monaragala School for the Hearing & Visual Impaired, Sithijaya, the Merrill J. Fernando Centre for the Differently-Abled in Ambalanthota and Diri Daru Piyasa at Moratuwa all catering towards the betterment of differently abled children and youth in Sri Lanka.

Following page: MJF Cricket stars – being differently abled did not stop this team of young men from becoming the best differently abled cricket team in Sri Lanka.

Being differently abled should not stop anyone from achieving their dream. “We see the world though we are blind, we hear the world though we are deaf, we speak to the world though we are dumb. Thank you for making this possible.” Student, School for the Hearing & Visual Impaired,

Following page: Creative time at Sithijaya, the Merrill J. Fernando Centre for the Differently-Abled in Ambalanthota.

Care for the Environment

Until 2006, the MJF Foundation mainly followed an agenda of social justice but the work of the Foundation now also includes a commitment to the conservation of the environment because it has a direct impact on human life. Dilmah had already shown an interest in this area when they sponsored the World Conservation Union’s Asia Regional Conservation Forum held in Colombo in December 2003. Representatives from governments, non-government organisations (NGOs), research and scientific organisations, bilateral and multi-lateral donors, UN bodies, eminent scientists and conservationists from 23 countries came together to discuss environment and conservation issues in the region and to ensure that efforts to achieve agreed goals are well-informed, relevant, effective, compatible and connected. Dilmah’s involvement demonstrated its commitment to the wide range of issues – from sport and health to housing and conservation.

In 2007, Dilmah Conservation was announced as a business objective of the MJF Group of companies, with the aim of protecting the environment by encouraging a harmonious co-existence between man and nature. The effort of this conservation aspect of Dilmah’s activities is supported and assisted by the World Conservation Union (IUCN), the world’s largest conservation organisation which provides environmental expertise and research facilities in various parts of Sri Lanka to help implement conservation programmes and a host of other credible government institutions and organisations.

Dilmah Conservation is working to support the welfare of one of Sri Lanka’s most endearing and revered animals – the elephant. At Udawalawe, Dilmah is assisting the Department of Wildlife Conservation with the Elephant Transit Home (ETH) to establish proper facilities where wild elephants suffering from various medical conditions can be treated, and where orphaned baby elephants can be cared for, nurtured and eventually released back into the wild. There is also a resource centre which tells the story of the elephant and documents its gentle nature and family instinct, and aims to explain to farmers and smallholders how to live in harmony with these symbolic creatures.

On 5th June 2008, World Environment Day, Dilmah Conservation celebrated with a unique initiative designed to broaden awareness of issues of environmental sustainability and reduction of global warming. Dilmah and IUCN have worked to evolve a series of messages that increase awareness of issues that threaten the environment and biodiversity and offer tips on how everyone can work towards more sustainable lifestyles. Merrill championed the call to action in a symbolic tree-planting ceremony at MJF Group premises and at two other MJF companies, Timber Concepts and MJF Travel & Trucking. The Jak tree that was planted symbolises the Dilmah orientation towards environmental sustainability with a humanitarian dimension, for Jak is a native species of the Asian tropics, its broad leaves offering shade from the sun and its fruits offering food.

Dilmah has always believed that one must care for the Earth and our initiatives to support the Montreal Protocol includes the change over from ozone depleting chemicals to earth friendly substitutes in Dilmah tea gardens. Dilmah’s efforts in this regard have been commended by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) in their publication Goal Zero – Success Stories from Asia and the Pacific in phasing out ozone depleting chemicals.

Dilmah Conservation is working in the Northern and Eastern Provinces to document the status of the coral reefs and other marine environments as well as carry out research on conserving the dugong in Sri Lanka. With the end of the war, some of these areas have opened up for the first time and due to minimum levels of human interferences during the war these coral reefs and other marine environments have

remained relatively well preserved as compared to areas on the Southern coastline. However, at present easy access to these areas are creating the possibilities of future exploitation of these marine resources.

Dilmah Conservation will support sustainability efforts in Sri Lanka to create better lives and livelihoods for communities to live enriched lives causing least harm to nature around us. These efforts include ensuring sustainability in Dilmah tea gardens to improve productivity and research on high yield food crops.

A series of biodiversity assessments were carried out in Dilmah tea estates to ensure the conservation of biodiversity in tea gardens. Tea gardens have been identified to harbor various species of fauna and flora and these assessments were launched in order to identify and document these species for future conservation. As the first step, Dilmah Conservation worked with the Department of Zoology, University of Colombo and the IUCN Sri Lanka Country Office to carry out these assessments at Kahawatte and Rilhena, two estates in the Dilmah group. Some of the fish species discovered in the waterways coursing through Dilmah tea gardens have been replicated at the Mankada pottery centre. These species include various endemic and indigenous varieties.

Greening Batticaloa, is a dual purpose initiative aimed at increasing the green cover in Batticaloa while providing a livelihood option for beneficiary communities through the planting of cashew trees. According to research, Batticaloa, an area affected by two distinct natural disasters within a span of thirty tears, needs 150 sq. km of forest cover to reverse its adverse effects. Dilmah Conservation will work with the Cashew Cooperation, relevant Divisional Secretariats and the Sri Lanka Army to address this situation by planting 50,000 cashew trees within a span of three-years in some of the severely affected coastal areas. The cashew trees will form a protective green canopy which will adjust the ecosystem through carbon absorption mechanisms.

Previous page: Working with the gentle giants – Dilmah Conservation continues to protect and conserve the Asian elephant.

Work in the Udawalawe National Park and adjacent communities are part of Dilmah Conservation’s work aimed at making Udawalawe into a model national park. Dilmah supports the Elephant Transit Home (ETH) and continues to upgrade the Information Centre (following page) which functions as an information dissemination tool for visitors. The Foundation has assisted the Department of Wildlife Conservation to establish proper facilities for the treatment of wild elephants by caring for, nurturing and eventually releasing back into the wild, baby elephants that have been orphaned as a result of the human elephant conflict.

Using nature as a tool to bridge the rifts created during 30-years of protracted war is an initiative of Dilmah Conservation and Professor Sarath Kotagama of the Field Ornithology Group of Si Lanka (FOGSL). Furthermore the, Birds of Sri Lanka, a comprehensive guide on Sri Lanka’s avian fauna was published in Tamil in January 2012 as part of the initiative. This is the first publication on birds to be published in Tamil in Sri Lanka. Dilmah Conservation is also supporting the scientific community in Jaffna rebuild the Field Work Centre in order to facilitate exchange of scientific data between the people of the north and the south.

WED initiatives were launched in 2011 to inculcate conservation sense into young minds through the use of technology. Now in its second consecutive year, it is carried out in collaboration with the Sri Lanka Association for the advancement of science (SLAAS) and the Field Ornithology Group of Sri Lanka (FOGSL).The initiatives, Go wild on the web and Nature Database have created interest and enthusiasm towards environmental conservation amongst many students island wide.

Sustainable agriculture

A fundamental objective of Dilmah Conservation is to educate and impart knowledge on matters relating to the environment. The Sustainable Agricultural Research Centre (DCSARC) was established at the Moratuwa MJF Centre to focuses on biochar research as part of this objective. The Centre aims to carry out extensive research to convince government authorities involved in agriculture related activities that there is suitable technology to introduce sustainable agricultural models without being dependent on chemical fertiliser or organic fertiliser. The main CO2 pool in the world is locked in the soils, and the Centre will conduct carbon release tests before and after biochar usage to prove that carbon sequestration could be achieved by applying biochar in agriculture.

Using bioremediation methods to rejuvenate our tea industry will support healthier tea plantations in the future.

Following page: Dilmah Conservation is carrying out a pilot study at Houpé Estate in Kahawatte. Some of the methods under trial are biochar and aerated compost tea to improve soil condition naturally, without chemical additives.

Fish species discovered in the waterways coursing through Dilmah tea gardens are among the original craft replicated at the Mankada pottery centre in Udawalawe.

Kids and conservation as part of the Greening Batticaloa initiative - Involving children in conservation is a way to inculcate respect and love for the environment. This is part of Dilmah’s commitment to sustainability.

In January 2012, Dilmah Conservation laid the foundation stone to rebuild the Field Work Centre (FWC) in Thondamanaru, Jaffna. This marked a highlight of the ‘Reconciliation through Power of Nature’ programme carried out in partnership with Professor Sarath Kotagama of the Field Ornithology Group, Sri Lanka (FOGSL) and the Centre for Children’s Happiness, Jaffna (CCH) to create harmony and reconcile communities pushed apart during thirty years of war.

Bird watching and appreciating nature on the Thondamanaru Lagoon – a group of Jaffna students enjoying a rare opportunity to enjoy the benefits of nature as part of the ‘Reconciliation through Power of Nature’ programme. This event also marks the publication of the first ever Tamil publication on birds of Sri Lanka.

Following page: Firsthand experience in bird watching for the children of Jaffna.

Northern students visit the Sinharaja National Heritage Wilderness Area (also a UNESCO World Heritage Site) in South Western Sri Lanka with Professor Sarath Kotagama of the Field Ornithology Group of Sri Lanka (FOGSL) as part of the ‘Reconciliation through Power of Nature’ programme of Dilmah Conservation, FOGSL and Centre for Children’s Happiness, Jaffna (CCH).

Following page: “Nature is a common platform for everyone, be it children from the North or the South. A chance to enjoy nature gives children an understanding that it must be conserved.” Professor Sarath Kotagama

Previous page: An indigenous way of life threatened.

Uplifting the lives of indigenous communities - Sri Lanka is home to unique indigenous populations and the Veddahs are identified as the original inhabitants of Sri Lanka with a history that spans thousands of years. Their lives are affected by the onset of development and Dilmah Conservation is supporting their dignified existence through various initiatives.

Following page: Coastal Veddahs on their annual ‘Pada Yathra’ or the Pilgrimage of Faith.

Supporting traditional communities – The nomadic gypsies or the Ahikuntaka are known for their snake charming skills and colourful lifestyles. They lead lives far removed from the mainstream and face numerous difficulties in this day and age. Dilmah is supporting the preservation of their unique cultural identity through the establishment of a cultural centre.

MJF Charitable Foundation Abroad

Although most of the projects funded by the Foundation are Sri Lankan based, a few schemes are running in other countries where Dilmah sells its products. In Africa and Asia, educational projects are funded, managed and monitored through existing Dilmah market structures, while in Latvia, Lithuania and Estonia, centres funded by profits from sales of Dilmah teas provide training, counselling, food and beds for street children of all ages who have nowhere else to go.

In 2004, Dilmah supported the Cyprus Anti Cancer Society by donating 3000 mugs worth one Cyprus pound each through two supermarket chains in order to raise money for the charity. Dilmah’s agent in Cyprus, Myrto Clappa of Clappas Trading House Ltd., arranged for handouts to be available to consumers to give information about how the money from the sale of the specially designed mugs would be spent and to tell people about the health and anti-cancer properties of tea. Colourful posters were put up in every store to draw attention to the scheme and the mugs were arranged in prominent eye-catching displays near the posters and leaflets. Dilmah employees were also there to talk to consumers and discuss tea, the charity, the scheme, and the mugs. The mugs were all sold in a couple of weeks, with some customers buying more than one in their wish to donate to such a worthy campaign. Dilmah has also partnered with Hospice New Zealand by providing their tea requirement for every Hospice around New Zealand for the past 12 years. This ensures that the patients and their families and friends, volunteers and staff are always able to have a comforting cup of the finest quality tea.

Campaigns to raise money and help local charities have also been run in Vietnam, Norway, Georgia and Australia.

International Recognition

In 2005, Dilmah was honoured by the Medinge Group, an international think tank group of professionals whose aim is to influence business and society to become more humane and caring and to encourage ‘compassionate branding’. In 2005, Dilmah was prominent on the annual list that names the ‘Top Brands with a Conscience’. The list is “evaluated on criteria including evidence of the human implications of the brand, and considering the question of whether the brand takes risks in line with its beliefs. Evaluations are made based on reputation, self presentation, history, direct experience, contact with individuals within the organisations, media analysis and on an assessment of the expressed values of sustainability.”

Also in 2005, Dilmah Tea received a Presidential Merit Award in recognition of its contribution towards preservation of the environment and the promotion of an environment friendly culture. Dilmah was the only company to receive such an award in the industrial category and was praised for its efforts to make the tea plantation industry sustainable, to promote conservation and biodiversity and to support the traditional ayurvedic system of medicine.

The Merrill J. Fernando Charitable Foundation has received many donations over the years from other organisations and whereas donors cannot trace the funds paid to some of the larger, sometimes rather anonymous charities, those who give to the MJF Foundation can be sure that donations are reaching those who need help. At the end of 2006, it was announced that vast amounts of money donated by people all around the world to help tsunami victims had still, two years on, not been spent by the various charities. But the above summary of the Foundation’s work is proof that MJF Group is achieving what others have not. The team has been out into the devastated areas, is helping to put lives back together again, offering little rays of hope to those who lost so much. The practical support, the vision for a better future, the emotional and spiritual support they have given are a truly remarkable testimony to a family who really cares.

As Dilhan once wrote, “Dilmah today represents much more than a brand of tea with a commitment to quality. The brand followed its Founder in blazing a trail since it became the first brand to be picked, perfected and packed in a producing country. The Ethical Tea, Dilmah represents a philosophy that has relevance beyond its category. In benefiting the workers and community that makes Dilmah possible, it is the most pragmatic and effective example of genuinely fair trade – trade that benefits the producers beyond the token benefit that the Fair trade movement advertises. Dilmah also benefits the consumer in that the

brand, represented by the Founder, his family and team who all share his vision, listens and respects the covenant it established in 1988 with the consumer”.

Many years ago, Merrill had a dream to create a business that would go beyond traditional boundaries and be of human service. He has fulfilled his dream. Dilmah has broken through the traditional constraints of Sri Lanka’s tea industry, brings ethically produced tea to tea lovers all around the world, and renders a humanitarian service to thousands and thousands of people in Sri Lanka through the MJF Charitable Foundation. When Dilmah celebrated its 21st anniversary in 2009, events in the company’s first two markets, New Zealand and Australia, offered an opportunity to tell more consumers about the achievement of the Foundation and to repeat and reinforce the message of Merrill’s enduring desire to ensure that others benefit from Dilmah’s success.

Previous page: “My greatest joy is in their smiles.” Merrill J Fernando

Working for the welfare of our staff is an important part of the Dilmah doctrine that business is a matter of human service.

Following page: “Our greatest strength is our workforce.” Merrill J Fernando

For centuries, problems of mankind have been solved over a cup of tea Whether they were problems between nations, amongst businesses, even in families, between husbands and wives, tea has been the soothing balm that helped their solution. The simple act of pouring a cup of tea is, in itself, an ice-breaker, providing pleasurable anticipation of the goodness that is to follow. I have dedicated 63 years of my life towards providing that cup: not only to solve problems but to add sunshine, to our day, with every sip of Dilmah. Merrill J Fernando

Changing Lives

Supporting people to enhance their lives and livelihoods is an integral part of the work carried out by the MJF Charitable Foundation. The central theme of this model is to improve the standard of a capable individual and use this success to benefit the wider community. The recipients of the Small Entrepreneur Programme of the Foundation have gone a step further in becoming part of mobilising a larger community and truly Changing Lives. The following stories are a fraction of the over 10,000 lives that have been enhanced by the activities of the MJF Charitable Foundation upto now.

Sathyabama, seamstress

In a small house located in Batticaloa, in the East of Sri Lanka lives Sathyabama, a mother of four and a woman of immense courage and strength. Sathyabama has had to fend for herself and her family due to various adverse socio-economic circumstances. Her husband, a former combatant, is paralysed as a result of an injury suffered during the war. In 2004, the Indian Ocean tsunami destroyed their small fishing business that was providing a meagre income. Since then Sathyabama has been the sole breadwinner of the family. Today, Sathyabama is a successful small entrepreneur with a small clothing business thanks to the sewing machine given by the MJF Charitable Foundation. In addition to the income earned from sewing clothes, the Foundation also helped Sathyabama’s husband acquire a fishing boat in which he goes fishing with assistance from his friends. Sathyabama attributes her new lease of life to the MJF Charitable Foundation which has helped her raise her head in what seemed a hopeless situation. She says “Thanks to the MJF charitable Foundation and the support given to me, our lives have taken a happy turn and we live comfortably now”.

Thushara Madushanka is a young lad hailing from Siyambalanduwa in the Moneragala District, identified as one of the poorest areas in Sri Lanka. In 2009, he enlisted in the Sri Lanka Army after completing his secondary education to help support his parents and siblings. Misfortune struck a few months after he joined when he lost both his legs in a mortar attack, during the conflict that prevailed.

His dreams of a better life were shattered and during the 1½ years he was confined to the wheelchair, Thushara attempted to

Thushara Madushanka

end his life several times. He was at his lowest ebb, when the Sri Lanka Army stepped in and gave him a pair of artificial limbs and directed him to the MJF Charitable Foundation. The Foundation provided assistance to Thushara to purchase a custom modified 3-wheeler which enables him to drive despite his disability. Today, Thushara is the proud father of a baby boy and credits the Foundation for having given him a new lease in life.

Udayaratne, cycle repairman

An extensive burn injury at childhood left Udayaratne of Moneragala disfigured for life and suffering from impaired growth. Ostracised by society due to his disability, Udayaratne found it difficult to find employment. Despite these obstacles, Udayaratne was determined to provide a better life for his parents and his family. As he was unable to find work anywhere Udayaratne chose to start his own business – a cycle repair shop. Unfortunately he did not have sufficient resources to purchase the tools for his business and approached the MJF Charitable Foundation for assistance which was readily given. Today, Udayaratne runs a flourishing business and has found loyal clients amongst the society that initially rejected him, and has managed to build a home for himself and his parents with his earnings. Generous in nature, Udayaratne never turns away clients – even if they are unable to pay him for his services. His philosophy is that it is with the poor man’s money that he has built his business and therefore he needs to give back to the community what they have made possible.

Anuruddhika, budding lawyer

Anuruddhika Vidhanapathirana is a budding lawyer. She was able to successfully complete her Bachelor of Laws from the University of Colombo with assistance from the MJF Scholarship scheme of the MJF Charitable Foundation which supports secondary and tertiary education of children from Dilmah Plantations. Anuruddhika is not the only recipient in her family to receive a scholarship – her younger sibling, an engineering student, is presently at the Ahmadabad University in India where he is completing his Bachelor of Engineering. Anuruddhika and her brother are among the two hundred plus recipients of the MJF Scholarship scheme that supports deserving children in the plantation sector with financial aid to complete their Advanced Level examinations and university education.

Of her achievements, Anuruddhika says “my education was made possible because the MJF Foundation provided me with a scholarship. I am a proud recipient and I intend to use this opportunity to better myself and the community I live in”.

Visvanathan Bamini

Visvanathan Bamini of Point Pedro is a mother of three. Since the disappearance of her husband nearly five years ago, Bamini has struggled as a single parent to provide for her family and worked as a manual labourer for a dry fish vendor in the area. The MJF Foundation supported Bamini by providing her with the necessary utensils for commencing her own business of processing dry fish.

Today, she works in collaboration with her neighbour Donald Rajini, also a mother of three and war widow, and is able to engage in the work on her own and sell her produce direct. They both stated, “We are very grateful to the MJF Foundation for having selected deserving women in this part of the country for their project at a time when we were really in need of support as virtually no one had taken any steps to support us since the war ended several years ago”.

They are optimistic about enhancing their earning capacity through their venture.

Samantha, businessman and community leader

Samantha is a recipient of the Prison SEPs launched as part of the Reform and Integrate Programme of the MJF Charitable Foundation. This novel Programme provides livelihood support for former prisoners and enables their dignified reintegration into society that often shuns them due to the stigma associated with prison. Samantha was supported to establish his tailoring business with aid from the Small Entrepreneur Programme of the Foundation and today he employs two people from his village, offering them an opportunity for betterment as well. He is also a community leader in his village in Siyambalanduwa where a successful orange plantation is flourishing under the patronage of the MJF Charitable Foundation. Samantha has not only enabled himself with support from the Foundation, but he has also managed to enable others in his community. He is now happily married to a girl from his village and is the father of a baby girl. He is a true example of ‘Changing Lives’.