Siva Poomi Flourishes in Sri Lanka

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As you may know, in 2009 our Siva Poomi Elderly Home purchased 300 lachchams of land (about 40 acres) in Jaffna with the help of 6 families from California. We call this land Siva Poomi Farm.

Since then, much work has been done on the farm. When we purchased the land, it was abandoned and overgrown; now the land has been cleared and fenced, and we put a small building on it with a water tank. This is the third year we have planted rice in the 100 lachchams paddy field and are expecting a good harvest early in 2012. This rice will be used for Elderly Home meals. On the rest of the land, we have planted 400 coconut trees, mango trees, banana and lemon trees. We have also planted onions and vegetables. We now have a small dairy with 6 cows on the farm. Any milk produced in excess of what is used for the elderly home is sold locally. The farm has two full-time employees; seasonally we hire local people to work on the farm.

Our sincere thanks go to Manitha Neyam Trust and the donors. Click here to donate to this trust via the Hindu Heritage Endowment. In March, we purchased a two-wheeler tractor for the farm. We are a long way from being fully self-sufficient, but we are on our way to it. The farm not only provides for the Elderly Home, it also provides employment locally.

Thanks to a small group of kindhearted souls halfway around the world in California, people are obtaining benefit from their generosity in their motherland.

In Peace,

Rishi Thondunathan

PS. I am enclosing some photos of the farm and the Elderly Home for you to enjoy.