COLOMBO, Sri Lanka – In Sri Lanka people with disabilities number 274,000 out of a population of almost 20 million. Most suffer from different kinds of physical disabilities but quite a few (14 per cent) suffer from mental problems as well. The number of young people tops 87,000 or 31.7 per cent, but their condition has deprived many of them of an education, forced as they are to rely exclusively on their families’ help.

The Congregation of the Brothers of Charity help people living with disabilities.

The father of one of the children helped by the men religious talked about his situation. He is Buddhist and his son is mentally disabled.

'We went from place to place in search of the right solution for our boy, but only in the Nisansala School for the disabled run by the Brothers of Charity did we find a happy and peaceful solution. They told us: ‘Yes! There is room for your child’.'