Dear Ms. President,

I would like to tell you about a social project in your country which deserves your attention: Little Smile Chidren's Village at Koslanda. During the past two years this project to help abandoned children and orphans has been established in the highlands near the town of Haputale. Little Smile has already gained considerable recognition in Germany, so that the project has been listed amongst the ten most successful and committed aid organisations.

44 children currently live in three houses in the children's village at Koslanda. A total of 11 different subjects are taught in our school. And ours is the only school in the region in which English and computer skills are taught. A carpentry workshop and a sewing room complete our training facilities.

We have built both a Buddhist temple and a Hindu temple because in Little Smile Sinhalese and Tamil children live together as brothers and sisters.

The project is run by the Little Smile Association.

Our cultivation of medicinal herbs is also highly renowned. We already cultivate nearly 900 different species of medicinal plants. We work in association with the five star hotel Lanka Princess in marketing oils and creams produced according to Ayurveda recipes. We also deliver roses regularly to this hotel.

We are in close cooperation with the monks of the cliff monastery of Dimbulagala and have begun the construction of an orphanage for war orphans there.

We aim to establish Little Smile as a financially independent institution within four years with income from extensive pepper plantations, the cultivation of roses and medicinal herbs, and the production of furniture.

I have financed this project primarily from my own savings and have invested a total of 80 million RS here to date.

Little Smile is regarded by major international aid agencies as a unique model project. There are regular reports about Little Smile on German television. Even the ambassador of the Federal Republic of Germany has already visited us and Little Smile has been proposed for funding by the European Union.

Although I am a foreigner, I have invested a substantial proportion of my time, energy and financial resources in this project. And although I own a film production company here in Germany and am a very successful producer and presenter in a state television company, I have lived in your country for nearly two out of the past four years, working for Little Smile. I know from firsthand experience the problems which your country has to struggle with.

What Sri Lanka needs least in other countries around the world is bad publicity. I have therefore produced a variety of cultural films and travel films in order to help promote tourism.

I have been able to persuade large international companies to sponsor the training of children in Little Smile.

As president of Sri Lanka I believe you can be proud of having a project such as this in your country, especially because many social projects tend to be a source of bad publicity at the moment. Unfortunately we have not yet received any kind of support from the authorities in your country. On the contrary:

Dear Ms. President, I am now asking for your help for these 44 Sri Lankan children. Any help that you are able to give us would of course be given publicity in Germany.

I am confident that you, honourable president, care very much about your poorest citizens and I hope that Little Smile, Koslanda will soon enjoy the support from your authorities which it deserves.

Eichstätt, 9 March 2001

Respectfully yours,
Michael Kreitmeir
President