A tower built to pay for the children, permanently

Makola Muslim Orphanage began in 1962 with just 12 children and has since grown into one of the largest homes of its kind in Sri Lanka. But the need has grown faster than any single home can absorb: an estimated 20,000 Muslim orphans across the country still go without steady care, and organisations like ours currently reach only a small share of them.

To close that gap sustainably, rather than relying only on year-to-year donations, our Board of Management is developing a 12-storey office and shopping complex on 87 perches of land the orphanage already owns, at No. 95, Hyde Park Corner, Colombo 02. Rental income from the finished building is intended to fund the orphanage's running costs permanently, freeing up donations to go toward expanding the number of children we can take in, our target is around 2,000, and toward supporting orphaned girls being raised at home.

The total cost of the project is estimated at about US$20 million, and we're raising it through the generosity of donors and institutions around the world. We also hope the project will let us expand our vocational training into a fully-fledged technical institute for our older students.