The Village People grew and evolved gradually out of a strong friendship between Fran and Vanaja, two women living thousands of miles apart, brought together by coincidence or luck or fate. After teaching secondary school English for 8 years in the UK, Fran left for Sri Lanka at the start of 2019 to lead a teacher training project for an international charity in Kantale. Fran lived with Vanaja and her two sons for 6 months throughout the duration of the charity programme. Despite not talking each other’s language, their connection was quick and their bond became strong. It was on the teacher training programme that Fran met Abdullah, a local English teacher. Abdullah welcomed Fran into her home inviting her over to share delicious meals and spend time with her family. A friendship grew and Abdullah became instrumental in the development of The Village People.
It was during the pandemic that Vanaja began feeding local villagers from her living room. She was being funded by her family and friends abroad to operate what essentially became an unofficial food bank. Vanaja was awarded ‘Social Worker of the Year’ in Kantale, despite no qualifications or employment: she did it from the kindness of her heart and her strong sense of compassion. Fran greatly admired Vanaja’s work and began fundraising too as well as supporting her on the ground when she visited Sri Lanka.
Bolstered by two strong women, Fran received a bolt of inspiration from a friend’s mum (and now committed supporter) to set up a charitable organisation. The words, “why doesn’t Fran set up a charity?” struck like lightning. And so, Fran began the process. Her first big fundraiser was a success beyond Fran’s expectations, raising thousands of pounds. And so….the ball was rolling…and it wasn’t long before The Village People was born.
The Village People’s initial aims were to provide local people in and around Kantale with food parcels. In 2022, Sri Lanka was a country in crisis: the pandemic hit hard; the country was in political crisis seeing protests on the streets; the prime minister was ousted. In addition, the country fell into an economic crisis seeing levels of inflation sky-rocket (this really took its toll on people living in rural locations); the country defaulted on its international debt; and imports were halted. Food and medicine became expensive, and often unaffordable commodities. To make matters even more challenging, the government has implemented an overnight ban on pesticides meaning crop harvests dipped and the country’s staple, rice, was no longer reliable. In 2022, Sri Lanka became a country facing starvation.
After an initial few months of providing food parcels, they began to consider how to support villagers in the longer-term. It was here that Abdullah came up with excellent ideas to plant up crop fields and supply animals to local families and smallholders. And so, after just four months of being founded, The Village People planted up 9 peanut fields; after 8 months, we planted up 2 rice paddy fields; and within 10 months, we were providing goats and chickens to villagers. The Village People has a working model of longer-term, sustainable food security as well as continuing to support vulnerable people with short-term food supply.
The Village People 