A father walks into the office of Sarvodaya, with two children. One is four years old. The other is a ten-month old baby. Both are severely malnourished. The baby is also a polio victim. The mother had died at childbirth and the father is unable to look after the children. He wants to hand over the children. The children are accepted. A new childcare programme begins at Sarvodaya. Suwasetha is born. That was in 1975.

The two children grew up to be useful citizens to society. The elder girl, Shanthi works at Sarvodaya as a clerk and is happily married to a Sarvodaya Project Manager. When she got married, she had over Rs.100,000 in a savings account - money that a German lady sent her while being her sponsor.

The other girl, Malkanthi is unmarried and is employed in a communications centre. She visits Suwasetha regularly.

Suwasetha is an integral part of Sarvodaya, a Gandian style people's movement dedicated to non-violence and to the empowerment of people through Shramadana (self-help and collective support). Sarvodaya is the largest grassroots non-government organization (NGO) in Sri Lanka with its movement having an established presence in over 15,000 villages in 34 districts with 1,500 staff engaged through out the Island.

Founded by a Sri Lankan schoolteacher in 1958, the philosophy of Sarvodaya is based on Buddhist-Gandhian philosopy working across all ethnic and religious communities. The movement is dedicated to the sustainable empowerment of people through self-help and collective support; to the alleviation of rural poverty through active participation and engagement of the villagers themselves; and to non-violence and peace.