• LOCATION: Colombo, Sri Lanka
  • PROJECT: Women’s Counseling Center
  • DIRECTOR: Pastors Mich and Kaylah Dinesh
  • FINANCIAL NEED: $12,000 Rental costs for first year

More than 60 percent of women in Sri Lanka experience domestic violence—but the problem is rarely talked about. It is considered unacceptable to discuss the problem in public, so women suffer silently.

Roshan Wijemanne, CEO for local charity Community Concern, said recently that abuse is just part of everyday life in this Asian nation. “Women are still at the very bottom of Sri Lanka’s social hierarchy,’ she explains. ‘The problem is twofold. On the one hand, there isn’t enough support for them in the first place. On the other, even if there was more support, they couldn’t ask for it. They do not have a voice.”

Kaylah Dinesh wants to change that. The wife of Pastor Mich Dinesh, she carries an intense burden for the women of her country who need to talk about their pain in a safe place. The Mordecai Project is partnering with the Dinesh’s church in Colombo to build a counseling center where women can find healing and practical solutions to rebuild their lives and protect their children. To begin we need to rent a place, and eventually we will build or remodel a building.