Chairman's Review

It's with great pleasure that I pen a few words to show my deep appreciation on behalf of Manitha Neyam Trust, incorporated under the Trust Ordinance in July 1999. We started off concentrating mainly on providing relief to civilians affected by the war in the North and East of Sri Lanka, details of which are given in this report.

The victims affected by the civil strife include children who have lost their breadwinner; deaf, blind and disabled children and elderly persons who have become destitute, as a result of their kith and kin either losing their lives or having fled the country.

Tsunami struck the coastal areas in the North, East and South of this country on the 26th of December 2004. We took immediate measures and provided relief to the people affected, by distributing dry-rations and utility items such as cooking utensils, sewing machines, bicycles and uniforms to the school going children. We have also embarked and provided long-term livelihood measures to the victims in these affected areas, by supplying boats, motors and fishing nets.

We are pleased to state that we have had the support of concerned individuals from this country and U.S.A., U.K, Australia and Canada and the trustees of these organizations have put in a lot of effort to solicit donations for the benefit of the needy people of this country.

We are so proud to express our appreciation and sincere thanks to the Perkins Blind School in Boston for having provided 10 Braille machines to the children in Iniya Valvu Illam in the Mullaitivu district. We also obtained further 14 Braille machines to Iniya Valvu Illam. It is heartening to note that seven of these children have gained admission to the University of Jaffna. We are very confident that by providing a few more Braille machines, many more students would be able to enter the universities of this country.

We write to mention that during the recent past escalation of hostilities has caused further hardships to the people in Vanni, and most of them are displaced more than once. On top of this the inflation in the country is in the region of 25% to 30% causing a sharp rise in the cost of living mainly the cost of essential items such as food, clothing, medicines and other basic needs. This is worse in the Vanni as the essential items are in short supply due to restrictions in transport. The INGOs have now left Vanni and this has put us into filling the gap by providing more funds to the different homes.

As you know, there is a great demand for humanitarian services of this nature in this country and we sincerely hope and pray that more donors from this country as well as abroad will come forward to help us achieve our goals.

I wish to conclude by thanking all those for their generous contributions.

V. Kailasapillai
Chairman
Manitha Neyam Trust
Sri Lanka

TO THE MEMBERS OF "MANITHA NEYAM TRUST"

 

Report on the Financial Statements

We have audited the accompanying financial statements of "Manitha Neyam Trust", which comprise the Balance sheet as at 31st March 2008, and the related Statement of Activities for the year then ended, and a summary of significant accounting polices and other explanatory notes.

Management's Responsibility for the Financial Statements

Management is responsible for preparation and fair presentation of these financial statements in accordance with the Sri Lanka Accounting Standards. This responsibility includes designing, implementing and maintaining internal control relevant to the preparation and fair presentation of financial statements that are free from material misstatement, whether due to fraud Or error} selecting and applying appropriate accounting polices and making accounting estimates that are responsible in the circumstances.

Scope of Audit and Basis of Opinion

Our responsibility is to express an opinion on these financial statements based on our audit. We conducted our audit in accordance with the Sri Lanka Auditing Standards. Those standards require that we plan and perform the Audit to obtain reasonable assurance whether the financial statements are free from material misstatement.

An Audit includes examining, on a test basis, evidence supporting the amounts and disclosures in the financial statements. An audit also includes assessing the accounting principles used and significant estimates made by the Management, as well as evaluating the Overall financial statement presentation.

We have obtained all the information and explanations which to the best of our knowledge and belief were necessary for the purpose of our audit. We therefore believe that our audit provides a reasonable basis for our opinion.

Opinion

In our opinion, so far as appears from our examination, the trust maintained proper accounting records for the year ended 31st March 2008 and the financial statements give a true and fair view of the trust's state of affairs as at 31st March 2008, its Excess Expenditure over Income for the year then ended in accordance with Sri Lanka Accounting Standards.

Kanesalingam & Co.
Chartered Accountants
2 A, Ranjan Road, Off Station Road, Colombo 06.
27th May 2008