Berendina Microcredit Institute (Guarantee) Ltd.

mrs. berendina borst from the netherlands, visited sri lanka for the first time in 1982, where she saw most of the people living below the poverty line. in addition, these villagers were engaged in unproductive trades and subsistence farming, while living in basic or makeshift houses. also living in this village was a mrs. eva mudalige, a remarkable teacher of english, who was committed to social service. mrs. borst met mrs. mudalige and they became close friends. eventually, becoming partners in work, they wanted to help this poor community of garagoda come out of poverty. a trust named 'berendina stichting' was created in 1987 by mrs. borst to continue her work, which she had begun in sri lanka, before she passed away that same year. she appointed her banker, mr. bas timmermans as the chairman and prof. a. h. m. santen and mr. john smit as directors. that same year, berendina stichting started working in yatiyantota, continuing to help the poor families in garagoda. this village r