Child Empowerment International

Reduce the cycle of poverty in areas of civil unrest through empowering & educating marginalized children.

Child Empowerment International (CEI) has worked since 1998 to create bright futures for marginalized children in regions of civil unrest. We are an education-based non-profit organization, providing schooling for over 6,800 underprivileged children and orphans. We care for and provide leadership development for 400 orphans at our two Leadership Academies (children's homes) a few miles north of the Sri Lankan capital of Colombo. We provide an environment of stability and healing for children rescued from sexual exploitation, poverty and child soldier abduction. CEI is a registered 501(c)3 non-profit organization with an overall staff of 290 teachers and employees. Operating under the name Asiana Education Development in South Asia, and Africa Education Development in Uganda.

As part of our mission to empower the forgotten child, CEI is involved in numerous community health projects and incorporates environmental sustainability projects at our two Leadership Academies in Sri Lanka.

In 2004 when a devastating 30-foot tsunami wave hit the coasts of several South Asian countries, Asiana Education Development (CEI in Sri Lanka), was uniquely positioned to assist in the massive disaster relief effort, having been working in Sri Lanka for the past 10 years. Our field staff's work in the months following the tsunami included coordinating military relief efforts, bringing in medical teams, gathering and burying the dead, trauma counseling, water purification, setting up refugee camps, and overall channeling millions of dollars in international aid and supplies to some of the hardest hit areas of the island.