In the small southern Sri Lankan town of Kataragama, high school student Gamini Nawaratne eagerly awaits his monthly mail from Japan.

The letter includes words of encouragement from its sender, fellow Sri Lankan and Gifu University student Dasantha Wickramasinghe, who also encloses 1,000 yen of his school loan — enough to ensure that Nawaratne, 17, can continue his studies.

While Nawaratne and his sponsor have never actually met, both are benefiting from a nongovernmental organization established in Japan almost 15 years ago.

The Herath Foundation was set up in 1985 by two brothers from Sri Lanka, Susantha and Ajantha Herath, who at that time were studying in Japan on Education Ministry scholarships.

The brothers each put aside 10,000 yen of their scholarship every month in order to establish the foundation. Soon Sri Lankan and Japanese friends were lending their support.

The Heraths' aim was to help impoverished children in rural areas of Sri Lanka pursue an education that, according to Susantha Herath, is limited to a "blessed and privileged" few.

"In Sri Lanka, education is free. ... But in reality, only a third of the nation's children can attend school, and half of those students are forced to drop out," said Herath, who is currently an associate professor at Aizu University in Fukushima Prefecture, from where he manages the foundation's activities.

"Our aim is to support students in rural areas who cannot continue studying due to financial problems."

The Herath Foundation, which also has an office in Sri Lanka, provides similar scholarships for schoolchildren in Bangladesh and Fiji.

Additional activities include sending disused ambulances and fire engines from Japan for use in Sri Lanka, and the foundation has built two day-care centers in needy areas of the country.

In 1996, the foundation was registered as an NGO in Japan, and the Sri Lankan Parliament approved it as a nonprofit entity last year.

Since its inauguration, the foundation has received donations totaling some 30 million yen and has supported the education of over 2,000 children in Sri Lanka and other countries.

It has 600 sponsors in Japan, ranging from elementary school and university students to small businesses. Donations are also received from sponsors in the United States, Australia, Britain, Germany and France.

In addition, hundreds of graduate and undergraduate students, like Wickramasinghe, have secured places at Japanese universities with the backing of the foundation's Lankasakura Fund, which is basically an interest-free loan, but one that can be repaid in a unique way.

Said Wickramasinghe: "According to Herath Foundation stipulations, I can pay the loan straight back to the foundation, or support another's education back home. Either way, I pay off my loan, so it's not a choice I had to think too hard about.

"I've been there myself — I know what it's like to have no money to study."

Herath, too, knows the struggle Sri Lankan students go through to keep up their school attendance. He regularly receives letters from grateful HF scholarship recipients, many of which serve to reinforce his commitment to the project.

One boy who wrote to thank Herath said his family had no home and spent their days living under a tree.

"But the boy was able to attend school. That kind of letter reaffirms for me the importance of what we are doing," Herath said.

"It's very rare for children to die of starvation in Sri Lanka. They can survive. ... But their lives can be improved, and we thought ... education is the main tool to facilitate that."

HF awards one scholarship per high school, and limits recipients to those living in rural areas of the country.

Principals of the schools make a short-list of appropriate students, who, if selected, will receive a monthly scholarship of 300 rupees (700 yen) for two years to help with such things as school bus fares, textbooks and cram school fees.

A 10-km bus trip to school would cost a few rupees, according to Herath.

In addition, the schools of those recipients get donations for libraries and sports facilities, and so on.

Twice-yearly progress reports determine whether the student's scholarship should be continued.

Herath said that without a scholarship, he himself would have struggled to enter university. "In Sri Lanka, 200,000 students sit for the Advanced Level (SAT-equivalent) exams, and about 80,000 qualify to go to university. But only 8,000 of them can actually go" due to financial constraints, he said.

According to Herath, HF has so far put 1,452 students through university. Last year alone it provided funding for 54 students to receive higher education.

Gifu University student Wickramasinghe admits that without the HF's funding he, too, could not have attended university.

"It's expensive here, and I don't have the money to go out and have fun," said Wickramasinghe, who also gets up at 5 a.m. daily to work a part-time job before classes start at 10 a.m.

"But I want to share my good fortune. I have a chance to fulfill my dream. But to encourage someone to realize their dream — that's equally fulfilling."