Tissapura Library and Computer Lab

Posted on October 19, 2007 by Mark

Having taken the children on a school trip earlier in the year, we embarked on our first major building project at the school – a library and a computer lab. As with other recent projects, Tissapura already had a couple of disused classrooms, which we could renovate.

Luckily both classrooms required very little building work to secure them from the elements and we were able to save money on the wiring costs as a monk from the neighbouring temple was a skilled electrician and did the work for free.

All in, the project costs us nearly US$5,500.

The photo right shows one of the flower girls from the opening ceremony. The school put on a great show.

We were particularly impressed by the English teacher who had prepared simultaneous translations of all the songs and speeches.

 

Weerahela Library

Posted on October 17, 2007 by Jackie

This school was recommended to us by our computer centre manager, Tharindu. He had worked at the school as a volunteer English teacher and was very keen for us to help as he felt it had suffered a lot of neglect.

We decided to start off with a library and like all our other projects we made sure we included a lot of novels that children would enjoy reading – Sinhalese versions of Harry Potter and Tintin, as well as school syllabus books.

As with all our projects, the school was keen to have a traditional opening ceremony. This always begins with the school band marching in under a welcome Thoruna and ends with refreshments all round. In most schools, the band will have a special uniform.

As I waited for the opening ceremony at Weerahela to start, Tharindu pointed out that the marching band were wearing their school uniforms. It is a poor area and they could not afford costumes.

 

Uduwila Library and Computer Lab

Posted on October 5, 2007 by Jackie

Like Mahasenpura School before it, one of the things which drew us to Uduwila School was the Principal’s willingness to allow the school’s facilities to be used as a community resource.

The school had a number of derelict buildings, one of which was right by the main gates and ideal to create a library that local villagers could visit after school hours.

At a cost of US$10,000 we renovated three classrooms, turning two into a junior and senior school library and a third into a computer lab. We bought a TV and DVD player for the infants’ library so we could establish a cinema club for children that do not have TV sets at home.

This is run by our Project Officer Mr Teddy, who brings a new film every Saturday.

In the senior school library, we installed a big sofa to make reading a more relaxing and comfortable experience. We are also sponsoring one of the school’s teachers to act as an out-of-hours librarian, enabling the school to open on a Saturday.