Majuwana School
We bought all the children in this school shoes and socks and once again all the children were very grateful. We have now given the school 90,000 (£450.00) rupees to carry out the following repairs for the toilets.
- New toilets, pans, re-tile floors, new door and frames.
- New drainage to girls outside urinal, new floors and tile floors and walls.
- Rebuild new steps leading to toilets. New wall to side of toilet for safety purposes.
Miss Nishamani Tharukshi
I went to vist a family to give the two children shoes. I always make sure I call later on in the day, when Im least expected, to check on how they live and if they really are poor. The mother works as a cleaner and spends approx one sixth of her income paying for extra education lessons for her daughter, who wants to become a teacher. The family are immensely poor and it is sad when you look at her daily shopping basket, which is so small it really makes you think life is so very unfair.
Grandmother and daughter sleep in the only bed, while the mother and son sleep on the floor in the living room.
I purchased food and shoes and a mattress for the family and arranged to help pay for the childs education, which will enable the mother to have more money to spend on food.
Shoes for Children
Once again, this is a super project and all together we purchased 460 Pairs, including two new schools which we had not visited before. So many children are immensely happy and it averaged out £3.50 for a pair of shoes and
socks. This is my favourite project and if possible I would like to buy 500 plus pairs every year.
Unfortunately, I still had a few schools yet to visit, but I run out of time. However, my daughter and her friend Nicola who had travelled out a week later than us, presented shoes in a few schools and made presentation speeches, as they stayed a week after we left. As the toilets and well projects were unchartered territory, I had no idea of costs, so therefore, we still have money left in Sri Lankan bank account. We will use this as soon as
possible, probably on shoes and possibly another school in Galle which also, has no water in their toilets.
We firmly believe that educaton is the best way to help. It is with this in mind, if we are asked to help, we certainly will do so, where we can. All we ask of them is something in return. That is, simply, anyone we help, we insist they must attend school regularly. We also insist that any individuals we help learn to speak English, as this is so important to secure a better chance of a more successful future.
Pens
This did seem a very good idea and “Barclays Bank” ( Barry) kindly donated 750 pens, which was loaded into every little slot in our suitcase. Every day while I was out, I took with me forty or so pens and was always distribuiting them on buses etc.
An awlul lot of children were very happy to receive them, but I also had many requests from adults, some of which were very very insistent that they also needed pens.I even distributed some pens at the local bank! However, every day giving out pens was a bit weary, and at the end of our hols I still had approximately one hundred left, which I then left for Aimee to distribute. Once again this very simple gift left a lot of people happy, although I would be very glad not to see another Barclays pen for a while!
Diving
Sadly, I did not get in as much diving as I would have liked, due to work on the toilets. However, one day my local diving school had forty new students to teach. They were all ex “Coral skin divers” ( which has now been banned) and this was a government program to give them the possibility of a job within the diving industry. I was therefore asked to help with the training.
I was the only person who had a “Dive Sites Lanka” tee shirt. Due to business not being good they had not ordered for a while and no one else had one. Needing to look very professional, as there was a chance of further enrolments for the dive school, if this worked, I had a marvellous idea.
I went quickly back to the hotel and returned with six brand new tee shirts. Sadly, as I had not opened them previously, I did not realise we had one of every size, so I ended up wearing the “extra exra large.” However, we did all look the same and it did show a united front.
These tee shirts were once again donated by “Barclays Bank”, with the logo clearly printed on the front.
Sorry Barclays, I know these shirts were not meant for this, but the whole group looked professional and my dive centre may end up with more work.
As we have mentioned previously, all running costs are paid for by ourselves i.e stamps, letters, printing photos, flights, accomadation, etc nothing is take out from the donations. We had a late donation of £2064 from “Ysgol Glan Taf “ which, as previously reported, was used on our toilet and well projects. We are extremely grateful to all of the teachers, staff and most of all, the pupils, who raised the money in the first place.
One day i was on my travels and started to talk to two teachers from devon. They had been sent by the local authority as a group of about thirty to see how the children and schools worked over their. They stayed at the Coral Gardens Hotel (one of the best) and were visting schools etc, which is a fantastic idea to see the differences between the two countries educational needs and haves. However at the end of the day it was just a free Jolly.
Saying that i am the worst person in the world to put their hand up for a freebie so i can’t criticize.
Would it not be far better for some one over here to influence our authority to pay to bring over teachers from over there. With teachers earning approx £80 per month it is totally beyond their means. Who knows one of my supporters over here may have some clout with the right people.
I would have no problem putting someone one up in our home and i think others would do the same so it is only air fares that need funding. Just a little seed planted and who knows their are a lot of clever teachers out their who may have connections.
We had £5350.00 to start with.
We are, however, owed £350, as we ordered travellers cheques and forgot that the donation from Barclays was in travellers cheques so we were £350 short. So we put in an extra £350 to cover. This money has not yet been taken back.
Many thanks once again to our supporters who have helped us in our task, to help others. It is no exageration to say that many of the children we helped would have dreamed of owning a pair of shoes and we have together made many of these deams come true. Many thanks also to St. Helens Infant School, Ysgol Glan Taf and Barclays Bank ( Holton Road).
We spent a total of:
Shoes - £1610.00
Toilets (Horigampita School) - Approx £800 not finished yet
Toilets (Majuwana School) - £440.00
Shrimping Boat, nets - £165.00
Mattress, food, Tuk Tuk Hire etc. - £100.00
We currently have three bank accounts in Srilanka, amounting to a total of £2376.00 (£350.00 of this is ours).This will be spent as soon as we are able, on more shoes and toilet facilities.
Many thanks, once again for all your support. Without your generosity, we would not have been able to accomplish all this. Your kindness is so much appreciated. I am really sorry that i did not spend all the money due to running out of time. However i am currently talking to two other schools about well and toilet projects
Cavan A. Sullivan.
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