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Saturday, October 17, 2009

Well, for better or for worse, for good or bad, for sure, for real, this year’s work is now finished. And I for one am quite relieved. In particular because it looked like our last project, the one at St. Cecilia’s Girls’ School, wasn’t going to happen while I was still here.

In many ways, this particular project was a lot more complex than the ones we typically run. First off, it involved computers, the technical aspects of which I know very little. When I read the computer specs my mind goes numb half way down, usually around where GHTZ are mentioned. Remember all those Peanuts specials when we were growing up, and whenever an adult spoke it was always “Wa wa wawa wa?” That’s what happens to me when I read these computer specs. Thank goodness that Angela, the funder of this, is an engineer and can asses the specs at a glance.

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Wow! Only one more month in Sri Lanka! Tempus fugit – time flies – as the expression goes.

We had a last minute project request that I finished up earlier this week. It was one of those quick-n-dirty little projects I like to end the season with. A cousin in the extended family with whom I live, Suhi, asked our help in setting up a Math Lab at his alma mater, Hindu College, here in Batticaloa.

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Monday, September 14, 2009

August is over, and all our big projects, especially those involving schools, are finished. The last school-based project, barring one (see below) was the fence around the school in Mangikkadu. It was completed a week or so ago, just before the start of school. So yes school is in; it began last Monday, the 7th of September, much to the sorrow of uncounted Sri Lankan kids, and the exhausted relief of their parents.

I am thrilled to announce a brand-new major project at St. Cecilia’s Girls’ School, where we sent all those English-language books last year. Sister Elizabeth, the principal, and one of the most admirable of people I know here, has been asking for our help on expanding and upgrading the school computer lab. In addition, she’s been trying to get a scanner, and multimedia projector system, as well as a computer for the English Library. The cost for all this, even in Sri Lanka, is formidable, and beyond our means; just the 20 computers alone would use up most of our project budget.

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As I said in my last letter, I love the month of August. Projects really move fast, since our local partners are all on vacation from work. The last ten days have continued too prove this.

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Mary Bernadad Sithamparappilai first met Project Director Bennett Hinkley a few months after the tsunami back in 2005, before ABDF was formed. At the time he was working with a group of independent volunteers engaged in projects to help deal with the tsunami crisis. Mary told her story, which has since been verified: