ABDF

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.

Earlier this week I FINALLY went to see our computer lab at the school in Vantharamoolai. This has been the Project That Took Forever. In truth, our part had been done for about two months. The hold-up resulted from the CEB, the Ceylon Electricity Board. The building with the new lab wasn’t electrified, and the CEB had to send someone out to look at the place and given an estimate on how much it would cost to wire it to the power grid. Only then would they make an appointment to actually do the work. Delay, delay, delay. Additionally, it turned out the room needed to be wired internally. So we agreed to split the cost; ABDF bought the wiring and the school collected enough money to pay for the CEB to hook the building up. The cost was the same, so I think it was a fair deal.

Anyway, the place is now electrified (as it were) and the computers and internet up and running. Just in time, too, as school starts next week. So hooray!

In another fortuitous coincidence, the remaining ten computers promised by the Ministry of Education had been delivered the day before I went to the school. We had anticipated this, and bought enough furniture and wired the place sufficiently to accommodate the full 15 computers. In a way this was a bit of a risk, as you never know when government bureaucracy will actually deliver on its promises. But there they were, in their boxes in the corner, waiting to be unpacked and plugged in.

The lab itself had been completely revamped, including the fixing of windows and patching the concrete floor (paid for by the school and done by volunteers) and they even painted the room a lovely yellow (not too bright a shade, thank goodness!) and so the room looks really nice. I’m very happy that the school took this project so seriously and did its utmost to make it so complete by going the extra mile – er, kilometer.

I discussed a couple other potential projects for the school. One is the small playground in the elementary school section. During the military offensives in 2007, the school housed several thousand refugees. Unfortunately the place suffered a lot of damage, including the playground being completely wrecked. We’ve been asked to refurbish the playground next year, as there are no funds for the job. I asked our school computer lab partner, Balan, to get an estimate, and I would see if it is possible.

Additionally, the refugees destroyed over 200 sets of desks and chairs, and there has been no way to replace them. The school is now short about 250 desk-and-chair sets and so many students now sit on the floor. (Incidentally, the school has about 1,500 students of all grade levels.) I was shown huge piles of broken furniture.

The Principal and the teachers are glad they were able to help the refugees during the crisis. However, there is also an underlying anger that the refugees did so much damage. “Didn’t they understand that this is a school and all the desks they broke are school property? Didn’t they care about the children’s education?” was a question I heard twice. I understand the resentment, but at the same time the refugees were fleeing artillery bombardments with only the clothes on their backs; they probably had other things on their minds. But it is a shame that the international agencies involved with the refugees didn’t repair or replace what was destroyed.

Within the next few years, the school is also extending its English medium classes down to the first grade; currently it starts at sixth. English medium means that classes are taught completely in English, as opposed to Tamil or Sinhala. The government, realizing the serious mistake it made a generation or so ago when it abolished English medium in favor of local languages, has been slowly lowering the grade for this. Unfortunately, not all students get English medium; they have to specifically request placement. I believe that the very long-term goal is for all Sri Lankan education to be given in English, but that’s a generation or more away.

To prepare the children for this change, next month the school will start English classes for a select group of first graders. The goal is to get their English proficiency high enough so the change to English medium classes won’t cause too much hardship. The following year, they want to expand the program to all first graders. The Principal asked ABDF to help with school supplies and teaching materials. Again, I asked Balan to create a wish-list, and I said we’d see what was possible.

The truth is we’re at the bottom of the barrel money-wise for this year. We have one big project, the fence at Mangikkadu (see below) and several very small ones, and that’s all moolah we have. I’m here for two more months, so if any of you were considering helping us out, now is the time to do it.

The fence project at Mangikkadu has been started. The cement posts are all pre-made and then transported to the sight; we’ve gone ahead and ordered the posts, the wire, and other materials. It’ll probably be another week or two before they’re all finished, gathered, and transported. Then the labor of setting the fence up can begin. So stay tuned.

The last of this years’ water tanks was finished the day before yesterday (Wednesday the 27th) and so Prabha, Balan, and I drove out to Shalampailkerny to see it. The standard 10,000 liters, the full tank will provide Shalampailkerny with enough clean drinking and cooking water for three days.

Prabha then drove us out to view two more villages that have requested tanks: Karadipooval and the tongue-twistingly named Thirupperunthurai (whew!).

I’ve asked Prabha to work with the Divisional Secretary of Manmunai West Division, where all these small villages are located, to develop a wish-list for the Division. As I ruminated three or four dispatches back, we need to start concentrating new funding we get into this region. It’s severely underdeveloped, and was the front line of control between government and LTTE for 20 years, and has suffered disproportionally because of that. Prabha understands the nature of our projects, the limits, etc. so he will come up with a good, reasonable list. As a point of reference, all of our water tanks have been built in Manmunai West (Navatkadu, Mangikkadu, Palakkadu, and Shalampailkerny), as is the current fence project (Mangikkadu).

Last Sunday I was able to bike up to Valachchenai to see the two houses were are refurbishing. Despite the promises, they still weren’t complete 100%, which I found disappointing. Our part, the cement floor and wall/ceiling posts, had been completed but the re-cadjan-ing of the walls hadn’t. So the two families living there STILL had not moved in. I was promised that the palm-leaf walls would be installed within the next few days. I might just schlep up there tomorrow to make sure it’s done.

Lastly I need to figure out the funding for a tsunami affected family we support. We are sponsoring the education of the youngest girl of the family, Abi, who will enter first grade in September. We pay for her tuition, an after-school tutoring class, and her transportation to and from school. It costs a bit over $500 for the school year, and I have about half the money. Can anyone spare some cash?

On a more mundane level, life here continues as usual. My only complaint is that the heat is up again. Not only is this uncomfortable, but it means electricity demand goes up, which means the current is lower (my ceiling fan is set on 5, but barely rotating), which means that blackouts are frequent (it’s 10AM and already we’ve had three), which means… you get the picture. Last night it was so warm that when I lay me down to sleep the bed felt warm to the touch. Not a good sign.

But, hey! As I said I love August!

This entry was posted on Friday, August 28th, 2009 at 11:07 pm and is filed under Letter from Batticaloa. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.