ABDF

Shanthi, cricket fanatic.

Meet Shanthi.

This lovely lady is Shanthi. Shanthi is currently in the 7th grade at a local school in her home village of Kaluthavalai. She has three older sisters and one younger brother. He father harvests bettle leaf while her mother takes care of the house, family, and sells Read the rest of this entry »

Naduvil, teacher and extreme gardener.

Meet Naduvil Thamby Konesarajah.

Naduvil is a teacher at Kaluwankerny Vidlayalam, where ABDF.org constructed a computer lab.

Suja, WWF fan.

Meet Sujanthan.

Suja (for short) is 10 years old and lives in the rural village on Navatkadu, the site of our water tank project. He likes to play cricket, and his hero is John Senna, the American wrestler. He’s only seen Senna on video a couple of times (World Wrestling Federation is very popular in Sri Lanka), but wants to be like him because “he’s very tall and I want to have a beautiful body like him.”

Mrs. Nesamany lives in a tiny one room shack.

Meet Mrs. Agnes Nesamany.

Mrs. Nesamany is 65 years old. She was born and raised in Batticaloa, and when 22 married a man named John.

They had four children, two of which lived to see adulthood. During the ethnic conflict, both husband and surviving male child were killed. Mrs. Nesamany’s husband was murdered during a still unsolved massacre in the village of Kokadacholai. Read the rest of this entry »

Manuela Nayantara, future author.

Hi everyone!

Meet Manuela Nayantara. She’s 13 years old, and a 9th grade student at St. Cecilia’s Girls School.

Although she doesn’t have any brothers or sisters, she has three best friends at St. Cecilia’s, from whom she’s inseparable. Which makes the fact that they are in the same class all the better. Right now, Manuela is taking math, English, social studies, health science and as an elective, Western Music. She plays the piano, which she likes, and is learning the clarinet, for which she’s not quite as excited. She also likes to play badminton, but her real passion is reading and especially, writing.