ABDF

Navatkadu A-Level Exam Tutoring Project

Bennett Hinkley — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 05:17:00 +0000

Happening Now!
Location: Navakadu, Batticaloa
Recipients:32 Students
Objective:Get students into university for the first time
Estimated cost:$900.00

This is a project dear to the heart of both the school and ABDF: the goal is to get one or more students, for the first time in the schools’ history, into university. If we can do this, then there will be momentum among other students similar to what we are now seeing among our O-Level kids.

Panic In The Streets

Bennett Hinkley — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 15:13:58 +0000

So as many of you know by now, there was a massive earthquake in the Indian Ocean, with a resulting tsunami warning. The earthquake was felt even in Sri Lanka, but I didn’t notice it; perhaps as an old earthquake hand from California, I just notice them if they are big. Anyway, since I don’t [...]

Update! Our well at Mahilavaddavan is finished!

Bennett Hinkley — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 06:18:46 +0000

I’m happy to report that this very important project has been successfully completed. Rains were rather sparse this past monsoon, and so the water level was low enough to work on the expansion of the well right away. We hired a construction crew and rented a backhoe and within a week the entire thing was [...]

2011 O-Level Exam Results are in! Big Success!

Bennett Hinkley — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 09:13:03 +0000

The results of the O-Level exams at our school in Navatkadu are in, and I’ve got some fantastic results to report. The exams themselves were taken last December. As you will recall, we hired teachers to give extra classes in the six required subjects after school and on the weekends; in essence we almost doubled [...]

Karadi Pooval Water Tank

Bennett Hinkley — Wed, 04 Apr 2012 04:06:27 +0000

Happening Now!
Location: Karadai Pooval, Mamunai West, Batticaloa
Recipients:35 families
Objective:No more salty water!
Estimated cost:$1,200.00

Also typical is the water problem the folks at Karadai Pooval face; for six months of the year they can access water with their communal hand pump tube well, but during the dry season the water table sinks below the bedrock (about 25 feet down) where the water becomes saline. Thus the problem is one of water storage and management, not drought.

Stepping Right Into It

Bennett Hinkley — Mon, 19 Mar 2012 09:22:20 +0000

Hello and welcome to our 2012 season in Batticaloa! I’ve been in Batti for almost two weeks now, and I’ve been incredibly busy. Given that writing and posting these reports on the Web can take four hours or more, I just haven’t had the time to do this. But I vowed to complete this today [...]

Nelluchchenai School Fence

Bennett Hinkley — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 00:28:13 +0000

Coming in 2012!
Location: Nelluchchenai, Batticaloa
Recipients:Approximately 30 families
Objective:Protect preschoolers and the rice harvest
Estimated cost:$550.00

You’d think that barbed wire would offer no protection from elephants. But what experience has shown is that A) if you can keep the elephants far enough away from the grain they won’t smell it and go after it and B) they find the barbed wire irritating and will only try to break through if they are very hungry; otherwise they’ll wander off in search of easier pickings.

Vavunatheevu Water Tanks

Bennett Hinkley — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 21:09:45 +0000

Coming in 2012!
Location: Vavunatheevu, Batticaloa
Recipients:105 households
Objective:Provide access to clean water
Estimated cost:$2,400.00 for two tanks

For the past two years Vavunatheevu villagers have been taking water from our water tank at Shalampailkerny. The tank there was built for the use of the villagers of that village, which has only half the population of Vavunatheevu, and as a result they are sometimes unable to access water for drinking and cooking. Therefore it is reasonable to install water tanks in Vavunatheevu itself. In fact, the local RDS (Rural Development Society – a sort of self-help organization which each village has) made just such a request to ABDF.

Update! Navatkadu 5th Grade Test results for 2011!

Bennett Hinkley — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 07:08:24 +0000

This year we repeated last years’ project, but rather than cramming everything into two months we decided to spread it out over four. The theory was that the slower pace would relieve some of the pressure on the kids (these are 5th graders, after all), and allow them the time to digest the materials they were given, as well as allow for more time to address the weaknesses exposed by the test papers we were giving them.

Mahilavaddavan Well Project

Bennett Hinkley — Fri, 09 Sep 2011 08:15:44 +0000

Project Completed!
Location: Mahilavaddavan, Batticaloa
Recipients:37 households, about 150 people
Objective:Provide access to clean and croc-free water
Estimated cost:$1500.00

Right now the people only have access to water either through a deep hole about a foot wide drilled near the road, or the river that flows through the area. The hole near the road can only bring up a bucket at a time, a very slow process. So most villagers take their water – including drinking water – directly from the river, which is not only problematic in itself (river water being highly unhealthy in general) but there is the wee little fact that parts of the river are also the home to crocodiles, which can make bathing and laundry an exciting proposition.