Saraswathy Tamil Vidyala

Kurunegala

23 November 2009

For the time being I have decided to withdraw support for this school for the following reasons:

• There are more then 150 children in attendance at this school, which is far too large for In My Heart Serendib Foundation to be able to support on an ongoing basis. Our aim is to support schools with smaller enrolment, of no more than 80 children.
• I was given information by teachers at the school that another international group is supporting this school annually.
• This school is situated in an area of rubber plantations. A large percentage of parents of these children are both employed in the rubber plantations. Although the salaries are not large, they have a regular income.

It is my intention to keep in contact with the friends I have in this area and to monitor this school's continued situation. If for some reason it deteriorates, I will revisit my decision.

Saraswathy Tamil Vidyala is located around eight kilometers from Kurunegala in the middle of a rubber plantation. As we drive through the lush plantations on good roads, I wonder what this new school will bring.

Today we have Ajith with us. He is the husband of the lady who suggested we visit this school. He is unaware of the process we go through at each school and it will be interesting to watch him and see his reactions.

At this school, there are 150 children from year 1 to year 11. It is a very large school and I am daunted by the prospect of providing each of the children with some sort of gift. I realise I don't even have enough chocolate for each child.

We are nearly at the end of our trip and have around 50 education packs that we can give. I decided we needed to separate the packs and divide the contents between the children. It was me doing the loaves and fishes. Somehow we managed and each child received five exercise books, pens, pencils and ruler. All the children in years 10 and 11 also received a compass set. I was told by the class teacher that these were very useful gifts. The children in the middle years received a Harry Potter handkerchief and the younger children receive a chocolate bar.

After speaking with the teachers, I found out that most of the children are from parented but poor homes, as the parents' main income is from the rubber plantations which by Sri Lankan standards is low.

I observed that the older children are dressed immaculately and all have shoes. As I met the children in the younger classes, it became obvious that they are less advantaged regarding clothing and shoes. One teacher explained that younger children often don't get the shoes and school bags as the parents consider that the older children's needs are more important.

All the children were excited to have a visitor from overseas at their school, although the visit was short. I thoroughly enjoyed my time and had some good conversations with the teachers. I am happy that we could give something to each child and it seemed that the children were also happy with their unexpected gifts.