November 2011 Update

Greetings from Tissamaharama where we are in the middle of the rainy season which runs from October to January in this part of Sri Lanka. Our work with schools and children is going very well and we have enjoyed hosting various visitors from the UK.

Jane Edwards and Geraldine Akerman did a charity visit to Tissamaharama in October. You can read Geraldine's account of her visit on our Diaries page.

The rain has not interfered with various school construction projects that we have on the go. We are halfway through building a nursery school for 70 children and up to the roof stage on a Special Needs classroom/library for Kendagasmankada primary school near Lunugamwehera. These buildings should be ready for the new school year in January.

Pannegamuwa Royal College, which has not had any money spent on it more than 20 years, has had all classrooms repainted and now looks like a model school. We are finishing off roof repairs to the main school hall in time for December's O-Level exams.

Work is nearly complete on an IT classroom at MR Thassim Muslim school and we are putting up a boundary fence at Ellagala school to keep out cattle and enable the planting of a vegetable garden. With all these school projects, parents and teachers have been giving their time free of charge, and it is wonderful to see the community spirit shining through.

At Mattala school, mentioned in Geraldine's write-up, we have restored electricity supply after paying 5 years' electricity arrears. We are also paying the school's water bill each month. We supplied seeds for planting a vegetable garden.

We are continuing our medical support for sick children and recently supplied a multi-channel monitor for the Out Patient's Department at Hambantota hospital. This has been a tremendous help to doctors and nurses since patients can now be checked thoroughly within minutes rather than being admitted for further tests which take up beds and time.

We are steadily increasing our monthly bursaries and sponsorships for children since this is putting donors' money to very good use. We are putting three young adults through Medical School at a cost of about £280 per year (covering boarding, food and incidentals). We are paying for clever children from poor families to attend private classes and in a few cases move to better schools in Matara on the south coast.

We paid for a drama & literature competition for 1,000 children from the district around Tissamaharama. This was organised by Yatala Tissa primary school. Participants were awarded useful prizes such as water bottles and stationery items. We are funding a twice-yearly programme by Yatala to print exam papers for 28 of the poorer schools in our area.

Many Yala supporters donated money for a cochlear implant operation for 6-year-old Pasindu, a boy who has been deaf since birth. This operation costs approximately £16,000 which is an unimaginable sum for Pasindu's parents. Happily, soon after we helped launch Pasindu's fundraising, a foundation in Colombo pledged the balance and Pasindu will undergo his operation this month.

Thanks to everyone for helping us to continue such important work in our little corner of Sri Lanka.

Jon, Suzy, Bev & John