It has been about 4 years since we first went to Sulugune Primary School. We were unable to go there due to the Covid epidemic in previous years, so our friends decided to see those children this time and help them in our own little way. As usual, the principal and the teaching staff of Sulugune Primary School have given us great support to identify the needs of the children and the school. Apart from that it was one of our dreams to provide a nice lunch to those kids. With all these we were finally able to put together a list of goods for the donation.
For each kid according to their grade:
- Grade 1-5 Sinhala text book used for improve writing
- Grade 1 textbooks (3 of them) used for Sinhala letter writing
- Grade 2-5 Master Guide work books for Sinhala, Mathematics, Environmental Science, English
- Clothing materials for school uniforms
- Undergarments
- School bags
- Pensil Cases
- Aprons to be used in meal times (to protect the uniforms from food spills)
For the school:
- Demy paper, A4 sheets, CR Exercise books, Poster paint in many colors for the school
- Apple & Mandarin
- Chocolate (Kandos hand crafted)
Additionally, we added lots of used clothes, a bicycle and ingredients necessary for the lunch to our list of items.
On 26th of January we got all these goods together and went to the Sulugune Village. Group of us stayed at the school that day and started preparing for lunch the next day which continued until later in the night. And it resumed again early the next morning too. Additionally, we made sure all the goods that we are going to donate were properly parceled with correct items.
Later in the morning of 27th we put our plan into motion. First, we treated all the school kids, their parents and other kids in the village with biscuits and cold fruity drinks. Next, we had a small assembly and distributed all the stationary, clothing, fruits and chocolates to the school kids. And we also handed over the stationery and equipment for the school. Next was the most interesting part of the program. The lunch we wanted to give for a long time. We provided a nice lunch to everybody present at the function. All of them enjoyed it a lot. Afterwards everybody had lots of ice cream. And the day ended with lots of nice memories.
During our stay we were able to fix the failed electrical system of the school in a proper way. They were having issues for a couple of months and were unable to resolve the issue.
Mobile phones do not work in the school area due to signal problems. We tried our best to find a solution using some test equipment given by a donor, but we failed in that regard. But we plan to try again with a different approach in the near future.
Overall, we were able to carry out a very successful donation program this year as well. We were able to do that only because of the great support you all gave us. On behalf of the children, parents, the principal and the teaching staff, we are very grateful to you all for all the support that you have given us.
Among all who helped us there are few parties that we would like to mention specially.
First of all, we would like to thank @DigitalTeam and their staff for contributing us financially for this endeavor.
We had a great dilemma on finding a cook when we first decided to provide lunch during this donation. As a result of a Facebook post published by one of our friends, Asela joined our effort. He performed extraordinary feats from the early planning stage until the end. He even volunteered to find/provide transport for all the equipment necessary for cooking. Because of his dedication we were able to provide a very nice and tasty lunch for all those people. We take this moment to thank Asela for his great service which made the lunch possible.
Apart from that we had a big transportation problem. During our very first visit we used our cars and roads were in good condition. But now the road which is used to reach the village is in very bad shape and cars cannot be used at all. The solution for this was brought by one of our dear friends Amila. He introduced his friend Rohitha who was keen in helping our small project. As a result, we got ourselves a crew cab which was more than enough to transport the goods and the people to Sulugune despite the road condition. Thank you very much Rohitha for joining us and supporting us in this great course.
We would also like to thank Ms. Ann from the CIB Negombo branch who helped us a lot in a short notice to get the school uniform materials for 24 kids, spending more than an hour cutting and packing them nicely so that we won’t get different sized cuts mixed together.
Also, we would like to thank Mr. Nishan Alwis Kavind the manager of People’s Park Sales outlet of Akura Pilot Publication who helped us greatly to put together the stationary list of all students.
Finally, but not least we convey our heartfelt gratitude to the principal & teachers of Sulugune school and every single friend of Ekamuththo who joined hands in making this a reality.
