Yorkshire School Sli Lanka

Thu, Jun 9th 2016 at 9:45 pm - 10:45 pm

Yorkshire School Sri Lanka update


The Rotary Club of Birstall Luddites
Club Speaker Robert Jackson
  Update on the Yorkshire School in Sri Lankia - June 14th 2016
 
Yorkshire School
 Robert with his Sri Lankan map
 The KSV Yorkshire School
 Robert gave the Club an update on the Yorkshire School.
Robert has played an important role in the story of the school .
In his year as District Governor district 1040 - "I was DG 2004/05 when on Boxing Day 2004 a Tsunami hit South East Asia. Contact  with Sri Lanka  by our District International Chairman Em Lloyd-Davis was made on that day, and within a month £20,000 was raised, rising to £200,000, the first District in Rotary GB&I to send aid. A group visited the island and saw the school Re Awakening Project which we accepted, our District raised the funds to pay for a new school- £250,000 within the year and the anniversary of the disaster"
40 Shelterboxes and Aquaboxes were sent to assist Tsunami survivors.
The Foundation stone for the new school was laid on 5th Dec 2005 to rebuild the Kaluwanchikudy Saraswathy "Yorkshire School "in the Tamil area near Battiocaloa.
Construction took almost two years to complete with 17 teachers and 400 students up to the age of 16  including a fully-equipped computer centre, library and sports facilities. In recognition of our efforts, each of the 20 classrooms are called after a Yorkshire town The School construction was completed in September 2007. The School was to be run and maintained by the SL Government.

On 16 to 24th Nov 2015 Robert and Jill returned with a team of 12 from District 1040 to visit the School.
They stayed initially in Colombo and visited The Rotary Club of Cinnamon Gardens meeting President Nanda Corea ( who was also President 10 years ago when the Tsunami hit) They went onto Kandy attending the Rotary Club of Kandy meeting.They then visited the KSV Yorkshire School taking our gifts and being welcomed by the staff and children.We met Rotarians from Kalmunai Rotary Club and our friends from Cinnamon Gardens Club.The tour took them around the island visiting Rotarians and finished back in Colombo entertained at the Sporting Club by the President and rotary club members after visiting the DG George Jesuthasan.
The visit was organised by
Rotarian PDG Em Lloyd-Davis and was self funded by all visiting Rotarians
 
Robert talked of the visit to the school and reported on the state they found there.
The school was built on three levels but only one was now in use.There were no doors or windows in the school it being too hot. A room full of computers was locked and not used. Three violins had been given to the school but they had disappeared.There were initially 300 pupils but this was now down to 150. The school hall floor was in a very poor state as was the classroom floors, the roof had holes in it (coconuts falling through the roof tiles)
this had led to water getting into the building. The toilets were in a very poor sate.
Robert talked of their meeting with the headmaster and his needs.
Robert explained that the school was built during the Tamil civil war and that the main contractor had changed half way through the build.The control of the build had been through the Government
and not Rotary.

So now a new fund of £10500 (LATEST NEWS AND PHOTOS OF SCHOOL PROBLEMS)was being planned in District 1040 to return to the school
and bring the school back up to the full potential of the initiall Yorkshire School.
Robert was confident that the refurbisment improvements under the control of 
local RC of Kalmunai in conjunction with the Education Zone should be successful.
LINKS Craven Herald 
 Yorkshire Post
 Rotary Club of Cinnamon Gardens Facebook site
 Link to our 1040 site " THE School opens"

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