Bringing education back to Hambantota

'My desk was here'

Spilled chemicals, broken test-tubes and ruined books litter a site where classrooms stood. A group of children kindly showed us around their ruined school in Hambantota district (South Eastern Sri Lanka). Their old desks were buried under a mountain of rubble.

"Boys shouted to us 'The sea is coming! The sea is coming!'" said one 11-year old boy. He and his friends clung to a pillar for dear life as the water reached their shoulders. After the first wave, they ran as fast as they could to reach a hilltop temple just before the second wave. His family survived but the boat and fishing-nets they depend on have gone.

At least five more schools in the district have been wholly or partially destroyed by the tsunami, with heavy losses of buildings, books and equipment. Thousands of children have lost the books, clothes and stationery they need for school. "We sit our exams this year," said a 16-year old, "I am afraid that if I can't go to school, I'll fall behind with my studies and fail."

On Tuesday, Plan delivered 15,000 school supplies (exercise books, stationery items etc) to the Hambantota District Secretariat for distribution to children via temples, schools and community centres. These supplies will mean the children can quickly resume their education and some kind of normality can be restored to their lives. The government is finding temporary sites to hold classes for children whose schools have been destroyed.

In the longer term, we're funding the rebuilding of all six ruined schools in the area.