Maha Ehatuwewa School: SFP 13
This school, Maha Ehatuwewa , is one of the biggest endeavors we’ve undertaken. The need became clear during a trip to donate equipment for their dance room—a link to that story is at the very bottom of this post. It was a memorable visit because, despite the school’s long history, that was the very first time a drum had ever been played within its walls!
We may not be able to support all 218 students every day, but we’ve managed to commit to providing a cup of herbal porridge (kola kanda) for the whole school daily, and fresh milk once a week. This effort has been sustained by our dedicated team for quite some time, initially spearheaded by Nevil Aiya, who, with the help of his friend Binduwa, arranged for the first donation of rice, coconuts, and lentils.
Getting there isn’t easy; we have to navigate through heaps of fresh elephant dung. The steaming piles make our hearts beat a little faster, but elephants are regular visitors here, scratching their backs on the school fence.
The Miracle of the Meals
Don’t dismiss the value of simple porridge! We live in a country where people sometimes have to fill their stomachs with water. Against that backdrop, being able to provide a hot, nutritious meal, even once a week, is huge. Now, we’re ready to share an exciting new chapter: the possibility of giving the children rice once a week.
This is where the school’s incredible Headmaster comes in. He’s someone who can work wonders with donations:
• Donate a sack of rice, and he’ll provide rice and curry for a whole month.
• Donate LKR 1,000, and he’ll provide rice and sambol.
• Donate LKR 5,000, and the entire school gets milk rice (kiribath).
• Donate LKR 10,000, and the whole school enjoys fried rice!
How does he pull off this pricing miracle? He organizes the mothers of the students, and they handle the logistics. They’ve become an integral part of the school community, and the Headmaster says that alone is a huge success—they will now carry the school forward.
Celebrating Life on the Edge of the Jungle
It’s beautiful to see that the whole school now celebrates birthdays with a communal meal. This school, which runs from Grade 1 to 11, sits at the end of an elephant path in the deep jungle, where we have to clear away dung just to get through. Yet, they keep it beautifully maintained.
The Headmaster’s magic, thanks to the commitment of those mothers, has allowed the school to progress from just porridge to offering milk, milk rice, sweet potato, cassava, and even fried rice. A huge thank you to those tireless mothers!
We also extend our sincere gratitude to everyone who has celebrated a birthday with the school and those planning to do so. And thank you to everyone who has sustained the porridge project throughout the past year.
The School’s Next Steps
The school currently needs a cupboard to store the dancing equipment we donated. More ambitiously, the Headmaster wants to train an Oriental Music Band—a significant goal for a school completely lacking music teachers.
On top of all this, he is also the school’s de-facto Science teacher, as they don’t have one. We are working on a plan to help them cover key science exam topics, perhaps through a crash course with a team of university students. We could help support the student team’s needs in exchange.
The issue is not that teachers aren’t available, but that they refuse to come to this location. As teachers gravitate towards schools outside the ‘elephant path,’ student numbers drop. Fewer students mean the school shrinks, and eventually, a school that we are now struggling to provide porridge for could become a small one we could easily afford to feed daily.
But that’s not what we want. We want this school to grow so large that we struggle to provide even porridge, not shrink to a size where we can easily afford to provide rice every day!
2022.09.28
A heartfelt thank you to:
• Neville Atthanayake for getting Binduwa on board.
• Samantha Nilusha, Anuradhe Goonawardena, Yogeesha Dissanayake for celebrating past birthdays with us.
• Aravinda Batuwanthudawa, Sandya Madugalle, Asiri Gajanayake, an unnamed “pra ten,” and the newly supporting Chamithree Rajapaksha for committing to keeping this project going for a year.
By Dr. Kilishini Hendawitharana
