After the long & ardous trail, good fortune: Tucker's Report of Jan 23rd

January 23, 2005

The Serendib Sri Lanka crew departed Ratnapura at 7:30 a.m. this morning for Batticaloa, the area where according to the United Nations report the most number of houses (approximately 30,000) were destroyed by the tsunami.

A long, arduous trail of twelve hours, several stops and a tire puncture, a few mistaken turns and many signs of wildlife from elephants to deer to peacocks brought us to the outskirts of Batticaloa and to a long stretch of unpaved, non-electrified road which was slow-going indeed.

We had happened to pick up a copy of the Sunday Observer, in which an article about a refugee camp in Batticaloa mentioned Santhively Sithi Vinayagar Vidyalyam. We had the good fortune to pass by this Camp on the way into town, and stopped by for our visit. To our amazement again, the number of children (95) exactly coincided with the amount of goods we had brought in our aid shipment. The coordinators were friendly, the people welcoming, and we thus later made a collective decision to return there in the morning to begin our English Camp activities.

The Serendib Sri Lanka team is comprised this visit of 23 people (including driver and conductor), and includes some of the most talented teachers that belong to Serendib Sri Lanka. The children tomorrow will certainly benefit from the expertise of our educators, and especially the primary children will be glad to receive their school supplies. We have heard from several independent sources that the lack of supplies alone is keeping them out of school.

Tucker

[Webmaster's Note: The following photos relate to this report]