Building a Brighter Future, Batticaloa, Sri Lanka

Through Childfund NZ we, as a family, have committed to an ongoing program of work to support Community Development in Batticaloa, Sri Lanka. We currently do this in two ways:

- Child Sponsorship – through Childfund NZ we sponsor a child in Batticaloa, Sri Lanka. For many of the children in Batticaloa basic shelter, food, water, education and employment opportunities for their parents are in short supply. Through child sponsorship one child has a chance to access the basics of life that we can be prone to take for granted, food to grow, water to flourish, schooling to achieve, health to thrive and community to develop.

- Major Programs of Work – this is your chance to get on board. We work with Childfund NZ and connect with Childfund leaders in the Batticaloa District to identify priority needs in the local community.

The major program of work that we are currently supporting in conjunction with students at Kings College in Auckland and one other private donor is the completion of a Technology Centre to support media literacy and e-learning opportunities (more details below). In November 2016 all five of us will be travelling to the Batticaloa District to meet our sponsored child and get up close and personal with the Technology Centre project.

This page is your chance to be part of this amazing project, it is set up to allow you donate directly to this project and follow our blog posts to see exactly how your donation is being used and the difference it is making. 100% of money donated through this page will go to Childfund NZ and then on to this project in Batticaloa. We've given it a kick start and would be thrilled if you jumped on board also. If funding targets for this project are exceeded we will then work with Childfund NZ to prioritise future projects to fund in the Batticaloa District and keep you up to speed through our blog posts.

The Technology Centre will be developed at the Irudducholaimau Vishnu School in Manmunai West, Batticaloa. This school comprises 345 students (170 female and 175 male) and 13 teachers and like many of the 27 schools in the Batticaloa District lacks many of the teaching and learning resources required to take education forward in the District. Current infrastructure in place at the school consists of some classrooms with many classes held in open spaces, electricity only recently made available and still limited in capacity and an unused building suitable for refurbishment to house the technology centre.

Recommended by the Zonal Education Director, completion of this project will see the Irudducholaimau Vishnu School established as a Technology Centre pilot. The project will see refurbishment of the existing unused building into a suitable secure classroom, provide desks, chairs and computer infrastructure (desktop computers, printers and consumables, power supply and surge protection, and audio visual accessories) and ensure appropriate training for students and teachers. As much as practical implementation of this project will use local labour and businesses to support ongoing economic development in the Batticaloa District. Once completed the Technology Centre will deliver an e-learning platform for students and teachers and improve media literacy across the school community, as well as the learning benefits the Technology Centre will act as a model school and learning hub for the area, this school will then be able to train other schools in the future.

In the final piece of the puzzle it is hoped that this particular project will create a pathway for communication between students and teachers at the Irudducholaimau Vishnu School and students and teachers of Kings College in Auckland and our own childrens school in Wanaka.