Rotary’s schools rebuilding project hampered by ongoing violence
Rotary’s Schools rebuilding Project is being severely hampered by the escalating violence in the North and East of Sri Lanka.
Violence between government forces and separatist Tamil Tiger rebels has increased in the past few weeks. Most of the fighting has been centered around the Eastern port of Trincomalee and the Northern Jaffna Peninsula.
Rotary Sri Lanka, through its “Schools Re-awaken” project is rebuilding 25 schools across the country which were affected by the tsunami of December 2004 in an USD 16M programme which will send 15,000 children back to new model schools.
With a view to turning the tragedy into an opportunity, Rotary Sri Lanka together with its main partner the Standard Chartered Bank, is rebuilding bigger and better schools with all modern facilities.
The schools allocated to Rotary are spread throughout the country and a majority of them are in the most remote and poorest regions.
Five of these schools have already been ceremonially inaugurated and two more await the arrival of overseas sponsors for formal dedication. The students in these schools are now continuing their studies in brand new buildings complete with state-of-the-art Computer Centers, fully equipped laboratories and well stocked libraries.
Three of the schools completed are located in the East of Sri Lanka. Rotary’s “Schools Re-awaken” project has been one of a very few success stories in the NGO sector.
The remaining schools were all expected to be completed by the end of the year but the current situation is hampering most of the work and setting back the reconstruction efforts.
No work has been possible at all for nearly two months in Jaffna and Mullaitivu which have one school each. Other sites in the East are working with reduced workforces owing to safety concerns.
“The safety of our staff and workforce is paramount and will not be compromised at any stage.
Our Lead Club Rotarians and project staff have done a magnificent job monitoring not only the progress of work but also the security at every site on a daily basis” said K.R. Ravindran Chairman of the Board of Management of the Project.
An estimated 100,000 people have fled their homes since late July when the latest round of violence broke out triggering another humanitarian crisis.
Two of our sites have been temporarily turned into refugee centers to accommodate the large influx of refugees fleeing the violence. Our staff and lead club Rotarians at these sites are working together with other NGOs in providing emergency relief to the refugees.
“We urge our staff and contractors to get on with the rebuilding work but we also just cannot turn a blind eye to the huge humanitarian crisis in these areas,” said Ravindran.
Most of the schools are funded by overseas sponsors who are kept updated on progress of their schools through the website.
“We encourage our sponsors to send their funds in installments as and when they are needed and this has worked very well for us. We are confident that they will all honour their pledges despite the slight delay in the construction process.” said Ravindran.
“In most cases we ask our sponsors to hold their pledged funds themselves and remit them to us on a reimbursement basis having first incurred the expenditure ourselves. This has worked very well for us as we are actually able to show the physical work for which funds are requested.” said Ravindran.
“We have great faith in our sponsors and are confident that they will indeed honour their pledges and understand that the delay in requesting the transfer of funds is part of our transparency and stewardship process where we want to ensure to them that funds are put to their correct use.” added Ravindran.
Experience has shown Rotarians in Sri Lanka that the situation can return to normal just as quickly as it deteriorated and for the time being, patience is a just virtue.
