On Wednesday, Rotary Sri Lanka ceremonially opened the newly rebuilt Moraketiara Junior School in its ‘Schools Re-awaken’ programme.

Rotary Sri Lanka, together with the Standard Chartered Bank is rebuilding 25 schools across the country which were destroyed by the tsunami of December 2004 in an USD 16M initiative that will enable nearly 15,000 children to go back to their very own new ‘model’ schools.

RI Director Robert A Stuart Jr was the Chief Guest at the colourful opening ceremony in Moraketiara – a town in the deep south of the country. Also present was Chairman Apex Committee and Trustee of the Rotary Foundation PDG K.R. Ravindran, representatives from the Standard Chartered Bank, District Governor Bobby Senaweera, senior Rotarians from the district and a host of other dignitaries.

“I bring greetings and good wishes from RI President Bill Boyd and over 1.2 million Rotarians around the world” said Stuart. “It is a pleasure and a privilege to be here and to participate in this special occasion. The Rotarians of Sri Lanka made a promise to rebuild a bigger and better school and today they have delivered on that promise”.

Ravindran paid a special tribute to all the sponsors who readily came forward in response to Rotary’s appeal. He advised the students to make best use of the modern facilities in their school and to study hard. “The best way you can repay us is to be good students and excel in your work – perhaps a future leader of this country is amongst you” said Ravindran.

The story of Mawella Sri Sumangala School and its neighbour Moraketiara School is a typical example of how a disaster can be turned into an opportunity.

Mawella Sri Sumangala was totally destroyed by the tsunami of December 2004 and had to be relocated to a safer area. After many months of searching for a suitable piece of land, the Rotarians of Sri Lanka in consultation with the Ministry of Education, decided to amalgamate the school with the closest school in the area – Moraketiara Junior School.

The decision posed new challenges to Rotary as it was virtually rebuilding two new schools in the place of one. It was also a huge challenge logistically to ensure that the school was able to function right throughout the construction process.

When Rotary Sri Lanka undertook to rebuild 25 schools destroyed by the tsunami, we firmly resolved to turn this tragedy into an opportunity and rebuild model schools with all modern facilities.

Today the newly rebuilt Moraketiara Junior School is a testament to that commitment and now 300 lucky boys and girls from both Mawella Sri Sumanagala and Moraketiara will be able to continue their education in their brand new school equipped with all the modern facilities.

The cost of the school was sponsored by Sennheiser Electronic Gmbh of Germany, Brother’s Brother Foundation in USA, and SL-US Association of W.Pennsylvania. Additional funding was provided by SEI Corporation Fund, Tsunami Relief Fund – Bahamas, RC Alnwick – UK, RC Roadtown - BVI and RC Okehampton.