Sponsors from Rotary Denmark joined members of the Apex Committee as two more schools – Sri Vinayagar and Al Rawla were ceremonially opened on the weekend.

PDGs Nils Jensen and Helge Andersen together with their spouses Bente and Lise made a special trip to Sri Lanka to participate in the events with members of the Committee.

Also present on the occasion were PDG K R Ravindran Trustee Rotary Foundation and Chairman Apex Committee, Clive Haswell, CEO Standard Chartered Bank – Sri Lanka and local representatives from Brahma Kumaris UK who assisted in the sponsorship.

Rotary Sri Lanka, through its “Schools Re-awaken” project is rebuilding 25 schools across the country which were destroyed 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 Sri Vinayagar School in Batticaloa is a primary and secondary school with 468 students and the Thamaravil Al Rawla School in Trincomalee has nearly 200 students in both primary and secondary streams. Rotary Denmark were the main sponsors for both Schools

The schools are now brand new ‘model’ schools with all the modern facilities including state of the art computer centers and well equipped libraries.

Villagers joined parents, teachers and students of the two schools in colourful ceremonies to mark the occasions.
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The Rotarians from Denmark were amongst the very first who contacted us the day after the tsunami and have been a tremendous source of strength and encouragement ever since.

Rotary Denmark did not merely send funds for the construction of the schools but also made several visits to Sri Lanka to observe first hand the progress of work and have now forged strong bonds of fellowship with the Rotarians of Sri Lanka.

Rotary Denmark has pledged to continue to assist the schools in whatever way possible. They have already begun a scholarship scheme for 45 students in Al Rawla and hope to expand the programme in the future.