School Sports Day

As we finish packing ready to fly out to Sri Lanka for a month, it was heartening to receive photos from the Village School of their annual sports day held last week. All the kids look really happy and like they're having a lot of fun. And given it's 2012, we particularly liked the Olympic-inspired flame.


We'll send more updates on all our projects over the course of the next four weeks so keep reading!

Progress on all fronts!

Today we received some photos of work which has been completed over the Christmas holidays at the Village School which we're really excited about.

Firstly, new drains have been installed around the rear of the school which will help drain away stagnant water and help remove the risk of dengue fever.  The issue was highlighted as a big health issue during the last trip in August 2010 and you can read more about the risk in Lucy's blog entry.  

As a result of that trip, all of the money raised by NPG at last September's 10k run was put towards the cost of installing the drains and providing new taps and effective drainage in the immediate area as well as a brand new, large capacity water tank.  This is an amazing achievement and we have to thank all the runners and those who supported them at NPG for making this happen.  It will have a fundamental effect on the children's health by reducing the risk of them contracting deadly dengue.

Our new water tank!

During the work, the contractors were able to clear the back of the school, remove the rubbish and flatten the area.  This has allowed the installation of a new badminton net, giving a much needed new facility.

And finally, it looks like work which has been ongoing for over a year to make the school secure with metal mesh doors and new window frames has been completed, hopefully drawing a line under a long-standing issue for us.  Hopefully, when we visit next month, we will see all the improvements for ourselves and confirm that all the work has indeed been completed.

Before...

The secure metal gates

during..

and after!

So thank you to everyone who has helped us over the last year in so many ways.  Hopefully you can see that from your donations and support, real things do happen and they all make a huge difference.