Our most complex humanitarian aid mission was completed on the 18th of April.
We identified 10 schools and 300 children who required essential school goods to help them recover from the tsunami disaster.
Preparations in advance of the mission included finding out the shoe sizes of all 300 children in order that we could present them all with a pair of shoes that we knew would fit every child. Our man in Colombo. Inthikahb Wazeer did a terrific job by liasing with the Director of Education in the region, Mr M. L. A. Latheef so that we got a spreadsheet of shoe sizes for each child in each school.
As usual, we purchased all the goods in Sri Lanka. We negotiated with a factory in Sri Lanka so that all the schoolbags were printed with "gifted by the people of the UK"
Then we hired the lorry and van to take the goods from Colombo to Kattankudi on the east coast of Sri Lanka. Our team loaded up and embarked on the 30 hour round trip. Steve Cadnam, a English friend who resides in Sri Lanka and is working with us, traveled from Ambalangoda to join up with our team.
The trip was entirely successful, with 182 boys and 118 girls all receiving school uniforms, school bags, lunch boxes, shoes and socks at a cost of £8 per child.
We are very pleased to advise that we have already forged long term links between the children of these schools and children in the UK. The Romsey School Newsletter Group are writing to 8 children at these schools - 4 boys and 4 girls - and we hope this will lead to a long and satisfying relationship between the children.