Murungahetikanda Maha Vidyalaya – Anuradhapura

On the 8^th of November, we arrived at Kekirawa, belonging to the Anuradhapura district. Here we visited the Murungahetikanda Maha Vidyalaya, which was the only school that attended the conference from the district.  Here we spent time with the students conducting an assembly followed by a workshop. The response we received was good, and even the younger students in the school showed immense interest and participated actively in all the activities.

However, we were also able to witness the level of poverty they lived in. The uniforms with patches, tattered socks and broken shoes were a sight that touched many of our hearts, allowing us to realize the privileges that we have which we don’t always think about. As a school in a district that once hailed as the country’s first ever capital, I think they deserve at least a fraction of the resources that most of urban Sri Lanka enjoys. But what was really impressive is, even under those conditions, these students cheerfully utilized the little they have to do the best they could.

We all returned from Murungahetikanda Maha Vidyalaya, saddened by their poverty yet inspired by their talents and skills, and encouraged by their cheerfulness. There is definitely a lot we could learn from them.

A Day at Rajakeeya Vidyalaya - Monaragala

We arrived at Monaragala on the 1^st of November. Rajakeeya Vidyalaya was the only school from Monaragala that had attended the conference. Just as the name of the school suggests, we got a very royal welcome, with two dance performances from the students of their school. We initially conducted an assembly, which was followed by a workshop. Mo/Mahanama Central College, Vidyaloka Maha Vidyalaya and Dombagahawela Central College were some other schools that attended the workshop.

We had a good feedback from the participants after the workshop, and we believe that next year’s FLC will have more than one school participating from Monaragala. Monaragala and Badulla are two districts where we were able to really expand our scope of influence as a result of this road trip.

We finished the day by having a late lunch at one of the students’ place. Later, on our way to Ampara we also paid a short visit to another student’s home. The warm welcome and the response we received at Monaragala allowed us to leave the district confident that SLU has a long future there.