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Rotary dedicates first rebuilt school Randombe School part of nationwide school rebuilding project
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka -- A primary school destroyed in the tsunami
last year has reopened as a completely rebuilt model school. The
Randombe Junior School, located in Ambalangoda, in the Galle
District, was officially dedicated Dec. 8. The dedication is the
first of planned 25 schools being rebuilt by the Rotary clubs of Sri
Lanka.
The schools are being built to meet government standards and have
been upgraded to provide all modern facilities, including
well-equipped libraries, state-of-the-art computer centers,
gymnasiums and science laboratories.
Randombe Junior School, a primary and secondary school with 18
teachers and 264 students, will open for classes when the school
year starts in January.
A second model school, Al-Aqsa Vidyalaya, is expected to be
completed in early December. This primary and secondary grade school
located in Pottuvil in eastern Sri Lanka serves 504 students. Work
on several other schools is also progressing on schedule, and many
are expected to be completed in time for the new school year.
The tsunami completely destroyed 92 schools and damaged 90
others, leaving a total of 85,000 students and 3,400 teachers
without schools after the disaster.
Rotary Sri Lanka was one of the first organizations that offered
to participate in a massive school rebuilding effort set forth by
the Sri Lanka Ministry of Education. Twenty-five schools across the
country were assigned to Rotary for rebuilding. Funding for the
estimated $12 million project has been provided by Rotary clubs
around the world and The Rotary Foundation, with a major
contribution from StandardChartered Bank. The pledges currently
received exceed $10 million.
The project is also supported by Microsoft, which provided the
software for the computer centers and will also handle the
curriculum for the next three years.
Founded in 1905 in Chicago, Rotary is a volunteer service
organization with a worldwide membership of 1.2 million businessmen
and professionals who belong to 33,000 clubs in nearly 170
countries.
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 Solar cooking spreads in
developing world, assists Sri Lankan tsunami victims
SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- From the November 2005 issue of
Solar Cooker Review, published by
Solar Cookers International:
Chad: Teaching solar cooking to refugees
Derk Rijks of the KoZon Foundation and solar cooking trainer
Marie-Rose Neloum continue to teach solar cooking at the Iridimi
camp for refugees from the Darfur region of Sudan. Nearly 250
panel-type solar cookers have been distributed to refugees. Fifty of
the cookers were assembled at the camp. Supplies for an additional
500 cookers have arrived, and production is expected to begin
immediately.
Demonstrations were also conducted at Hadjer Hadid for villagers
and refugees at the nearby camps at Breidjing and Tréguine.
For more information, contact Derk Rijks at
rijks.agrometeo@wanadoo.fr
or the KoZon Foundation at
wiewen@bart.nl or visit
www.kozon.org.
Eritrea: SCEN awarded out of 300 nominees
An Eritrea solar cooker project organized by the Solar Cooking
Eritrea Netherlands foundation recently edged out 300 nominees to
win an award for small-scale development projects.
The award, presented by Dutch organizations the National
Committee for International Cooperation and Sustainable Development
and the Wild Geese Foundation, carries a monetary value of nearly
$6,000. The SCEN foundation won based on project quality,
thoroughness of the organization, efficient working methods,
financial transparency and the "for women, by women" aspect of the
project.
This year the Dutch foundation hopes to enable 4,500 families to
solar cook with simple panel-type cookers based on Solar Cookers
International's "CooKit." Thus far, 1,500 women have been trained,
of whom 700 have purchased CooKits for about $3.50 each.
www.solarcookingeritrea.nl
Sri Lanka: Sun Ovens International with Rotary clubs' support
sent 200 solar box cookers
With support from dozens of U.S. and Canadian Rotary clubs, Sun
Ovens International has sent 200 of its high-quality solar box
cookers -- Global Sun Ovens -- to the Help - Sri Lanka Consortium, a
grass-roots organization working to rehouse tsunami victims. The
cookers will enable 200 families with newly built homes to fuel an
estimated 70 percent of their cooking with solar energy. Paul Munsen,
Sun Ovens International's president, will teach Sri Lankan women how
to use the cookers.
Additionally, two Sri Lankan orphanages will receive
commercial-sized Villager Sun Ovens to cook meals and bake bread to
generate income for the orphanages. These large ovens can cook 1,200
meals per day and have a propane backup system.
For more information, contact
info@sunoven.com or visit
www.sunoven.com.
For information on the Help - Sri Lanka Consortium, visit
www.rehablanka-tsunami.org.
[Provided by the
Good News Agency] |
