Off The Beaches And On To School

By Maryam Azwer

For Dr. Senanayake,what started out in 1984 after she encountered two little boys playing on a beach in Kalutara, has turned out to be an opportunity to educate thousands of children – and one which she has since dedicated much of her life to.

“How it all started was when we were in Sri Lanka on holiday, and my six year old son was playing with these two other little boys on the beach,” she recalls. “I started talking to the boys, and asked them why they weren’t in school. They told me it was because they didn’t have the money.”

The response had surprised Dr. Senanayake at the time, she said, because she knew education was provided free of charge. It was afterwards that she had learnt of one more harsh yet simple fact about these kids’ lives: the education may have come free, but the necessary school uniforms, shoes and books had to be paid for. Unfortunately, for these children of fishing families who earned just enough to feed themselves, the Rs. 3000 or so that the necessary school items would cost for a year, was not affordable.

After Dr. Senanayake had visited the boys’ families and acquired a greater insight to their lives, she was struck with another horrifying realisation.

“Since these boys were not in school, they were just let out play on the beaches. They would befriend tourists, perhaps show them around – and maybe return with ten dollars in their hands. We don’t need to know what exactly happens, but something more than tourism took place here,” she pointed out.

“At that time, I was with the International Planned Parenthood Federation, which was involved in an AIDS awareness programme. AIDS was a new word to Sri Lanka, but since I worked in the field, I realised that paedophilic activities could also help spread this disease around. I told the mothers of these boys to please keep them off the beaches, and in the meantime we did what we could to help these boys go to school. We sponsored their uniforms and their books,” explained Dr. Senanayake.

When she returned the next year, it was to find another fifteen children out of school, playing on the beaches.

From there onwards began Dr. Senanayake’s efforts to sponsor the large number of children who could not afford to go to school in this rural part of Kalutara.

The EACT was set up, and in 2004, there were 872 children benefiting from it. The children’s education was, for the most part, being funded by Dr. Senanayake, and friends and family whose support she managed to draw in.

“When the tsunami struck, we were lucky that we did not lose any of the children, or their families, but we did lose 98 huts,” she said. After this, efforts were put into arranging some ‘serious funding’, said Dr. Senanayake, to help rebuild their homes.

“The project is going on well now, but it isn’t easy. We have managed to build 48 homes and a community centre, all with the help of friends and volunteers. The children are also given classes in IT and English, and extra tuition is provided for some of them.”

Although she is prepared to give whatever she has towards the well being of these children, Dr. Senanayake says she fears it may not be enough in the long run.

“It costs approximately Rs. 650,000 per month to run the project – and that’s with our very low overheads,” she said.

Dr. Senanayake does have hopes for the future, however. Early next month – on August 3 – the EACT will launch an Endowment Fund. “The plan is to collect Rs. 100 million, bank the money, and run the project off the interest. Sponsors will be asked to make a one off donation, and will remain lifetime sponsors,” she said.

Since that fateful encounter with two little boys on the beaches of Kalutara, Dr. Senanayake’s project has seen to the education of at least 800 children every year. When asked how many children may have benefited from it all over the years, her response is a shrug, accompanied with, “I honestly don’t know. 11,000? No, maybe around 15,000, the numbers don’t matter to me. What matters is that I’m not left out of this joyful opportunity to give,” she says with a smile.