By Ranee Mohamed in Trincomalee

"I try my best not to get involved with these 21 children. I try not to be a father figure to them," said Ven. K. Pannatissa Thero who runs the Revata Children's Home in Trincomalee with his monthly income - an allowance he gets for teaching other poor students. The Buddhist priest is a teacher at a nearby school. Besides the robes he dons, there is nothing to call his own, that is because he has sacrificed them all - his time, his belongings and the little money that he gets to the welfare of 21 orphans living on the borderline of poverty, want and hardship.

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The hands behind those artificial limbs

By Shezna Shums

To see the making of a Jaipur limb will wedge in the mind how tiresome this job is for the people making the limb, and the perseverance of both the workers and clients in getting on with their lives.

Passing the Friend-In-Need-Society (FINS), everyday on my way to work, I usually see many adults and children with artificial limbs. Its facade is not pretentious and one could easily pass it by not knowing what enormous service it is providing to the country.

On visiting this institution, The Sunday Leader was able to see such a lot of activity within its walls that it will stay in my mind for a longtime.

At the workshop within the premises workers were making artificial limbs with a strong type of plastic. These limbs were either from the knee and below or above the knee while there were also limbs for the arms.

"Each limb is unique, they have to be made according to the precise measurements of the person," explained FINS, President, Kalyani Ranasinghe.

Here for the first time in the country they make braces for scoliosis patients - this is where the spinal code of the person is curved. The brace is something to be worn on the body and helps arrest this problem if the patient detects the problem at the initial stages.

Looking around at the workshop, one would observe Jaipur limbs made for small children as well as for adults. While in another place outside, there was a worker making a mould of the leg using Plaster of Paris. It is only once that the exact moulded Plaster of Paris leg is made that an artificial leg will be made for the person. Depending on the mould this Jaipur leg can take two to three weeks to be made.

At this outdoor workshop Dayaratne who was waiting for an artificial leg, was sitting in a chair looking at the worker mould the leg.

Then moving on to another place in the premises we saw the typical Jaipur leg being made. Workers here were making only the foot.

Ranasinghe said that this was the starting point in making Jaipur limbs. She stated that the society tries to do as much as they can for the injured and this can be seen at the workshops. Some of the people working at these workshops are themselves using artificial limbs.

Ramseen also with a Jaipur leg was seen making more Jaipur legs for others.

When asked how the injured deal with their problems and get counseling, Ranasinghe stressed that even coming to the center helps these people deal better with their problems. Pointing out that there are people who are born with problems and need artificial limbs there are also people who get injuries owing to an accident or urgent surgery.

"People with simple injuries come here, along with people with sever injuries and they share the same agony, pain and hope. To those here there is always someone worse off. This way they feel there is hope and that what they have, is not as bad as what someone else suffers." This she added was due to counselling, and feels that when these people leave the place they are much stronger and can face the world better, because meeting others like them gives a lot of strength.

Meanwhile sitting near the workshop and waiting for repairs to be finished on their artificial limbs was Lakshman Fernando and Ranjan Gresh.

Fernando, who lost the use of his entire right leg when a bowzer went over it, laments that now he has no job and finding employment to support his family and parents is his main concern.

While Gresha a youth said that he had joined a garage for employment and while he was still on training and working on a car, the battery had given him an electric shock, which now leaves him without the use of his right hand.

Gresha who hails from Matara stressed that for him and others like him finding jobs is the main problem. We can do almost anything with an artificial limb but, finding jobs is difficult and many people are wary of hiring us. "We can work even as security guards but a lot of people do not give us jobs," said this lively youth.

Ranasinghe pointed out that the first Jaipur legs were made with aluminum while now they are made with more durable materials. Now we use aluminum as well as the new plastic materials to make the limbs. Here too the braces used by polio victims are made. She said, "Every two years the person using an artificial limb will have to get a new one, and of course the way the limb is used will affect how long it will last."

Meanwhile meeting more injured people, we spoke to a mother of six children. K.Chandrawathi is only 34 years old, but has to look after six small children as her husband who was a coconut plucker was paralysed and died after an accident.

Chandrawathi who started work at a tea factory, was working for only one month when her leg was injured by one of the big machines there. She was then only given Rs.15, 000 and said that she hopes to find employment soon in order to support her family. Her grief is immense yet she puts a brave face for the sake of her children and does whatever she can to bring them up. She had to stay at the society till her artificial limb is ready and has brought along her youngest child M. Sampath who is two years old to be with her and to look after him, the eldest boy N. Madusange who is 14 years old also had to come along.

W. Lional had to amputate his leg below the knee after he suffered from cancer and another person, who suffered from diabetes was also there will an amputated leg.

The charity was first established in 1831 during British colonial rule and its aim is to provide help to the people. Along the way the charity has been a refuge for war victims and a shelter to the needy.

It was in 1983 that they started providing limbs to the people after seeing that many had to do with old-fashioned wooded stumps as an artificial limb. The charity even provides hostel services to the people who travel a long distance to the workshop. Usually they would then stay about two or three weeks to get their limbs, so providing shelter and food is also part of the service. Apart from this they have a mobile service that travels around the country, this too providing artificial limbs to the people. The society has branches in Colombo, Galle and Jaffna.

Ranasinghe said that they provide the artificial limbs free of charge and also gives hostel facilities when needed. This charity organises a sports meet in order to make a fun day out for these individuals. However she added that it is hard work and every donation received counts a lot. "It takes a lot of letters and work to get sponsors and donations to carry out our work, it is certainly not easy," she stressed.

So far the charity has provided almost 20,000 artificial limbs to people and there are about 22 people working at the workshops.

"Many of the people who come to us are youth and many are males who have lost their right leg," she says, but there are other much younger and older people she added.

At the moment the charity gets components from abroad in order to make the artificial legs but they hope to make the components locally in order to bring the cost down.

An artificial leg would cost from Rs.4500 to Rs.8000 while other limbs can cost either less or much more.

Colombo's tryst with the Bard

By Dharisha Bastians

Sometime in the month of June, amid throes of bridals and boutiques, a different kind of madness sets in among the school-going. A certain 'literary' madness. A hey-nonny-nonnying they go, academics and end of term report cards forgotten in the all-important local celebration of the Bard.

The annual Shakespeare Drama Competition thrills every aspiring young dramatist to the very bone. Whether actor, director or crew-member, the fever kicks in and there's no looking back. From months of late-night rehearsals to endless hours of rummaging through musty costume cupboards and painstakingly sticking knick-knacks on Elizabethan head-dresses, it's all endured in the inimitible spirit of the arts.

Formerly sober school boys are transformed into lovelorn Romoes and the young girls are hardly recognizable as they perform their passionate renditions of Juliet and Portia. In fact, during that brief stint on stage, the Lionel Wendt may as well be London's Rose Theatre, resonating those timeless lines of love and valour, enticing the audience with lavish displays of satin and brocade.

Year after year, the magic is re-lived, hearts are won and lost, sweet victory tasted and the abject misery of defeat suffered. Anyone who has ever been involved in one of these competitions will never forget the nail-biting experience of sitting, nay, lying prostrate on the balcony of the Wendt, exhausted to the bone and desperately anxious to secure a place in the final round.

The Inter-School Shakespeare Drama Competition (SDC) has since its inception been the festival where stars are born. Winners of the best actor/actress awards have gone on to become brilliant dramatists on the public stage, while no doubt introduction to William Shakespeare's mastery of language and dramatic art form has inspired many a playwright to live out their secret dreams. Verily, this annual celebration of one of English literature's most revered writers in Colombo has played some part in moulding the ambitions of virtually every young person in English theatre today. The Shakespeare Drama Comp is also every dramatist's introduction to the passion, pain and controversy that are the hallmarks of modern theatre in the country.

Dramatic change

The competition consists of two main rounds. Two semi finals at which all the schools compete, boys and girls seperately, leading up to a four school final one week later.

Over the years, the face of the competition has changed tremendously. For one thing, it has become a school event of epic proportions, meaning that the 600 seating Lionel Wendt can no longer be the venue for the hard-fought final. Amid a storm of controversy, the venue was changed to the Bandaranaike Memorial International Conference Hall, a slightly larger auditorium with the worst possible accoustic design for Shakespearean performances. With a too-large stage and tragically poor audibility, the BMICH was the worst, albeit only available venue to have been chosen by the organisers. Productions that look stunning on the stage of the Wendt, appear lost in the vastness that is the BMICH.

Of late, though, schools have wisened up and taken to constructing enormous props and stage sets in order to eradicate the emptiness and make the actors more comfortable with their movements. This antidote however is essentially flawed, since the SDC is an islandwide competition open to schools around the country, with different levels of access to resources. So what of the schools that cannot afford to construct large sets and make elablorate costumes? Are they to be wiped out of the competition altogether?

Director and Founder, Stagelight & Magic Theatre Company and winner of the Best Actor award in the competition of 1991, Feroze Kamardeen vehemently opposes the BMICH as a venue for the competition, saying the stage is not for theatrical performances.

"Drama takes a back-seat at the final because of the venue. It requires the schools to resort to other theatrical gimmicks in order to make an impact, resulting in poor acting by the students," Kamardeen said, adding that it was unfair to expect students to cater to a crowd as large as the BMICH draws every year.

And the solution? Feroze recommends that if the organisers are eager to allow as many people as possible to see the performances, a separate schools' Shakespeare Festival  should be held following the competition itself, allowing the best five or six schools to participate. "The BMICH should definitely not be the venue in the competition context," he stressed.

Venue aside, the Shakespeare competition has also been under fire lately for no longer encouraging healthy, friendly competition between schools, with things turning distinctly ugly as the final round draws near. Has it become more about winning than camadarie and celebrating the Bard of Avon of late?

Many people who have been involved with schools in the competition over the years say definitely yes. They claim that there is visible tension at light rehearsals and briefings before the final, resulting in a lot of bad blood between schools for months afterward. One person who helped a leading school in Colombo last year and preferred to remain anonymous, said the behaviour of certain schools at the light rehearsal was dispicable. "It was all about getting the maximum for yourself and to hell with the others-definitely - not healthy for inter-school relations," he said.

The source pointed out that because one particular school spent well over three hours on stage, setting their lights and marking the stage, every one of the other schools were left with not more than 10 minutes a piece to set their markings.  "It was terribly unfair and not what the Shakespeare competition is supposed to be about at all", he said.

Intense competition

Feroze Kamardeen also felt that the cut-throat nature of the competition was detrimental to this annual festival and also to English theatre at large. He attributes the fewer number of actors emerging as a result of performances at this competion of late to this intense competition, since schools concentrate not on theatre and acting per se, but how to get ahead instead. "Most of the time, these kids don't even know who their characters are -- there is no research into the plays, no appreciation of Shakespeare's language -- and of course anyone who cannot appreciate Shakespeare's work will find it difficult to appreciate any kind of theatre at all. This is what the Shakespeare competition is breeding since of late. It's all about prestige and it does not bode well for English theatre," Kamardeen warned.

And of course, as in most competitions, the judging has been severely criticised. Judges have been faulted with falling for fancy gimmicks and paying less attention to the acting. In fact, a few years ago several schools were so completely disgusted with the competition and what they claimed was shoddy judging, they collaborated to put on Shakespeare Uncontested, an evening of Shakespearan performances by schools that thought they deserved to have been given a chance in the finals and wanted Colombo audiences to judge for themselves.

It is to be expected though isn't it, the controversy and conflict? These actor/director types are a rather melodramatic bunch, and the competition is most definitely one of THE biggest events in school calendars. What students, directors and judges should probably bear in mind though, is that the Shakespeare Drama Competition should be a festival that inspires literary and theatrical ambitions; it should be the first tantalizing taste of public performance; it should make students want to step back on stage again and again.

If any single person leaves the competition behind not having learned to love the works of William Shakespeare and everything they have been to theatre through the ages, the Shakespeare Drama Festival has been a failure. That would be the one true defeat of the competition, the one thing everyone involved should do their darndest to avoid.  Instead, let every child walk away not only pledging allegience to the world's greatest poet and playwright, but also with resounding faith in the bonds of friendship and mutual respect born of the theatrical experience.  

Turning the pages with Goolbai Gunasekara

By Jamila Najmuddin 

The number of international schools in Sri Lanka has expanded immensely over the past couple of years. Although criticised as 'mere money making institutions' due to their high fees, students from international schools have excelled and have also received a number of international awards.

While most Sri Lankan's are of the view that the country's education system is outdated and inefficient and the standards have dropped immensely over the past couple of years, international school students have performed well and have achieved excellence over the past couple of years from highly recognised international institutions such as Ed Excel.

This week, speaking to The Sunday Leader, Principal, Asian International School, Goolbai Gunasekara, shared with us her views about the current education system in the international schools.

 

Goolbai Gunasekara

According to her, today, schools in Colombo are striving to achieve the best results from their students at the public exams.

 Best results

"Schools striving to achieve the best results from their students in itself is a 'governing body.' People talk of the government stepping in and overseeing the standards of the international schools but proof of how high our standards really are, is seen through the results that our children achieve at the exams. When children do well at exams or sports, it is clear proof that our teachers are teaching and training them correctly. Today, international school standards are maintained due to the public exams that come from London," Gunasekara said.

According to her, since parents have a right to voice their opinions, in international schools, they push for excellence.

"International schools in Sri Lanka try to do their best in maintaining standards by offering students the best facilities and good teachers. Schools in the provinces are also trying to bring their schools up eventually by being able to compete at the British public exams. It is natural that they have the right to perform as well and parents who pay fees have the right to ask. However, parents who send their children to schools, which do not require any fees, do not have the right to voice their opinions," Gunasekara said.

"Asian International School is an international school which received international recognition this year by the 'International Association of Schools', which has membership in 35 countries. There are about 68 international schools from all over the world that are linked with the association. A.I.S. is the only school from Sri Lanka that is linked with this association," she said.

Facilities

Gunasekara added that since international schools offered the best facilities to their students, it was due to this that they had to charge high fees.

"There is no point in parents complaining that international schools charge high fees. They have to be high as we have to meet every international demand," Gunasekara said.

When questioned about the discipline in international schools, Gunasekara said that the blame was on the parents.

Strict discipline

"I definitely object when people complain that international schools do not maintain discipline. We maintain an extremely strict discipline and except for about eight percent of students, all our students are very well behaved. How children behave after school hours is not a responsibility of the school. It is the responsibility of the parents and I definitely blame the parents for giving their children cars and mobile phones at such a young age. Today the nightclubs are packed with youngsters and half of these children are not even from international schools. However, it is extremely unfair that international school children always get marked. If discipline in our schools is not maintained, how can our children fare so well at the examinations?" questioned Gunasekara.

She further added that education in Sri Lanka would improve immensely if schools adopted the English medium.

Gunasekara's beliefs

"I am a strong believer of the English medium and if our local schools had not switched to the Sinhala medium, like India, we would have liberalised education. English is the language of the world and we have to teach it," she said adding that she had a great admiration for Dr. Tara De Mel who had an excellent vision for the education system in Sri Lanka.

"If she is allowed to push through her reforms, the education system in Sri Lanka will improve tremendously. I only hope that the government will let her see through her policies," Gunasekara said.

According to her, students from international schools enter prestigious universities such as Oxford University, UK, Yale University, USA and many more, each year.

"Today companies will give fist preferences to a student who has an international qualification. Sri Lankan universities should also adapt an English medium as in the latter stages it is extremely difficult for these students to get employment. Except for our Law College and Medical College, the remaining system has to introduce the English medium," Gunasekara said.

She also added that for further studies she would prefer students to enter American Universities.

"I prefer the broad base atmosphere of America. England is currently going through a financial crisis but America is rich beyond belief," Gunasekara said.