01/02/20
In December 2019, I (Mini) came to volunteer in Akurala on a turtle conservation program run by Charith and his family and I absolutely fell in love with the country, this gorgeous little village in particular.
Akurala is a poor rural coastal village, situated 90km from the country’s capital, Colombo. The village was devastated by the 2004 Boxing day tsunami which destroyed the property, lives and livelihoods of its people on an unimaginable scale. Despite industrious efforts toward post-tsunami recovery, Akurala’s economy still remains to suffer from remnants of this event. After being fully immersed in Akurala and introduced to the economical hardships its inhabitants endure, I was motivated to help in any way possible. I met dozens of local children during my time there, many of which spoke English well and were able to tell me how they loved school! However, I also became aware of the dilapidating access to free education in the village, and this is the area I wish to transform.
With very little funding and a huge lack of resources, kindergartens and daycare centres are struggling to provide adequate education to the children and, in some cases, struggling to even keep running. These facilities are a vital cog in the works of Akurala, as providing care for these children during the day enables their parents to work, something applicable worldwide, but particularly essential in Akurala. They also provide these children with the foundations to exceed in future education by introducing them to the English language from a young age. I was told by Charith that due to lack of government funding, the local kindergarten was recently forced to close its doors, he could not let this happen, so to enable the kindergarten to continue, he offered to run it himself... And we would like to help! :)