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Thal Aramba Pre-School: Building work completed

Aid Sri Lanka is overseeing the construction of a pre-school in Thal Aramba, Matara. This project is being funded by Travel Aid 50 and PATA.

The people of Thal Aramba are delighted with the new pre-school building which has recently been completed. Hit by the tsunami a year ago, a number of pre-schools in this area were damaged or destroyed. The land in the grounds of the Thal Aramba temple was donated to this project to provide a new pre-school for the children of the village.

The new building is impressive, well designed and nicely finished. The large hall is airy and spacious, providing a nice environment for the children to learn and play in. Although the pre-school currently has 60 pupils it can comfortably accommodate up to 150 which will allow children from schools destroyed in the tsunami to attend. In fact, there will be 15 extra children attending when the school reopens on 3 January.

There is an indoor play room, one side of which is open, giving a sense of being outside. In addition to an office, the school also has toilet and shower facilities. The children’s sinks and toilets feature cartoon characters, a detail which has been particularly popular.

Miss Nilu and Miss Anoma take much pride in the various shows they put together so the stage area is very important to them.

The colour of the building and the colour and style of roof were carefully chosen to fit in with the other buildings on the temple grounds. The covered veranda along the West side of the building not only provides shade but protects the windows from the rain and is aesthetically pleasing.

There is still some work to be done on the perimeter wall and the playground equipment needs to be delivered and installed before the project is entirely completed. This should be done before the end of January.

Throughout the process, we have consulted with the teachers, parents, children and the local Monk to ensure that the building met their needs. Everyone is pleased with the finished result and relieved that, a year after the destructive wave hit, a new school is ready.

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