Inthiralingam Suventhirarajah
This is Inthiralingam, he lives in the village of Navalady in Manmunai North with his wife and two children.
He is a fisherman, and his wife does not work, their children, a girl is in grade 5 and his son is in one of our pre-schools.
Being self-employed he had to rent a boat which cost him a large fee each month. Thus, most of his income was going on that one expense.
He was donated a fishing boat of his own named Twinkle This has had a significant effect on his income which has increased by 300% allowing him to give his family a higher standard of living.
Inthiralingam says "The fishing boat has been very helpful and improved my standard of living, I am very grateful for the donation of this new boat.
The Children's Play Park at Karuwapankerny Batticaloa
Ocean Stars Trust UK and LANKA completed a playpark project in Karuwapankerny, Batticaloa. From initial talks to the final opening ceremony, the project took a year. Nobody could have anticipated that the country was going to run out of foreign currency, experience an unprecedented fuel crisis and electricity shortage, that imports were going to be restricted and the currency was going to be devalued. All these factors could easily have made any project manager and funder decide enough is enough!
We are so grateful to the Mahadevan family, our Ocean Stars Lanka team and the local DS Office.
The land was donated from the DS Office, the support of the Mahadevan family in the changing budgets and our Ocean Stars Lanka staff for working tirelessly to make sure that every stage of the project was monitored and completed to a high standard.
Seeing the joy, laughter and delight on the children's faces and hearing the squeals of children as they come down the slides or go round the merry-go-round has been heart-warming. The resilience, fortitude and determination of everyone involved has been an inspiration. The arrival of a beautiful playpark with equipment imported from Hong Kong has been no short of a miracle.
The opening ceremony was a happy event with speeches from government dignitaries and OSL staff. Trees were planted and the traditional oil lamp was lit.
We hope that the children of the village and surrounding area will enjoy hours of fun, play, laughter and joy.
Click here to see the children enjoying the play park.
Kathirkamathambi Sinnarasa
This is Kathirkamathambi, he lives in the village of Arumugathan Kudiyiruppu in Earavur pattu with his wife and two children.
He is a fisherman, and his wife does not work, their children, a girl is in grade 12 and his son fishes with his father.
Being self-employed he struggled to make ends meet, having to pay rent on a boat regardless of income.
He was donated a fishing boat of his own named Butterfly 2 This has had a significant effect on his income which has increased by 100% allowing him to give his family a higher standard of living. His son has now joined him as a fisherman and also benefitting from the boat.
Kathirkamathambi says "The boat I received has truly transformed my life. This donation has brought financial stability and peace of mind to my family. Thank you for your generosity, and may you be abundantly blessed!
Fresh water comes to the Pattipalai preschool
In many of the rural areas of Sri Lanka there is not the ability to have running water.
One of our link schools Crookham Junior School raised money over a number of months. This helped a tube well to be built for the Pattipalai preschool.
Complete with pump, the children now have fresh clean running water constantly.
Click here to see the children enjoying the fresh water.
The gift of hearing transforms a life
Anushan was sponsored by Ocean Stars from the age of 6 years.
He was born with a hearing impairment which got worse as he grew. His parents could not afford to get Anushan tested and fitted with a hearing aid.
Ocean Stars raised the funds needed for the hearing aid and transformed his life. He now can access learning materials, listening to podcasts, makes friends more easily and will be able to study for his dream job.
Smart Classroom aids learning
A Smart Classroom at Vigneswaran High School was installed, the school being chosen because it is one of the highest-achieving High Schools in the area. Despite Mandoor being an area with very impoverished people. The school has only been in existence on its present site for about 12 years, occupying the site of an ex-army camp. The classroom is being used all through the day, even till 9pm, by various classes, mostly older ones, but younger classes will have been introduced to it and achieved its "wow" factor. Older classes use it for extra tuition beyond normal school hours, and University students also come to the classroom in the evenings to do research. We would like to thank Royal Hospital School Ipswich for raising the funds which has transformed the children's learning.
