Having no choice teachers had to read the lessons out aloud and hope the students got it right. That may be possible with 1+2=3, but when it gets more complex it becomes a very difficult task severely hampering the education of the children.

The children who attend this school come from all parts of the country. Some children don’t have any parents where as others come from broken homes or where parents simply can’t afford to send them to school or have them at home due to extreme poverty.

The need for white boards was bought to our attention by the care taker of the school. We asked the principle to send us the exact cost of these white boards and managed to get them the white boards they need.

The children seem very excited that there is white board in their class and so do the teachers. They now have the luxury of not having to wait for their turn to share the board.

The principle not only provides these children with an education he also gives them place to stay. There is no government funding for this place and it relies solely on any external help given big or small. The school is need of many items, such has class room dividers, a few chairs and desks and a roof!

Yes, the school building was only built half way.

There was funding available for the bricks only. Until the roof gets done and the building is completed with the bare minimum all the children are cramped in one floor.

As you can see something small as the whiteboards make a big difference to so many children. Your help in by either volunteering or by donations so we can buy the materials needed to complete the school would go a long way.

Upon inquiring we found out that they did not have boots, gloves and overalls which they should really have when dealing with garbage. These people are very susceptible to diseases not having proper gear.

Hence we from L.E.O. decided to buy boots and gloves to make the garbage collector’s work safer. They are currently sharing the new boots and gloves between the two garbage trucks in the area.

We’re keen to extend our support in the months to come. Please support this initiative by donating by clicking here. Thank you!

We are delighted to contribute to a day out in Colombo that enabled these young people to see parts of their own capital city that would otherwise have been inaccessible to them. On the trip they went to the harbour and were able to board a ship that has been turned into a library – a truly unique experience.

They also enjoyed a picnic between all the activities and were able to go and see the aquarium which plays host to several inspiring sea creatures including sharks. This proved an immensely popular activity with them and they were able to see not only the sharks but also the impressive numbers of tropical birds there.

The day ended with a visit to an ancient and magnificent temple. Unfortunately the wheelchair bound persons were unable to go in due to the many steps. However, ice-cream made up for this.

Throughout the action packed day spirits were high and there was much merriment in the form of singing and drumming! A great day out.

Do you want to do more for these people and other projects the LEO Project Foundation runs? Please click here to donate.

Or do you want to make a change by being there in person? Please visit our volunteering section.

We gave them a grand total of 40 computers.

Half of these will be used to teach and the other half is to be given to students that complete their education and leave the school to start their own business.

From Jan at Hellabeem:

Hereby the very first images of the computers and our students using them.

Kind regards
Jan

The old computer room was in shambles and in total disarray and had not been used for years.

We cleaned up the computer room, got rid of the broken machines and replaced them with working machines donated by LEO and sponsors CIMA Global, Ensior, Amaris IT and individual donations.

Software was installed with the help of one of our volunteers, Wei. Simon (LEO staff member) and Wei got the machines ready by installing Word, Paint shop, dictionary and other software which we thought would be useful for the kids. They also set up username and password systems on all the machines.

The old computer room was completely turned round and made in to a pleasant working area for the kids to use.

The basic computer lessons commenced last week and are taught by our team Simon, Amal & Anne and LEO volunteers.

There is no computer teacher at the moment and we are looking for volunteers who could spend two hours each day to help teach these children computing skills.

It was a first time experience with computers for most of the children and they were very keen and eager to get started.

The first class was for children of ‘Year 9’ with 12 kids in total. So far their favorite programme seems to be Paint shop where they get to experiment with their creative skills.

We hope to get a permanent computer studies teacher who would come in on a daily basis to teach computing to all age groups.

We are currently looking for volunteers who could teach computing to the kids and are also looking for any second hand low cost printers we could get for the computer class so that the kids can occasionally print their work.

The LEO team together with the help of the children at Vajira home cleaned up the outdoor prayer area and placed the bulbs for each Buddha.

It is said in Buddhism that 28 Buddha’s arrived at various times before the present Buddha and paying your respects to all these Buddha’s is a vital part of prayer time.

It was a happy moment to see the kids’ faces lit up by the coloured lights and looking forward to prayer time in a well lit area.

Between 170 and 200 kids at Vajira home spend 40 minutes to one hour every evening outdoors praying.

Now they have a peaceful well lit and a clean area to pray. View all the pictures here

Donated toys, all the way from the Netherlands, arrived in the hands of these happy orphans after a long journey by air and sea.

First they travelled by plane from Amsterdam to London as part of my regular luggage.

Then they stayed in London awaiting collection by the shipping company. Once collected they went on a 4 week journey by sea to Sri Lanka. Total transport costs: £5.-

Most orphans in Sri Lanka have little to no toys. The orphanages simply can’t afford them.

This particular donation consisted of toys for very young children which was an excellent fit for this orphanage.

At this Colombo based orphanage they have a special unit for babies and toddlers who could really do with toys.


The images on this page show us the effect the simple gesture of donating our used toys can have.

And toys are not the only way we can make a difference to the lives of others.

Coming to Sri Lanka on a responsible holiday, donating money or using easysearch and easyfundraising also greatly benefit those in need.

At LEO we welcome any ideas you have to put a smile on their face!

With many thanks to Mr. Laurent Koelink, director of Ensior BV (our major sponsor for an upcoming project), for donating these toys!

The images on this page were taken at the beginning of this week and give a great indication of the change taking place.

Unfortunately prices hiked up since the first estimates to renovate the preschool were given. It works out that an additional £200.- is required to finish the work. Hence we at LEO keep on trying to raise the funds.

Now you might have noticed that the wording ‘microloan’ was used. It is important to keep in mind that anything that actually costs money is more valuable than something that comes for free.

So, to ensure that people are extremely serious about what the wish to use the money for it is given in the form of a microloan.

Interest is charged on the microloan which generates money to invest in other projects.

The interest rate is carefully considered and depends on the return on investment the organisation or individual borrowing the funds can realisticly expect.

LEO Project Foundation is a non profit organisation and the microloans are primarily to ensure that those asking for funding use it wisely.

When we ship things to Sri Lanka we are never certain if and how it arrives. We neither know if and how much the customs will charge to realize our goods.

Our usual shipment consists of stamps and some hard to get by goods. However, this shipment actually contains a server computer, hard drives, children toys and stamps.

The server has been donated to us by Joost Buelens whom will be volunteering at one of our projects with disabled children in October.


Hopefully we will see a future donation of an x-amount desktop computers arriving in Sri Lanka round about the same time, so a fully fledged network can be created giving the children better tools to improve their IT skills.

Joost happens to be an absolute expert on Linux and will be a huge help making this project a success.

This of course will be detailed in one of the future success stories!

 

Imagine you are a child again. Every day you have to walk to school and the only road leading there is an old dirt road of sand and stones. Now imagine you are walking that same road bare foot. This is exactly what most of the children at a very poor village school called ‘Sumanasara’ faced on a daily basis

A surprise donation
When in early 2007 we received a donation of about £150 by surprise, we asked ourselves where this money could be used most effectively. Know that in 2007 we weren’t even a charity yet, but one of us was volunteering in the Kurunegala area. There he had been teaching at a school where there wasn’t even chalk to write on the ‘blackboard’. And at this same school were these shoeless children.

What to do, what to do?
We talked to the principal of the school who told us that actually the children have to wear ties to school as this is a government rule however, she believed that shoes were much more help to these children than ties.

Christmas coming early
With the donation we were able to get over 35 shoeless children brand new shoes. Their happiness receiving these shoes we can only compare to a child getting the Christmas present it only dared dreaming off!

These shoes are said to last for at least two year preventing all kinds of foot injuries these children sustained on a daily basis by walking bare foot.