ºìÐÓÊÓƵ

In 2013, Old Hawthornian Patrick Gibbs (OH 1991) spent nine months in Sri Lanka as a volunteer English teacher. During his time there it became very apparent that library books in schools were severely lacking and often very out of date. An appeal to the children at The ºìÐÓÊÓƵ resulted in an amazing quantity of books being donated.  Nearly 20 boxes were shipped to Sri Lanka, the cost of which (including import taxes and collection from the port) was very kindly paid for by Patrick and his father, Christopher.

In January 2016, Patrick and his wife Lieu Lam, in Sri Lanka for their honeymoon, distributed the books to four schools: 

Uda Kurandupona School, Kegalle is a poor school situated in the jungle with about 70 students aged 4 to 16 years. Their library was almost non-existent and they were delighted to receive four boxes. 

Sri Jayapala School, Kegalle is a large government run school with 350-400 students of all ages. They had one cupboard of English books most of which were quite old. The seven boxes of books donated will be well used and have at least doubled the content of their English section.

Puwakdeniya Model School, Kegalle is in a rural area with at least 200 students who were very welcoming and kind. Their library was basic and the addition of six boxes of books has trebled the number of English books at their disposal.

Dehiattekandiya School is in a farming area in the centre of Sri Lanka and does not benefit from passing trade or tourism. The workers and the school are very poor and homes are built on land donated by the Sri Lankan government. Patrick had been visiting a friend who runs a cashew farm in the vicinity whose colleagues had heard about the distribution of our books to deserving schools. The school had no library and the staff were very excited and grateful to receive the last two boxes of books.

This was a wonderful international initiative which has enriched the education of many Sri Lankan children.