We heard this morning from our Country Director of Room to Read Sri Lanka, Glen de Mel, with some exciting news:
It is with great pleasure that we inform you that we have successfully concluded the 2009 Local Language Publishing book launch with the Honorable Prime Minister of Sri Lanka, Rathnasiri Wickremanayake.
The Prime Minister spent almost two hours with our team — along with our authors and illustrators — and each author and illustrator personally presented their titles to the Prime Minister. One of the leading authors in the country, Dr. Leel Gunasekera, made a speech on our local language book titles and following, the Honorable Rathnasiri Wickremanayake gave a speech highlighting Room to Read's efforts and presented us with a Letter of Appreciation under his seal.
At this event, we ceremonially handed over 44,000 books (approximately LKR 15 million or USD $131,153 ) to be distributed among the children in IDP camps and re-settled areas in the war-affected north. These books will serve 22,000 children and provide each child both an English-language and a Tamil-language book.
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This news is on the heels of the Financial Times reporting from our programs in Sri Lanka. Read more through the links below and don't forget that all donations made toward the Financial Times campaign (up to US$1 million) will be matched thanks to the generosity of three of Room to Read's corporate donors: Barclays Capital, Credit Suisse and Atlassian.
Room to Read builds libraries in Sri Lanka
December 18, 2009
It looks like a normal prize-giving ceremony at a normal school. Children are arranged by age on rows of seats in the barn-like hall. They wait patiently, a burble of chatter rising on the boiling air towards the tin roof....Read the full article
Drawing out talent to create children’s booksDecember 15, 2009
By day, R.C. Pradeep Kumar runs the gauntlet of Sri Lanka’s political and ethnic divide as a cartoonist working for a Tamil daily newspaper.By night and at weekends, he turns to the less politically sensitive pursuit of drawing illustrations for children’s books...Read the full article
Room to Read's results in Sri LankaDecember 11, 2009
The first thing I noticed about 11-year-old Kasun Amarasinghe was the state of his shirt. Theoretically white, it was tinged with a bluish sheen, possibly the result of being washed together with his navy blue shorts.....Read the full article
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