This is a guest post by Jen Spinner, Program Reporting Associate, who shares her reflections from a recent trip to visit Room to Read's work.
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Upon
landing in Sri Lanka, one can immediately sense the impact and devastation
caused by the country’s recent civil war. While the conflict officially ended three years
ago, 300,000 Sri Lankans are still displaced and many communities still lack
access to basic infrastructure.
Lying
in the middle of the Central Province, Hatton is one of Sri Lanka’s largest tea
production regions and home to one of the country’s largest Tamil populations,
many of whom work upwards of 14 hours a day on tea plantations. Schools in this
area fight for government assistance, often going months or years without
access to new textbooks and learning materials.
It
is within this reality that Room to Read’s Tamil Literacy and Girls’ Education
programs operate, working with families and communities that have been largely forgotten
by the country’s reconstruction efforts. As I moved from classroom to classroom
and home to home, I heard girls we work with share stories of the personal
impact their country’s war had on their lives, weeping for lost relatives and
friends. But juxtaposed upon this immense sadness is a palpable sense of determination
to succeed in school and provide for their remaining family.
One
of my last stops in Hatton was a school at the top of the region’s highest peak
that serves 1st to 12th grade students. Driving past
homes which lacked access to electricity and running water, the obstacles these
students face each day simply getting to school became obvious. As we stepped
into the school’s main courtyard, students clamored to show our team their
favorite books and literacy exercises, growing more excited which each new
activity. In Sri Lanka, Room to Read is the only organization ever to provide an
early grade literacy program in the Tamil language, so both students and
teachers are extremely proud. As we prepared to
leave school for the day, Sinthuja, a 10th grader, invited our team
to her home to meet her mother and see her “homework wall.” During the trek from school, my heart sank at
the realization that Sinthuja makes this trip every day, sometimes leaving
school after dark to take the forested trail alone.
Sinthuja’s
mother is a tea picker, spending 15-16 hours each day in the fields (despite
terrible arthritis) to support her six children. Even with such an incredibly demanding schedule, Sinthuja’s
mother comes home every night and asks about her daughter's day at school, without exception.
Upon
arriving at Sinthuja’s home, I was immediately drawn to a curtained corner at
the far right of the 12x15 structure. This was the only part of the one
room-house that was partitioned in any way for privacy from the home’s seven
occupants. When I asked Sinthuja’s mother about the space, she explained that
behind the curtain is her daughter’s study area/home library, meant to provide
some reprieve from the distraction of the busy house. Despite its small size, this
space really impacted me, a physical manifestation of the entire family’s
commitment to Sinthuja’s education.
And
it’s not just Sinthuja’s family who is benefitting from her staying in school. Her
community, which sits on the outskirts of Hatton's city center, is extremely
remote, and the only means of transportation for its residents is an
ever-changing and unreliable bus system. Given the poor quality of local
roadways, the routes themselves change frequently, leaving residents with a
major challenge when they need to get to work.
As
the only member of her village who can read Tamil, Sinthuja now wakes up before
dawn to go outside and read the directions and route information to her friends
and family. While this may seem like a small act, her efforts save neighbors
hours each day, allowing them to arrive on time to work and relieving the extra
stress that used to precede a 16-hour day.
“It’s
a miracle,” says Sinthuja’s mother, as she describes the vital role that
education allowed her daughter to play within the village. Neglected by so
many institutions and organizations, Sinthuja and her peers now have hope—a means
to a brighter future than the labor cycles they were born into.
Join Room to Read in celebrating
International Literacy Day throughout the month of September. For each action you
take, $1 will be donated to support our work. Learn more at www.roomtoread.org/ILD2012.