Students receive solar lamps

Christian activists this week distributed solar-powered lamps to Muslim and Hindu children resettled from war-torn areas in a bid to ease the burden of displacement on their lives and studies. A group of women activists and nuns met the children, studying in small villages in Mullaitivu district, which lacks regular electricity, during a three-day visit that ended yesterday. “We feel that we have visited our relatives,” said Scholastika Silva, a Catholic who works at the Good Shepherd Migrant Service Center in Colombo. “If we go to see relatives, then we take something. So we asked them what they wanted. They requested 30 lamps, each of which cost 5,250 rupees (US$48).” Silva said war and displacement, poverty, parents’ lack of support, a lack of clothing, no school supplies and a poor formal education system force many children to leave school at an early age. “These solar lamps were given to the students who study for government-run Ordinary Level and Advanced Level examinations.” Nearly three decades of civil war left most schools in the Northern province damaged or destroyed. The government has made steps toward renovating them but most children study in tents in their villages with access to little or no electricity. “People live there without creed or caste but in harmony. This is what we want,” Silva said. Mohamed Sali Jenufa, 40, with the Mullaitivu Women Development and Rehabilitation Center, said about 3,000 families in the villagers were resettled last year and comprise Hindus, Muslims and Christians. Gerphard Jeanne, 19, one of the recipients of a solar lamp, said she was happy to have the opportunity to continue her studies. “This solar lamp will help us to carry out our studies even in the late hours. We do not have proper electricity, water supply or infrastructure facilities.