Pupils' novel way to help tsunami children
Sacred Heart Primary School has collected more than 1,000 books to help out fellow pupils in Sri Lanka who lost everything in a natural disaster.
Sacred Heart Primary School has collected more than 1,000 books to help out fellow pupils in Sri Lanka who lost everything in a natural disaster.On Boxing Day 2004, people woke to the terrifying scenes of the tsunami striking Sri Lanka, killing hundreds of thousands of people and making millions more homeless on the island in the Indian Ocean.
People across the globe raised millions of pounds to help rebuild the country, and almost three years on, major works have been carried out.
Meanwhile, three Sri Lankan Rotarians have been visiting Peterborough and Stamford over the past couple of weeks to talk about the schools that their Rotary Club of Kandy in Sri Lanka has rebuilt entirely from public support.
Staff, parents and pupils at Sacred Heart Primary School, in Bretton, heard how new schools were being built, and how, instead of bricks and materials, the children were now in desperate need of resources.
With less than a week's notice, everyone at the school searched cupboards and under beds for all of their unwanted books.
The children, who are aged four to 11, then proudly presented more than 1,000 books to Rotarians David Heather and Phil Thompson, who were delighted with the donation.
Headteacher Andrea Togher said: "The amount of books we managed to collect in under a week was fantastic.
"At this time of year, parents have enough to worry about with sports days, fetes and finishing for the summer holidays, so we didn't expect to receive so many donations."
Rotarian Carl Kelaart said: "The Sri Lankan schools badly need books written in English, and it is wonderful to see the enthusiasm that the children of the Sacred Heart School have had and the number of books they have given.
"A big thank-you goes to everyone involved from Rotary and the children of Sri Lanka."
Mrs Togher said one of the Rotarians would be coming back into the school after the summer to keep the pupils updated on how their books were being used.
Mrs Togher, who helps the school to raise money for a number of charities throughout the year, added: "We were really surprised that we got so many books, as hardly any came in during the first couple of days, but it was an exciting challenge for the pupils."
Read more:
'It was like a battle of the gods or something, heaven and hell all on one short stretch of beach'.
TSUNAMI: Rebuilding lives in disaster zone.
TSUNAMi: In Hell
AMIDST scenes of horror and devastation, a Peterborough couple are battling to help victims of the earthquake disaster in Sri Lanka.
Email to a friend
Print this page - Popular
- Most comments
- Most shared
Looking for...
Featured advertisers
Local pages
Looking for a...
Jobs
Search for a job
Motors
Search for a car
Property
Search for a house
Weather for Peterborough
Tuesday 16 March 2010
Today
Sunny spells
Temperature: 2 C - 8 C
Wind Speed: 14 Knots
Wind direction: North west
Tomorrow
Sunny spells
Temperature: 2 C - 10 C
Wind Speed: 18 Knots
Wind direction: North west
Your view
Please sign in to be able to comment on this story.