A campaign by Drumheller residents to build a school for children in Sri Lanka has succeeded, and today children in the northern reaches of the country have a better chance at an education.
“Thanks to the efforts of the citizens of Drumheller, the Drumheller appeal for Room to Read has been successful,” said Peter Glossop, one of the volunteers who spearheaded the appeal.
The Drumheller appeal kicked off in the spring of 2009. Learning about the charity, founded by former Microsoft executive John Wood, inspired organizers. The organization has a model to fund specific projects from start to finish, rather than pooling the funds, and its focus is on education. Its credo is “World Change Starts with Educated Children."
To date, the organization can boast of building 1,129 schools and 10,000 libraries. It also has published 441 books, and has distributed 8 million books. It has established more that 10,000 scholarships focused on giving girls an equal chance at an education, and in all, has befitted the lives of 4.1 million.
Organizers felt it is a strong charity.
“Often times short term aid is given for a disaster or to alleviate starvation. It was our belief that by assisting in the education system we could empower communities to be more self sufficient and stable in the long term, rather than dependent on outside resources,” said Glossop.
The group also recognized the need in Sri Lanka. While education was highly regarded in the small island country, and it had achieved the highest literacy rate among Asian countries, its infrastructure was fragile at best. Tragedy struck six years ago when the country was slammed by a devastating tsunami on Boxing Day in 2004. It has been struggling to rebuild its infrastructure, and Room to Read has been helping. So far it has established 670 libraries and established 47 new local language book titles, and is projected to build 280 schools through 2010. Drumheller residents supported one of these schools.
The Drumheller appeal paid for half of the school. The community in Sri Lanka, through its own labour, fundraising and supplies is supporting the other half of the cost to build the school.
Glossop said this will help the country by not only building its infrastructure, but by facilitating better education to help the children, and the country, face a better future.
“Sri Lanka, at times, has experienced difficulty with maintaining civil rights and education is one of the best ways to support civil society,” said Glossop.
Some of the Drumheller appeal fundraising endeavours included a downtown garage sale, and a golf tournament, as well as some art donations. There were also a number of individuals coming forth and donating individually, learning about the project through word of mouth.
“We are particularly appreciative of the support of Darryl and Darlene Danchek and TD Waterhouse, Irv and Corrine Gerling, Jordan and Andrew Harper and Jens Madsen of Evergreen Implements,” said Glossop.
Glossop is proud of the efforts of residents, and looking at other projects including the Morgan Jayne Project. He said Drumheller has a more global focus than ever before.