Big opening ceremony of new first floor at Anura College

(Here is the report of our vice president Edeltrud Pinger:) For more than a week, I have been here in Sri Lanka now. I regularly go to Matara to teach German, I talk to our scholarship children, look at the new building and can realize that the library is well situated in this newly built first floor, tidily arranged and enough room for students to work, to study and to read leisurely. There is a solid roof now, protecting the building against strong wind and heavy rain. Sunday, August 30th, the school community and guests were invited to celebrate the opening. (more…)

Journey to Sri Lanka: Diary of our vice president. Day one

A long day lies ahead of me, or let’s better say, two days. Start in Neuwied at seven in the morning, motorway to Francfort  Airport, which is a tiring thing to do because of all those building sites. Check in is no problem, because I sent ten kilos of those German language books in a parcel via a transport agency. That means that I could finally take all the gifts for scholarship students, lots of pens and some other items you may need apart from clothes. Quiet flight to Doha. 40°C were announced, but luckily the transit could be realized inside the airport buidling. Four and a half more hours to reach Colombo at 3 in the morning, local time. Customer’s check, passport control and luggage belt were the next stops to be passed; change of Euros to Rupees the final activity before leaving the airport, and meeting the driver who was waiting with about one hundred other people to meet someone and take him or her to the final destination. (more…)

Princess of Neuwied takes on patronage of Neuwied-Matara-Friendship-Association

Every club’s or association’s efficiency depends on its members’ commitment. There is a close link between effectiveness, successful

activities and the members’ readiness to act and to work meaningfully and to represent this intention in public. Good things become evident when well-known and famous people show their appreciation for these activities publicly. So, our association is particularly happy to welcome Her Highness, Princess Sophie of Wied, as patron of their association and advocate of their activities. That is far from being just a formality, but there were intense conversations and information to explain why the association’s activities are helpful and appreciable. (more…)

First floor finished – opening ceremony end of August

Time flies, and soon our vice president, Edeltrud Pinger, will travel to Matara and see with her own eyes that, at the moment, can only be shown in a picture being sent via email by our coordinator, Mr. Ruwan Abegunewardene, who supervised the project and gave regular and latest information. Some restoration work is still being carried out in the ground floor, because for 1 ½ year, there has only been a provisional ceiling. But now, the two-storey building is completely finished and has a solid roof. A nice turning staircase and a balcony give access to students and teachers. (more…)

Great equipment for chemistry lessons at Anura College

Mrs. Lakshmi’s eyes are shining, and she is as happy as her colleagues of the science department will be. To teach illustrative lessons in chemistry, you will have to use corresponding chemicals, receptacles, all the necessary equipment and capable teachers who can explain connections and causal relationships, who can carry out experiments and teach, not only basics of this important science, but also far-reaching and more extensive and sustainable knowledge. (more…)

Board starts planning 10th anniversary of Friendship-Association

In September 2005, our friendship-association was officially founded. Before, there had been an action committee (“Neuwied helps to help”) that started its work only a few weeks after the terrible tsunami. Central coordinators of this committee were our Lord Mayor of Neuwied, Mr. Nikolaus Roth; the then manager of Lohmann-company in Neuwied-Feldkirchen, Mr. Manfred Mayer; Mr. Sagara Abegunewardene whose roots are in Sri Lanka; and teachers and principals of  schools in Neuwied. Their initiatives and decisiveness enabled spontaneous help, the first visit of the island in July 2005, the first building project, and so the foundation of a registered association was a logical result and a lucky decision. (more…)

German language book for Anura students

May be, it is a strange title for a language book: “Guter Mond, du gehst so stille durch die Abendwolken hin.” (song about the full moon wandering around the evening sky) Funny idea, isn’t it? But “insiders” will understand and know why.

There have been German lessons at Anura-College, Matara, for four years now. Mrs. Edeltrud Pinger, vice president of Neuwied-Matara-Friendship-Association, was not only a principal at WHG-Neuwied-High School in Neuwied, Germany, during twelve years, but also a teacher of English and French for 35 years altogether. English language has always been important for her to communicate in Sri Lanka and to use this foreign language to teach the students another foreign language, her mother-tongue, German. So, why not sing a German song, an old but nice one, dating from the beginning of the 19th century, and accompany it by gestures to show its meaning. (more…)

Roofing finished!

No rain can get in anymore and harm the newly built first floor on top of the library. A solid roof is fixed, and what remains to be done is the finish plaster. The balcony was planned to be accomplished by an iron railing, but a solid stone wall seems to be safer, and – as the photograph reveals – this was put into action. Electric, painting and polishing works are to be finished by mid-June. End of June, the school community (students, parents and teachers) will help to carry all the furniture from the downstairs library upstairs to the new floor, which means that renovation works and some repairing can be done in the ground floor. Probably, in early July everything will be finished and give the whole building a polish for extra shine. We are looking forward to more pictures showing us this splendour, and even more to the visit of our treasurer (Mr. Jürgen Hoppen), his wife (Mrs. Marga Meilen-Hoppen) and our vice president (Edeltrud Pinger), end of August, who will be able to examine the result when visiting Anura College.

Roof will be fixed soon

These latest pictures show clearly: construction work is going on continuously; the roof will soon be put up. As soon as this is done, our coordinator, Mr. Ruwan Abegunewardene, can start electric works: wires, sockets, switches, lamps and fans must be fixed and installed.

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Strong account in local press

We are very happy to see our last article published in the local “Rheinzeitung”, as well as in costfree local papers (“Blick aktuell” and “Lokalanzeiger”). Consequently, a lot more people will get information about our project work in Matara, Sri Lanka. And if this kind of information led to more financial support for our latest project (building the first floor of the small library), we would be the happiest. So, please feel free to help us for the students’ sake. Thank you so much! (You will find the articles – in German – here on the right side: “press articles”)