Page 65 - Hemas_Piyawara_Book

too. Monitoring was by the Ministry of Women and Child Affairs, with periodic visits
by the Hemas staff.
Trauma counsellors too had been nominated with each covering preschools in 5
welfare camps. The training on Early Childhood Care and Development (ECCD)
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teaching methods and trauma counselling from April 4 to 28 , 2005, had been
conducted in collaboration with the University of Colombo.
The temporary preschools were also a joint effort with the children’s parents and
other adults who were idling in the camps. They had been motivated to give of their
shramaya (energy) to help put together the play areas which, in turn, provided a means
for them to do something for the community without being caught up in worries and
concerns about their losses and future.

These temporary preschools which were in operation for 2 years until the permanent
model preschools were up and running, meant that the Hemas team was on the move
for that long too. They had literally lived on the road and off small bags, in a vehicle,
checking on the needs of these preschools and also monitoring and supervising the
construction of the 20 permanent model preschools in these areas.
Mr. Jiffrey Mohamed (above) and Mr. Nilantha Fonseka (below) handing out donations to people in a camp
Gradually, from heaps of rubble, like a phoenix rising from the ashes, emerged the in the east.
powerful concept of model preschools for large numbers, as many as 100, instead of
several small preschools dotting an area. A lesson learnt from a catastrophe which
made the Piyawara project stronger and smarter.
Even though the ministry had specified what a model preschool should consist of
at the beginning of Piyawara, it was in the tsunami-affected areas that the ‘true’
Model Preschool rose, modelled on a detailed prototype drawn by respected
architect Mihindu Keerthiratne, all for free. It was a four-classroom preschool
with all facilities for the tiny tots and included a teachers’ office, sickroom, four
toilets, a pantry and a play area.

The 20 Model Preschools proposed for the tsunami areas were: 2 in the Kalutara
district; 9 in the Galle district; 2 in the Matara district; 4 in the Hambantota district;
and 3 in the Ampara district.
Once again it was site engineer, Haroon Cassiere, who undertook the arduous task of
seeing the buildings take shape according to the prototype, making what was on paper
a physical structure.

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