Students from Chipping Campden, a small village in Middle England, have supplied more than 80 essential school supplies packs for disadvantaged Sri Lankan students in Balapitiya and Boosa – and picked up some devoted penpals along the way.

St Catherine’s and Broadway First Schools undertook fundraising activities that raised ₤916 pounds for the packs, which contain all the items needed by the Sri Lankan students for the school year including stationery, school bags and material for uniforms.

‘This program has created an amazing two way exchange. Most students have already received letters from their Sri Lankan penpals’, she said.

‘St Catherine’s made a DVD of a special song they’d created for their pen pals for me to show the Ampe and Boosa students, who were thrilled.’

Ms Bryson, who has been dedicated to supporting Sri Lanka since the tsunami, developed a strong relationship with the Foundation of Goodness (FoG) after meeting Founder and Trustee Kushil Gunasekera. Armed with a PowerPoint presentation a sari, she has visited schools,

A sponsorship certificate

churches and a women’s fellowship in Chipping Campden to raise funds to help children in need through FoG’s essential school supply packs.

‘I knew this was a way for me to do something more for Sri Lanka’, she said.

During her trip to Sri Lanka, Ms Bryson also visited the Hegoda Sooriya Model School in Boosa where students also received the essential school supplies, as well as other projects carried out by the Foundation of Goodness including a concert by the Lahiru Pre-School children.

She describes meeting the Foundation staff and the school students as highlights of her journey.

‘It was great to walk into the schools and recognize the children’s faces’, she said.

‘I was also pleased to meet Foundation staff, and witness the humility in people who don’t have much but are prepared to give their time and their love’.