Pumping water, life and hope
At last: Water for the schoolchildren
Shaan Corea was all packed to leave for Poonakary for the first time four years back. Constant admonishing that she would not be able to stay in Poonakary itself because ‘there would be no water’ didn’t really worry her. The warnings merely conjured up in her mind a brief drought or a temporary water cut.
With her feet planted on sandy palmyrah country, however, she would discover that there was not a drop of usable water anywhere, and bowsers had to dispense, in strict rations, the precious commodity.
So began a mission to afford for Poonakary which has a population of over 20,000, the ‘luxuries’ which denizens even in many backwoods take for granted- not only the precious fluid but also transport, electricity, some knowledge of English, and peace and reconciliation for the soul.
Her project Appé Lanka, part of her company Awakening Lanka, has been busy pumping hope and life into a still beleaguered North. Their first chosen ground has been Poonakary in the Kilinochchi District.
Last Monday Shaan had the pleasure of completing the key project there, christened “Let them bloom, give them water”. They opened the tap of the water purification system supplied to the final and 21st school which provides safe usable running water.
A warm thank you: Shaan gets a hug from a Poonakary mother
Shaan imbibed altruism at Bishop’s College as an Interact Club live wire- but it was also in her blood- for she is a proverbial Chilaw Corea whose grandfather was Sir George Claude Stanley Corea. Seated in her breezy home with inner courtyards, Shaan is framed against her favourite Richard Gabriels: a native-style crucifixion in earthy colours; watercolours depicting charity and altruism in the Sinhalese villages. For Shaan, being a Good Samaritan is bred in the genes.
In Poonakary, children often walk many miles to reach school- and many often drop out early because of the lack of transport. Appé Lanka hit on the most feasible answer, which was bicycles, and for the past three years has been donating many consignments of pedal bikes.
Peace and reconciliation programmes attempt to weld the young communities- from the north and from Colombo- using art and sports programmes, conducted by artists Nelun Harasgama and Channa Ekanayake.
Water pollution and water sustainability are the two themes Channa and Nelun, with their brushes so sensitive to an indigenous beauty, help the children of this arid pocket explore.
Exchange programmes from north to south also have been helping break down ‘the palmyrah curtain’. Shaan cherishes memories of young Thomians taking off their boots in solidarity with the barefooted boys of Poonakary to play football in the muddy fields, or girls from Poonakary crying unwilling to part with their hosts in Colombo- girls from Bishop’s College after a long city spree.
Appé Lanka has also illuminated a whole village with solar home systems, but the most pivotal was the water purification project. Within 18 months of the project, all schools within Poonakary were equipped with safe usable water- benefiting 6410 children.
Their next venture: to provide water for all the 19 Grama Niladhari divisions that make up Poonakary; a mammoth task.
Anyone, says Shaan, can pitch in, and it does not have to be monetary. Like the young rock bands that pooled for charity concerts, or Pala Pothupitiya- the society darling of an artist who donated some of his paintings to be auctioned, or those who turn up at the door with piggy bank savings.
Poonakary is just the pilot project- “a template of what we can do in the north and the east in the future,” says Shaan.
A sunny ‘thalassophile’ who also enjoys long rambles to jungles and national parks- and stopping by the little kades on her way- Shaan has her soul etched on to the island’s heart- and sees its many peoples as Appéma aya: ‘our very own’.
Each time she drives down to Poonakary, the warm embraces she gets from the village women remain her dividends. They charge her smile- and keep her buoyant.