John Johns has a simple analogy about the transformation that education offers, which he likens to a fork in the road. Children – those who don't know English and have no computer skills are compelled to traverse what is virtually a dead-end street with no doors opening for them while the fortunate ones who have gained these skills can take the other fork and progress to a wide world of unlimited opportunity.
It is a deep-rooted desire to empower the youth that led the couple from San Diego, California to channel their efforts into the community centre for a village built for the tsunami affected in Kalutara. "My wife Padmini, my son Andrew and I travelled 15,071 km to be here this afternoon," John told the gathering at the centre opening at the Dediyawala village in Kalutara on July 12. The Dediyawala village for the tsunami affected was built by the Educate A Child Trust led by Dr. Pramilla Senanayake.
Now retired, John and Padmini travel widely and have seen the need and hardship in many of the beautiful places they've visited. "We see a lot of the world and we see a lot of need," John says somberly. Yet, there has never been any doubt in their minds that Sri Lanka was the place they wanted to help.
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| John and Padmini (right) with a happy family at the EACT village |
The connection is a personal one for Padmini who was born here. When the tsunami devastation occurred in December 2004, and there was a flood of calls to their home in San Diego, it was for them a personal call to do something more. Mobilising the help of like-minded friends, both Sri Lankans and American, from Texas, Maryland, Pennysylvania and many other states, they began looking in earnest for a project to help. They had already dispatched a container load of relief supplies to Sri Lanka and then John and Padmini flew down and travelled from north to south, searching for a project they could devote their resources too.
That visit was fruitless and so too the next, until some months later they heard of Dr. Pramilla Senanayake's EACT project through two Sri Lankan doctors, Ranjan and Roshan Hulugalle and the pieces fell into place.
EACT stands for Educate A Child Trust and for John whose heart has been in the field of education through his many and varied professional roles as entrepreneur, publisher and journalism professor, this was it.
The Dediyawala village declared open by American Ambassador Robert O'Blake provided brand new homes for 48 needy families. Within it, the spanking new Community Centre, built at a cost of Rs 22 million stood as testimony to the efforts of the group spearheaded by John and Padmini. "We represent a group of 22 friends who joined this effort but could not be here today. As a group we comprise different races, religions, ages and levels of income. We all live in America and care very much for what happens in this village, far from our homes," John said.
The spacious Community Centre, is now being equipped with computers and the other facilities to enable children not just of the village but from Kalutara to learn English and IT skills. John is hopeful that the children and their parents will embrace this opportunity and that the time will come when the older kids securely employed will help the younger and it will indeed be the vibrant heart of the community. As it grows, the plan is to have medical camps, counseling and other programmes and develop it as a model to be followed elsewhere in the country.
Padmini, recalling her happy childhood as the daughter of Dr. James T. Rutnam and late Evelyn Wijayaratna Rutnam, would like their three children to have a reason to return to Sri Lanka, just as she herself has done from the time she left as a young girl of 15.
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