March 29th 2011 was a very special day for the Rotary Sri Lanka Schools’ Awakening Project. When the tsunami tragedy occurred, Rotarians in Sri Lanka pledged to build 24 state of the art schools to replace ones destroyed by the waves. 23 of these were completed in the three years following the event. The final school, on the northernmost tip of the island near the town of Jaffna could not be completed on schedule because of the civil war which isolated Jaffna from the south and rendered work impossible.

Finally the wonderfully designed building is complete and was officially opened by the President of Rotary International, Ray Klinginsmith from the USA on March 29th.

This school, named Kudaththanai Karaiyoor, is sited in the sandy coastal zone of the far north which has endured and survived both the tsunami devastation and the armed conflict that claimed many local lives, and separated north from south Sri Lanka.

It is a splendid building with light, airy auditorium and classrooms, science and computer laboratories and all modern facilities.

President Ray described the Schools’ Awakening Project as one of the finest Rotary projects he has ever seen.

A school pupil described 29th March as “our golden day”.

Furniture for Kudaththanai Karaiyoor school was donated through Project Sri Lanka by Delaval School in Northumberland which closed in 2010.

The opening ceremony was attended by Chair of the Trustees Joy Palmer Cooper, the District Governor of Rotary Sri Lanka and other senior Rotarians from the island.