By Kusumanjalee Thilakarathna
A group of grade five students of Horizon College International in Malabe provided breakfast to 100 school children in Hewagama Kanishta Vidyalaya recently. They raised money for the project over four months, on their own. The five kids – Mumudi Gajadeera, Nethuli Nawagamuwa, Esandi Sakithma, Dihain Kotelawala, and Nethumi Sahansa – who joint hands to do this project, are friends in peer classes, all aged between nine and 10 years.
The Sunday Morning Little Stars had a chat with the five organisers of this project and here is what they shared.
Q: Can you introduce yourselves to us?
A: Mumudi : I am Mumudi Gajadeera. I am a nine-year-old girl from Kaduwela. My school is Horizon College International, Malabe. This September, I will be in grade five. I love playing the piano and I have won many prizes for it. I have played at all island tournaments twice and I have also played chess at the West Asian tournament. I am pursuing swimming, athletics, and netball. I love drawing and writing. I contribute to two newspapers, including The Sunday Morning Little Stars, frequently.
Nethuli: My name is Nethuli Nawagamuwa. I am nine years old. I live in Malabe. There are only three members in my family – me, my mother, and my father. I love reading. It is my hobby. Novels are my favourite. I also like engaging in sports like basketball, swimming, and athletics and my favourite one is roller skating. I am quite a good baker as well. My parents love to taste the cakes I make.
Esandi: My name is Esandi Sakithma and I am nine years old. I have a big sister and a big brother. I go to Horizon College International in Malabe. I love to read. Before coming to Sri Lanka, I lived in Dubai for a long time. We had great reading sessions in our school in Dubai. I love singing and sports, and playing with my friends.
Dihain: My name is Dihain Sanmith Kotelawala and I am nine years old. I study at Horizon College International Malabe, and this September I am going to grade five. I am the only child in my family but I have many friends. I love loads of things. I enjoy reading books, riding my bicycle, making things out of Legos, playing the piano, and swimming. I am so fortunate to be on the swimming squad of my school. I like singing songs and I like to watch cartoons to relax.
Nethumi: My name is Nethumi Sahansa. I am nine years old. I recently moved to Australia. I enjoy collecting books, reading, and writing stories.
Q: Tell us how you prepared for this project.
A: Mumudi : We wanted to raise money on our own. So, I did many chores at home, like watering the plants, washing dishes, and sweeping the kitchen. For each chore, I got around 50 rupees. Other than that, we sold our old textbooks and saved our pocket money too.
Nethuli: First, we discussed the plan and who will join us. Then we collected money by doing chores. After that, we shopped for ingredients using the money we collected. And finally, we gave the groceries to the school chef to cook the meal.
Esandi: We discussed it a lot. Then we earned money by doing household chores. We collected money for four months. Once we made the plan and the shopping list, we went shopping. That was fun. We bought everything with our money.
Dihain: One of my best friends informed me about this project. I was so glad to participate. I had some pocket money, so I thought of spending them on the goods used to prepare the meal. My parents gave me some more money and more support. I was a bit unfortunate that I couldn’t come to buy the groceries but my friends got together and bought the needed groceries for the meal. Then they delivered the groceries to an aunt who cooked the meal for the children.
Nethumi: We created a group and discussed what to do and arranged a day to go to the stores and buy the goods. We handed them over to the school cook to cook the meal for the children the next morning. We collected money in our tills and used the amount to buy the goods. The next morning we went to the school and helped to serve food.
Q: What are your thoughts about the project now?
A: Mumudi : I feel very satisfied as many students enjoyed a happy meal. It is like helping a friend in need. I want to do more for that school as we made lots of friends that day. Our next plan is to collect books for their library. We will donate them next December, during our holidays. And we hope to add more members to our group. We have named the group ’Count on Me’. Anyone who wants to lend a hand to our friends in need can drop us a message, not only from our school but anywhere around the world.
Nethuli: I feel so happy we did something like that. It’s such a great activity. It makes me feel like I want to do more deeds just like that. It was nice meeting children from another school.
Esandi: I am very happy. I really want to do more things like this. Our friends had a nice meal and we enjoyed ourselves a lot, earning money and shopping.
Dihain: I feel so happy about the deed which my friends and I have done. I just hope the kids enjoyed the meal.
Nethumi: I am happy about it because I was able to help the children and fill their tummies so that they can start work fresh without having to be hungry.
When five children wanted to do a good deed
18 Sep 2022
When five children wanted to do a good deed
18 Sep 2022