Plan Sri Lanka embarks on tsunami education project

PLAN Sri Lanka has embarked on a innovative Tsunami Educational Project specially created for Sri Lankan school children and has just launched a newspaper pre-release of a poster insert that is part of a forthcoming book titled "Searching for Punchi", a fictionalised account of a Sri Lankan child's attempt to come to terms with the loss of a pet that dies in the tsunami.

Through this the concept of coping with grief and issues related to the devastation caused by the tsunami tragedy are discussed.

The book and poster will be trilingual and distributed to a million school children. It is possible that this is the first attempt by a post tsunami nation to grapple with a direct communication campaign of this sort to children grieving from the ravages of the tsunami.

It is very probable that the material will be replicated and modified for use by certain other tsunami affected Asian countries. The book is a small attempt at taking children through a simple story that addresses some of the problems encountered on that fateful day of December 26th, 2004.

Mrs. Ming Ming Evora, Plan Country Director in an evocative forward to the book says "into each persons life some rain must fall. All of us, young and old, have experienced loss. We lose a toy, a pet, a friend, a loved one. Some losses are light. In some we grieve.

The tsunami has caused us so much loss. Plan Sri Lanka, as a child centered community development organisation aims to help children and those who care for them cope with loss and grief in this book."

Mrs. Hemamali Perera, Child Psychiatrist, University of Colombo who also whetted the text and gave some suggestions for use of the book in the classroom and by parents, said she hoped the book will help children express their thoughts, and fears, their joys and sorrows.

She also added that if you are a parent, a teacher, or an elder or relative reading this with a child can use this as a means to explore and talk around issues that are troubling children. The book is aimed at school children, between 8 and 14 years of age.

Plan Sri Lanka has had a twenty five year relationship on the ground with several communities in Sri Lanka.