Teen scouts have the time of their lives at the Colombo Camporee 2007

Ruwanthi Abeyakoon

While most of our teen readers were at home relaxing and enjoying their vacation, a number of teens gathered

 at the Vihara Maha Devi Park, Colombo. The park turned to a beehive, scouts running all over taking part in events and having a fun time.

They were climbing up the bamboos and working hard for five days, participating the Colombo Camporee, the name derived from the scout jamboree. The camporee was organised by the Colombo District Branch of Sri Lanka Scout Association.

Over 2000 scouts participated this year's camporee. The aim of the event was to produce better citizens giving them all round training. Some of the teen scouts expressed their ideas to Daily News Teen.

"I have participated in camps. I came with my elder brother. I go to St Sebastian College, Kandana. We worked hard and made the gadgets on the first day. It is fun," said Madushan Viduranga, 11.

Udara Sampath, 16 was helping out his friends. "We don't have scouting in school. I go to St. Mary's Vidyalaya. So we gather at St. Andrew's Vidayalaya Colpetty for scouting. It is really interesting and I enjoyed a lot," he said.

Dinuka Ranasinghe, 17 is from S. Thomas College. " First two days were hectic as we had to put up the gadgets. I am the troop leader. Sometimes it is hard to manage the little ones but they learn fast and get along. The camporee is a great success. I enjoyed everything that I did. We had a good time," Dinuka said.

"We came from D. S. Senanayake College. It is teamwork and it builds our confidence. We created a small village out of bamboos. It is a good experience. We spent five days here. It is wonderful spending time together with friends helping them in the work. I think this opportunity assisted us in building our personality for the future.

We are creating future through events like this. We worked in unity and the camboree was successful," Hasaru

Rajapakse, 18 troop leader said.

"We had a good time. Seventy-two students came from our school. We enjoyed a lot," added Sirimevan Jayasundera, 16 a patrol leader.

Three hundred and eighty students participated from the Royal College. Madushanka Purawaruna, 17 said that they finished putting up the gadgets on the first day. " We had lot of events. We had fancy dress parade, campfires, mini Olympics and several other fun activities. We enjoyed a lot. It was a good opportunity to exhibit our talents," Madushanka explained.

Waruna Ambanpola, 17 said it was a good experience. "The camporee was interesting. Being with the juniors was a new experience. We were living life on our own the past five days. We cooked our meals. We learn a lot through these events. It also built leadership qualities in us," he said.

M. Inthikaaf , 18 the troop leader of Zahira College said he has been a scout for last seven years. "I have participated in more than ten camps. It is very good for the youth. Our activities are environment friendly. It

 was a real life planning. We worked together.

It brought out lot of skills and built friendship among us. There were 35 participants. It was fun," Inthikaaf said.

Rasanga Fernando added that the camporee was a good opportunity to share the experience.

"It brought all the scouts together. It also brought out our talents. We interacted with others and it enhanced our knowledge," Rashmin De silva, 14 said.

Dilshan Perera, 13 of St. Joseph's College said the camporee was fun. " These five days we had lot of fun. We had water activities, exhibitions, competitions, campfires, talent shows, tyre obstacles and rope climbing.

The whole event was interesting. I will never forget this event," Dilshan said. After enjoying and bundling up the knowledge and the experience teens headed for their homes with their parents to enjoy their vacation.

Teens did not forget to thank the organizers, sponsors, their parents, well wishers and general public for their untiring support to make this event a great success.

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Virginia teen donates books to Lankan school

Sarasi Jayaratne, 17, vividly remembers waking up during the December holidays in 2004 at her cousin's house. Her large family was in a panic, and the adults were frantically making phone calls.

The commotion that morning was about the giant wave, or tsunami, that had swept across Sri Lanka's coastline without warning, killing thousands of people. The terrible news was all over television.

Sarasi's relatives in Sri Lanka were not injured, but many survivors were not so fortunate. A year later, Sarasi found a way to help some of them - by collecting books for children at rural schools hit hard by the disaster.

She had heard through the Sri Lankan community here that many schools were struggling to teach kids English because they had no books in English. Sinhala is one of the official languages of Sri Lanka, but children there start learning English as a second language around age 4 or 5.

"English is one of the things that they really need to learn," Sarasi said. So she asked a local Sri Lankan group if it would be helpful to send gently used children's books along with the clothes her family was frequently sending.

Yes, she was told.

Sarasi started contacting churches, schools and libraries - plus a lot of neighbourhood parents. In all, she collected 2,000 books, from kindergarten reading level through high school, and shipped them by sea to Sri Lanka.

"I just felt like someone should at least initiate it and let other Sri Lankans know that there is something they can do," Sarasi said.

This month she and her mother travelled to Sri Lanka to give the books to schools. Sarasi taught English for a few days in several of the poorest schools, some of which were huts with grass roofs.

Many of the children had lost their parents in the tsunami "but they all have a smile on their face," she said. "That always made me feel teary."

Everything about the trip was more than expected by Sarasi or her mother, who has lived in the United States for 22 years. For one thing, the "small ceremony" she was expecting at the first school turned out to be a gathering of 2,000 students, a marching band, military generals and other leaders.

Sarasi had to give a speech.

"I wasn't terrified, I was just like, 'Wow,' " she said. Sarasi, who is going into her senior year at Potomac Falls High couldn't believe how important her efforts turned out to be.

Inspired by the trip, she is setting up a charity, the Keep Reading Foundation, and collecting books for her next shipment to poor children in Sri Lanka.

"I want them to have a chance to get the best of what life has to offer," she said.

Washington Post

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Rukmal Cooray

Junior National Tennis Champion 2007:

CHAMP: Rukmal Cooray of Asian International School won the 92nd Junior Nationals Tennis Championship under 18 singles and doubles in straight sets and became the Junior Nationals champion 2007, at the Nationals Tennis Centre Courts Greenpath, Colombo.

In the Junior Nationals singles, Cooray beat Dineshkanthan Tangaraja 6/4, 7/5 in straight sets. In the Junior Nationals Doubles Rukmal Cooray and Michael Siyaguna beat Arthur Hewakottage and Gayanga Weerasekara 7/6, 6/1.

Cooray making a gallant show beat his superior opponent and one time Senior Tennis National Champion Rohan De Silva in straight sets (6/3, 7/6(4)) was a major upset in the 2007 Senior Nationals in Sri Lanka.

Cooray is trained by Sylvester Francis. Cooray had to give up tennis for more than a year as he had to sit for his London Ordinary Level examination, but the talent, potentiality and positive training led him to become the winner of 2007.

"It was great success," his coach Francis said.