The day I met our President

Meeting the compassionate President realized her dream

My name is Vihangi Rajapakse. I am six years old. I go to Salcombe Preparatory School in London. One day I was watching news with my grandmother and she showed me our President Mahinda Rajapaksa. He came in a plane and knelt down to worship the country.

I asked my grandmother why he did it. Then she told me about the war in Sri Lanka. She told all the problems and how frightened they were, she said that we all must thank our President for saving our country from terrorism. She told me that our President worshipped Sri Lanka because he really loved our country. I was very proud of him.

I still remember when my teacher Mrs. Serjontein showed us our country in the world map. I felt very sad because my country is very small.

My grandmother told me though my country is small we have very brave people and that is why our President and the soldiers were able to end the war.

When I came to Sri Lanka in August to launch my first book ‘Tales from An Angel’ my grandfather and grandmother took me to the President’s House to give him the first copy of my book.

When I saw him I felt very happy. He was very kind and he wanted me to sit next to him. He asked me everything about my school. He read my book and also read all my school reports. He was very happy to see my drawings.

I told him how I saw him in the news and what I know about the war. He was very happy. He told me all about Sri Lanka. He told me how good our country is. He gave me a lot of advice like a father. He gave me a present and told me to write more books. He was very happy to see the certificate which I won, the world’s first place for my book cover. He told me that he is very proud of me. He also invited us to have lunch with him I was surprised. He was very kind and always smiling. He asked me whether the food is too hot for me. He also offered me ice-cream. I felt very close to him and never felt he was the President of our country.

When I came back to London I took all the photographs which I took with the President to my school.

My Head teacher and other teachers were surprised to see how good our President is. Some teachers asked me whether he is my uncle as we have the same surname. When I told them that he is not my uncle they were surprised by the way he treated me. I told them how kind and good our President is. From the day I came to know about my country I wanted to be proud of it. I started to learn about our history. I started learning Sinhalese and singing Sinhala songs. I am very proud that I am a Sri Lankan and very happy to have a President who always loves us and protects us.

Vihangi Rajapakse ,Grade 2, Salcombe Preparatory School, London