On Wednesday, June 29 2016 a team from IVolunteer International departed Colombo to Bibile, Monaragala in search for the “Thiththawalkiula Primary School.” The school is located in a suburb in Bibile, Sri Lanka. It is reachable through the Kotabowa-Dewalaya Road, which is far away from providing the facility of comfortable transportation. The road is broken beyond repair and can only accommodate Three-Wheelers and Motor Bicycles since they are the only vehicles that can avoid the deep edges and cuts. There is about a 4-5km distance from the Bibile main road through the Kotabowa-Dewalaya road, to reach the primary school.
The distance and the broken road is not the only sad state of living conditions that grabbed our eyes when we entered the vicinity of the rural village. The people in the area lived very simple lives. Electricity is a scarce resource in the village, making the primary school the only place with uninterrupted and facilitated electricity. The area is full of natural resources consisting lakes, rivers, gems and herbal trees. The main income for the families are from farming and harvesting. Most of the people live in houses made out of clay and in very dire poverty. There has been multiple records of elephant-human conflict in the area and therefore, the officials have provided them with elephant crackers, to scare away the elephants. Unlike in other areas, the officials have helped the people a lot, during hard times.
Then principal Mr. Yasarathne established the “Thiththawalkiula Primary School” in the year 1975. Since then, the school has been going on with the support of the parents and the government officials. The school was about to be closed down quite a couple of times due to the very low facilities available and the depletion of the interest of the villagers, to send their children to school and making a commitment for it. However, amidst all these difficulties the school has seen the light of day and is improving day-by-day under the leadership of the present principal Mr. Siriwardena.
