Dr. Reijntjes School for the Deaf
                   14/2, Andiris de Silva Mawatha,
                   Rawatawatta, Moratuwa, Sri Lanka
                   Tel: + 94-11-2655786
                   Email: tineke@panlanka.net
                   Web: www.schoolforthedeaf.lk

Annual Report 2011

Dear friends, sponsors and well wishers,

The new school year started on January 9th with a Parents Day. We provided lunch for everybody.Three of the ladies, who were working in the school kitchen, retired last December, after 20 years of service in our Deaf School. But we got very quick used to the tasty meals of the three new comers!
In grade 1 we got 6 new deaf children between 5 to 6 years of age. It is always amazing how quick these small children get used to the sign language and life away from their family members!
From our eldest pupils nine were leaving the School to start with a vocational training programme. Some are doing a Computer Course, others Carpentry, Sewing, Motor Mechanism and one boy helps his father who is a fisherman.
Two of our hearing impaired pupils of 15 years went to a regular base school in their village as they got enough of training to follow the normal process. Both have some profitable hearing rests. We keep in touch with them as we still look after their hearing aids and provide the batteries.
On the 27th Anniversary of our Deaf School, February 2nd, we received an invitation from the Roteract Club for a Musical Show in a Theater of Colombo. Our deaf pupils enjoyed very much all the performances by famous artists. There were tasty short eats and a drink for them and the most exiting event was when a rain of balloons came down from the balcony and they could catch as much as was possible!
The World Cricket Championship Matches took place in Sri Lanka, India and Bangladesh. Our deaf students followed most of the matches on the TV. The final match between India and Sri Lanka was followed on a big screen in our Auditorium. India won and Sri Lanka was the runner up!
This year we got again a lot of foreign visitors in our School.
As there is peace now, the people are not scared to visit Sri Lanka anymore.
In March we celebrated the birthday of Principal Tineke de Silva (5-03) in the school garden with all type of attractions for young and old.
Our pupils participated again in a drawing and essay writing competition with other Deaf Schools in Sri Lanka. In May a nice day was organized in Colombo with an art exhibition of all the work and a dance programme. A Minister came to hand over the prizes. From our School 3 pupils got a prize for their essays.
A big article about this event was published in the Newspaper as well.

We celebrated the Sinhala & Tamil New Year half of April with the traditional games and food items. After that the children went to their villages for a holiday.
That is also the period that the monsoon rains start. After coming back we got a small epidemic of chickenpox. Five children and 2 teachers were infected.
In May we had the farewell of the teacher of Group 7, Chintha, who is expecting her first baby. She was 13 years working in our Deaf School.
In the mean time we appointed 2 new teachers, Chanika and Ashani, who are following a part time degree study at the University of Colombo.
On May 17 & 18 we celebrated Wesak, to remind that Lord Buddha was born 2600 years ago. This year was very special with beautiful decorations at temples, schools, buildings and streets all over the country. Our school buildings were also decorated with lights and colourful lanterns, made by our deaf students.  Our Dutch Ambassador, Mrs. Leoni Cueleneare is the Patron of the Dr. Reijntjes School for the Deaf. She said farewell as she got a new appointment. In June we got 2 volunteers from the Netherlands. One of them was Matthijs, a deaf born boy of 20 years. He was with Esther, his interpreter of 24 years. In Netherlands it is normal to get the service of an interpreter, even for volunteers work. Matthijs had from the first moment a good contact through sign language with our students. The sign language is total different in Sri Lanka and the Netherlands, but the feeling is there.
Matthijs collected money in the Netherlands for a school trip for our pupils. We all went on a wonderful trip to Kandy, where we visited the famous “Temple of the Tooth”, the new Museum and the Botanical Gardens in Peradeniya.
In September we started with a new garden project: a plant nursery for anturiums and for orchids. We also started with a photography project for the eldest pupils.
With a group of children we were invited to the dance show at the Chitra Lane School, a School for MR children. It was an enjoying afternoon with a lot of new ideas.
From October a Government Doctor is coming once a month to look after the physical and mental health of the deaf pupils and their parents. Some of the fathers with alcohol problems were invited to come to the clinic of the hospital.
On November 13th we participated in the annual sports meet of the Rotary Club. It was like every year a very successful day with a lot of prizes, special in “the Fancy Dress Show”!
 At the end of November a group of our pupils performed the Christmas Play for our staff & students but this time also for some outsiders.
The new Dutch Ambassador, H.E. Mr. Louis Piet (he is the Patron of our Deaf school) visited our School with his wife Dyonne on November 30th. Their warm interest in the education of our deaf pupils was overwhelming.

On December 8th was a School Concert organized for the parents and other invitees, a total of 250 people. The venue was the school garden where the deaf pupils performed 10 new dances with new beautiful costumes. There was also the prize giving for the best pupils of the year 2011.

The Board Members of the new Dr. Reijntjes School for the Deaf Trust in Sri Lanka, what was establish in 2009, are very much involved in the work of the School. They visit the School regularly and give good advises during the Board Meetings. There is also a lot of contact between the Trust members in Sri Lanka and the Board members of the Stichting tot Steun aan de Dr. Reijntjesdovenschool who operate in the Netherlands.

This resulted that the School is functioning and guided much better than before.

We like to thank all the kind persons who were sponsoring the Dr. Reijntjes School for the Deaf during the year 2011. Only with your help we could give support to the deaf children at our Deaf School.

See also our Website: www.schoolforthedeaf.lk

Tineke de Silva-Nijkamp
(Founder/Principal)