On February 2nd it was exactly 35 years ago that the Dr. Reijntjes School for the Deaf started in Sri Lanka. We had a Trust Meeting and remembered nice events of the Deaf School. The Trust Members looked at the new Documentary film of the School and had a nice Lunch together. Mrs. Ine Lems from the Netherlands, one of the sponsors, also participated.
On this special day we got a very sad telephone call from the family of Vihanga, one of our deaf pupils of 13 years. She was travelling with her father and grandmother in a tuk tuk in Matara and they met with a road accident. Her grandmother died, her father was severely wounded and brought to the ICU of the Matara Hospital, where Vihanga got admitted with bone fractures and a lot of wounds.
On February 16th we celebrated the 35th Anniversary of the Deaf School with a Dana Lunch for 20 monks. Present were the deaf students, their parents, the staff members, the Dutch Ambassador (she is the Patron of the School) the Dutch Monk Ven. Olande Ananda and a lot of sponsors and well wishers, total 170 people. (See also separate article on this website)
On February 18th we had the farewell of Minuri, our Korean volunteer, who was here since September 2018. She was a real child loving person.
On February 23rd the grandson of Dr. Reijntjes, Job Reijntjes visited our School with his wife Willemijn and 2 small sons. Also Joris Nederveen, a friend of Job and living in Colombo, was present with his 2 small sons to see the Deaf School. Afterwards all of them were invited for lunch in the bungalow of Susiri, Mudithe and Tineke de Silva.
On February 25th all the deaf students and staff members were invited for the Annual Musical Show with famous artists in the Lionel Wendt Theater in Colombo by the Roteract Club.
It was a beautiful afternoon with a drink, snacks and a present. Ingrid Maters and her daughter Nelum from the Netherlands also participated.
For the Trainees of the Agriculture Training Course there was a One Day Work Shop in Mushroom Cultivation in Ratmalana. They returned enthusiast with everyone 2 bags with filling and soon the mushrooms will appear!
Peter Koolhaas comes every year to Sri Lanka and brings for the pupils typical items from the Netherlands like hagelslag, pindakaas and oliebollen mix. The “oliebollen” we made already with the children and they enjoyed it very much!
Rashmi, our new dance teacher, started already with the training of the different new dances for the Celebration of the 35th Anniversary (second part) on July 27th. By that Celebration we expect Board Members from the Dr. Reijntjes Foundation from the Netherlands, the Dutch Ambassador and several other sponsors and well wishers from the Netherlands.
