The Rotary Club of Colombo Uptown marked the fruition of one of its proudest achievements when the newly built Uthayapuram Tamil Vidyalaya was ceremonially opened on Sunday.

The school was destroyed by the tsunami of December 2004 and was rebuilt as a new school with all modern facilities.

The village of Uthayapuram is at the South Eastern corner of Periya Kallar - a town about 33 km south of Batticaloa. Over the last year the village has been the focus of much activity as the rebuilding of the new model school Uthayapuram Tamil Vidyalaya slowly took shape.

On Sunday morning the entire village came together to convey their gratitude to the special people who had made this dream come true. Banners and coloured buntings covered the entire town and the roadway to the school. Parents and well wishers joined the Principal S. Thavarasa, staff and students of the school to greet the Rotarians on their arrival after a nine hour drive from Colombo. Also on hand was the Rotary Community Corps led by V. Kathaharan.

“Welcome Rotary”, “We thank you for your wonderful gift” were some of the banners that greeted the visitors.

Beginning with a religious ceremony at the Kovil, the visiting dignitaries were conducted in a colourful procession to the school premises. Leading the procession were the school bands, and they were followed by gaily clad kawadi and hewisi dancers.

Firecrackers exploded along the way and the visitors were constantly showered with flowers by the students and staff of the school who lined the roadways.

At the school, the first item on the agenda was the hoisting of the school and Rotary flags, then followed the unveiling of the special monument and dedication and a special commemorative plaque.

The visitors were then taken on a conducted tour of the new school by Yudish before returning to the new Assembly Hall for a meeting.

“Today we have again seen the magnificence of Rotary at work and the wonders we can achieve working together” said Ravindran in his address.

Ravindran was full of praise for Colombo Uptown for their untiring efforts in supervising the entire project.

The Project team of Colombo Uptown was led by Project Chairman PP Dr Suresh Britto and comprised President Manoji Samararatne, Architect Yudish Ganesan and Director International Service Karsten Larsen.

Project Chairman Suresh must have made the eight hour journey to the site of the school at least 25 times in the last year. His effort has been truly magnificent and he was ably supported by his team. More than half our membership have visited the site at least once over the last year.

Ravindran also thanked the sponsors of the construction of the school- RI District 9600 comprising Rotarians from Australia, Zimbabwe and the Solomon Islands, and added that he wished some of them had been able to attend the ceremony and experience the warm feeling of satisfaction at the conclusion of a great project.

From Monday 26th June, the students of “UTV” will continue their education in their new school building and will have all the modern facilities to assist them in their studies.