Bridge2Peace Montessori
January 2009
Bridge 2 Peace reaches yet another milestone. The 3rd Montessori community was started this month. The new children have settled in beautifully into their environment. The veterans of B2P embraced their new friends joyfully.
February 2009
The parents and children of B2P had their first community gathering for this year. The girls dressed up in colorful cloth and jacket and the boys in sarong had a ‘Szigeti Pola’ – children’s fair where they sold their wares of vegetables and fruit with the help of their parents and teachers. Many villagers attended.
March 2009
Bridge 2 Peace celebrates three years in service to the child as well as the village community. March marks the 3rd Anniversary of B2P.
Caring is sharing …..A wonderful way to celebrate birthdays and to remember loved ones is by sharing with others. We say thank you to Dehara & Dehan Seneviratne (students of La Petite Fleur Ratmalana), their parents and loved ones for visiting Lunugamwehera and spending time with the children of B2P on the occasion of their birthday. The children had a great time at this wonderful and special birthday celebration. You will be richly blessed.
April 2009
Bridge 2 Peace Lunugamwehera celebrated the Traditional New Year which falls in the month of April, in true village style. Rituals and religious were performed at auspicious times .
Then the traditional games began. Children as well as parents participated with enthusiasm. We the ‘Colombo visitors’ joined in many games cheered on by the village. It was a fun day in deed.
Peace Gang
Another milestone reached! The Peace Gang of B2P Lunugamwehera was initiated on the 28th of this month. with 26 past and present students of the Bridge 2 Peace Montessori Lunugamwehera. Together with the help of their parents, they made a beautiful peace pond as a community project in the school premises. The foundation stone was laid by Ms. Tharanga Hettiarachchi. We saw the pond built in less than a month with bricks made in the school premises by the parents of the B2P community. The pond has been filled and beautiful white lotuses are already in bloom. Thank You Peace Gang members of Colombo for their generosity which made this effort a success. You will always be remembered by all those who visit Bridge 2 Peace.
May 2009
On a more solemn note, B2P celebrated Vesak in the month of May – the birth, enlightenment and passing away of Lord Buddha, with a ‘Dansala’(alms) .The children dressed in white offered herbal tea with jaggery, biscuits and bananas to pilgrims who were on their way to the sacred site of Kataragama. They were also given offerings of flowers to worship at the temple. The refreshed pilgrims blessed and thanked the little ones as they continued their journey.
June 2009
The month of Poson was a busy and fruitful month for us. Poson was celebrated with a prayer ceremony (bana) and an alms giving to the priest of the temple as well as for the children, prepared with love by the staff and parents of B2P. The presence of Ms. Vasuki (faculty of La Petite Fleur Ratmalana) and her family who visited and participated in the solemn occasion was a great joy to the B2P community.
5S comes to Lunugamwehera
The MAS team graciously offered their services in creating a more organized service to the village of Lunugamwehera. The team of 10 visited the school and conducted a workshop for the students, staff, parents and all interested parties in the village.
It was a great success indeed and many of the methods have already been implemented in and around the school.
The Peace Gang of B2P Lunugamwehera reached out to their friends in the North in a BIG way. Following in the old village tradition of saving for a rainy day, each little Peace Gang member put aside a handful of rice from their daily consumption for a period of one month. Each little grain counts… we collected 120KGS of rice which the children themselves weighed and bagged. Alumni of La Petite Fleur- Nimhara and Dehara Weligodapola with their parents visited Bridge 2 Peace and spent the day with the children helping in this wonderful project. This effort by the little community of Lunugamwehera demonstrates that a little love goes a long way.
July 2009
The children were treated to a great experience this month. Dhammika Weligodapola -(CO of the Air Force Base in Weerawila and former parent of La Petite Fleur Ratmalana) organized a great outing for us.They visited the Air Force to watch the landing and take-off of a plane. A demonstration of the workings of the fire truck was shown to the children. The wonder and awe on the faces of the children as they went near and touched these two vehicles that they had only seen in books or on television was a joy to behold. A picnic with treats that arrived on the flight was planned in the playground as a grand finale to the day. What a wonderful day they had! Thank You to the Weligodapola family for bringing such joy to the children of B2P.
September 2009
We were off to a grand start this term. Liesl Nugara and Tharanga spent a weekend in Lunugamvehera getting to know our enthusiastic parents for 2010. The admission process included each child working individually with our teachers.
The community celebrated Ramazan which is the end of the holy month for Muslims. This was a unique experience for the children and adults of B2P. Thanks to Ms. Nadheera a dedicated lady who travels many miles to teach Tamil to the teachers and children of B2P.
International Peace Day was celebrated around the peace pole by lighting oil lamps and singing of the Peace song. All children made a peace dove as a symbol of peace.
October 2009
The Japanese concept for increased productivity and avoiding waste – the 5S method has been embraced in Lunugamwehera.
The teachers and parents of the community have taken the concept to their homes where they find that order curbs wastage and increases productivity. In their own words we quote “everything is very convenient for us”
The Peace Gang of B2P held a meeting on 26th September. The topic of discussion was ‘Children of the world.’
Admission for the New Year and filling in the limited vacancies is always heart breaking. Long queues outside require individual home visits before criteria for admissions is met and the final decision is made. This task is never easy.
November 2009
Visiting members of the Peace Gang (Colombo) Pathanchali Premachandra and Vinusha Paulraj planted a coconut tree to commemorate their visit.
Many generous parents of La Petite Fleur, travelling down south have now made it a practice to visit our very own Bridge 2 Peace Montessori in Lunugamwehera. Mr. & Mrs. Ratnayaka and little Dunithma of La Petite Fleur Montessori Ratmalana visited us on their way to Katharagama. What a treat they had ready for the children of B2P!
December 2009
This was a very sad month for us. With heavy hearts we bid goodbye to little Vasana Sewandi – aged 4, who died under tragic circumstances. All end of school events were postponed. An ‘Alms Giving’ and prayer ceremony was offered in her memory by the school community.
January 2010
The highlight of our 3rd Graduation from B2P Montessori was witnessing Kavinda Nissara and Kavishka, two of our specially abled children walk up proudly with their fourteen peers to accept their graduation certificate that gave them admission to the government school.
The programme continued with song, dance, and mime as the children performed their way through an impressive array of items.It was touching to see the specially abled children perform their inimitable items.
Another heart-wrenching moment was when the little police women got on stage. Little Wasana Sewwandhi snatched so abruptly and harshly from this world, would have been in this item. Her mother had insisted that she be laid to rest in her police uniform.
The usual generous sponsorship of clothes and toiletries by students and teachers of La Petite Fleur Schools was Santa’s surprise to the children.
35 new children walked through our gates with smiles and were warmly welcomed by the veterans.
February 2010
The new children with the help of their older peers have settled in well and are working beautifully in their Montessori environment.
B2P celebrates Independence Day with the hoisting of the National Flag.
The new parents were welcomed and initiated into the B2P culture by Mrs. Bernadine Anderson under the legendary tamarind tree. It was a happy morning that laid the foundation to building our 4th community.
March 2010
Happy 4th Birthday B2P! Traditional celebrations marked the occasion.
On a sad note, parents and children gathered to console their well loved teacher Ms. Menaka as she mourned the loss of her father. Even as we sat together under the shade of large fruit trees in her garden marveling at the sight of a village come together to share her grief.
April 2010
The month of April heralds new beginnings for Sri Lanka. The Sinhala and Hindu New Year in Lunugamvehera is the most celebrated festival of the year. Beautiful traditions of new clothes, auspicious moments to light the hearth , indulge in the first meal, worship elders and visit relatives vibrates through the sounds of ‘rabana’(traditional drum) and crackers.
At the end of their intensive training, cheered by their trainers Liesl Nugara and Tharanga Hettiarachchi, seven proud young ladies held high the B2P Teacher Certification that is the only such training available in the locality.
Mr. Annesley Fernando, with a wide background in community service and youth counseling joins B2P.
Mr. Fernando brings to B2P his expertise and experience now needed to enhance and further develop our dream. In his initial presentation, Mr. Fernando outlined his vision for B2P. It was indeed inspirational and motivational. Within the month, parent meetings were held, projects discussed and plans for training in sustainable agriculture and processing recycled paper from paddy husk, banana tree trunks and elephant dung was outlined and effected.
