ITTPO would like to thank its contributors, volunteers and supporters who have enabled us to make a difference in the lives of so many people who were affected by the war and Tsunami in the North-East of Sri Lanka.

Summary:

-        VanniTech Academic Program for 2007 has commenced

-        ITTPO assists Manitha Neyam in helping war affected students

-        ITTPO partners with Pattakannu Foundation for Computer projects

-        UC Davis /Lest We Forget and ITTPO collaborate for technology advancement

-        ITTPO plans Fundraising Event in Bay Area

-        ITTPO’s new Board after the Annual General Meeting

VanniTech

VanniTech is functioning under difficult circumstances as the ground situation deteriorates. However, about 40 students have successfully graduated from their academic programs in November of last year. VanniTech has already hired five of the graduates for its projects and another five have already been hired by a local IT business center – KanniNudpam. Several other VanniTech graduates are already working in the region for International aid agencies, IT schools and Computer Training Centers.

The Academic program for the class of 2007 has commenced in December last year and 40 students have been enrolled. The number of Academic programs has been reduced from 4 to 2, caused by the shortage of students and instructors due to the prevailing difficulties in traveling to and from the Vanni region.

TechShack – VanniTech’s Employment Incubation Center has completed the intercom project worth of US$10,000 for the newly built Kilinochchi General Hospital funded by the Asian Development Bank.

The local VanniTech Board is actively looking into constructing the campus in the allocated land and expanding its academic programs. Encouraged by the benefits from the institute and the quality of the education it provides, the Board members are determined to construct a permanent home for VanniTech.

Manitha Neyam

ITTPO has provided US$4,000 to Manitha Neyam organization of Sri Lanka, to provide technology education for 120 war and Tsunami affected orphans residing in the hostels attached to the Colombo Hindu College, Ratmalana.

Village of Hope

ITTPO has partnered with Pattakannu Foundation of Sri Lanka in setting up and operating a Learning Center with Computers at the Village of Hope project in Batticaloa. The Village of Hope project is aimed at providing homes for children orphaned by the Tsunami and the war. Funded and spearheaded by Pattakannu Foundation and assisted by other organizations around the world, the project is being built as a self contained village equipped with all the basic needs including health center, school, playground etc. in a newly acquired land of 10 acres.  This village is expected to house 100 war and Tsunami affected orphans. 10 houses have been built to accommodate these children in a home environment.

A graduate of VanniTech has been hired to be the instructor and Director of the Learning Center. The Center, consists of about 15 computers, printers and WiFi facility, offers computer training for youth and teachers not only from the Village of Hope but also from the local community. Currently there are 17 students enrolled in the program. English instruction is expected to start shortly.

ITTPO thanks both ‘Tamils of Northern California’ and UC Davis students for providing the initial funding of US$12,000 towards setting up this facility. ITTPO is requesting other volunteers to contribute towards the annual operating costs of approximately US$3,500.

ITTPO’s goal is to help this learning center develop a one year diploma program and provide the necessary job skills for the under privileged students in the Batticaloa area.

Newly opened Computer Center in Village of Hope, Batticaloa 

Lest We Forget – University of California, Davis

‘Lest We Forget’ is a student volunteer organization at UC Davis. They put together an extra ordinary dance show in March 2006 and raised US$10,500 towards ITTPO’s efforts to provide technical education to the under privileged students of Sri Lanka. ‘Lest We Forget’ is composed of approximately 30 UC Davis students from the school's Bonners Leader Program.  Part of these funds has been earmarked for projects with “Visions” organization to provide scholarship for students with Vision at VanniTech.  ITTPO thanks Venita Katir from UC Davis for organizing this event.

ITTPO Fundraising Event

Ahila and Anjana Kumar organized a fundraising event for ITTPO in February 2007.

The well-organized event took place at the beautiful Crow Canyon Country Club in Danville, California. About fifty guests attended the event and were entertained by excellent dance programs by Ahila, Anjana, Lakshmi Vijendran and their colleagues from the University of California, Berkley and Davis. The event generated US$13,000 for ITTPO’s educational projects for youths affected by the war and Tsunami.

Our thanks to Ahila and Anjana for organizing this event.

We encourage more of the youth volunteers to participate and/or organize these events and make a difference in the lives of those unfortunate youths in Sri Lanka who have no access to higher education and job opportunities. The sad statistic is that only 2-3% of high school students enter college. In the war-affected North-East of Sri Lanka, a whole generation is growing up with very limited access to even basic education.

ITTPO’s Upcoming Activities

ITTPO plans to have several activities to increase awareness and to obtain financial support for its several projects. ITTPO hopes to reach out to its support base via Email and publicize the projects it is currently involved in.

ITTPO plans to have its Fundraising Event in the Bay Area (San Francisco, California) in spring of 2007.

ITTPO’s Budget 2007

•       Anchor Project - VanniTech                                            US$ 60,000

•       Micro Projects:

–       High School Tech Centers (2)                            US$ 10,000        

–       Orphanage Educational Centers (2)                    US$ 15,000

–       Vision Sponsorship                                           US$   5,000        

TOTAL    US$ 90,000

Note that 99.5% of the fund collected goes towards the projects sponsored. Our goal is to impact as many students as possible with the limited amount of funds in a sustainable manner. i.e., we support our projects through 3-4 years to ensure minimum educational standards, accountability and results. Once they are established, we let them begin to explore other avenues for self-funding.