Solihull children help Sri Lankan war victims

School raises funds for cataract operations.

Pupils and staff from Solihull Junior School have raised £8,800 for Assist Resettlement & Renaissance, an organisation which aims to relieve the poverty of victims of war in Sri Lanka by assisting and enhancing their livelihood.

The funds raised during the school’s activity week was used to fund 75 cataract surgeries in Ratnapura, in the first of three clinics organised by Dr Velautham Sarveswaran, chairman at Assist RR.

He said: “We are aiming to fund another 325 cataract surgeries using funds provided and I would like to thank Solihull School and its pupils, staff and parents for their continued support of the needs of people in Sri Lanka.”

Junior School Head, Mark Penney, added: “Through initiatives such as our Junior School Charity Week, West End extravaganza and ‘wear your slippers to school’ day, both the Junior and Senior Schools have raised a phenomenal amount of money for some extremely deserving charities. We look forward to continuing the efforts throughout 2016.”

The £8,800 is in addition to a further £14,000 raised for charities including Age UK Solihull, the Latin American Foundation for the Future (LAFF) and the Brain Tumour Charity, in the first term of the academic year.