By
Thulasi Muttulingam
Wikum Kuruppu ~ pic courtesy of via: facebook.com/wikum.kuruppu
When 22 year old Wikum Kuruppu finished his double degree in Science and Arts at the University of Monash, he wanted to take a year off doing volunteer work, before immersing himself in a career.
Born in Panadura, he migrated with his family to New Zealand when he was just two, and then moved on to Australia where he studied and grew up. Now straddling adulthood, he wanted to give something back to the world before embarking on a career but instead of Africa, his mother convinced him he owed something to Sri Lanka in particular.
And that is how the soft spoken young man, brought up without any understanding of the political machinations and strife in his country of origin, found himself in Jaffna, teaching English to Tamil boys and being a hostel master to war affected children.
His year of service is almost up now. The Ceylon Today caught up with him before he leaves for Australia in January to ask about his experience.
How did you come to teach at St. John’s College, Jaffna?
When my mother convinced me to do volunteer work in Sri Lanka instead of Africa, I sent some feelers to charity organizations in this country. It was picked up by a Father Nesakumar who put me in touch with Father Gnanaponraja, the principal of St. John’s College. I was nervous about whether I’d be good enough to be a teacher to Tamil school children without knowing Tamil or having experience in teaching but the principal said it wouldn’t be a problem, so I came
Have you had to rough it as a volunteer?
They offered me food, accommodation (in the school hostel) and a stipend. I had been mentally prepared for far worse, given the horror stories I had heard of school hostel facilities in general, but it isn’t too bad really. It’s certainly better than what I had expected
How was the teaching experience itself?
It was initially very difficult. I could not understand what the boys were saying and most of them could not understand what I was saying. I finally figured out that my Australian accent was not helping and consciously changed it.
We have really bonded and moved on since then though.
So how has the language learning experience been – the picking-up of Tamil for you and English for them?
I have managed to pick up a few words in Tamil, but in retrospect, it is a good thing I didn’t know the language. The boys were forced to speak in English. In the initial days, to ask permission to go drink a glass of water they would hem and haw before saying, “Sir, ah… um… Water?” while miming a drinking action to communicate what they wanted. It progressed to “Sir, can I have some water,” and now they say, “Sir, excuse me, I need to go and get some water.” They have learned to talk and communicate what they need. We went to a local shop recently and the shopkeeper on seeing the boys chattering to me in English, asked them where they were from.
So are you satisfied with the impact you have had on their lives?
The biggest change I’ve been able to work is on the hostel boys as with the day scholars I don’t get to spend too much time. Although, becoming a hostel master changed my perception of the children too. Before, I saw only the cuteness factor in whatever the children were doing but becoming their hostel master meant I had to enforce discipline. Without realizing it, I became just like my mother.
“Isn’t this your bath time?”
“Aren’t you supposed to be studying now?”
“You can’t have the television on now.”
In a hostel of thirty students, I became conditioned to seeing only where they were erring, not what they were doing right. If I came home and saw 29 made beds, that didn’t register; I only saw the one unmade bed.
That was exactly how my mother used to do it too. She would come home from work and demand, “Why are there clothes on the floor?” I would retort, “Can’t you at least say hello first?” When it dawned on me I was doing the same thing, I made sure to congratulate them on what they were doing right as well as picking on them for what they were doing wrong.
And they bonded with you despite that enforcement of discipline?
Yes. A little too much actually. Now that the year is drawing to a close, I am beginning to regret it. I spent a lot of time playing with them, roughhousing with them, tending to and cuddling them when sick… A deep attachment has formed and they look pleadingly and ask, “Sir, you will stay on next year too won’t you?” It hurts a lot to say no.
Most of them are IDP children who don’t go home during the holidays. As such, they don’t have a lot of love in their lives and I wonder if I have done the right thing.
I don’t know what I would have done in the holidays without them though. It is expensive to fly to Australia, so I stayed on too. When I first became the hostel master, they used to drive me crazy with their noise. I really felt for what my parents must have gone though with my brother and I, only then. But over time I got used to them and now, if I ever have to return to an empty or noiseless hostel, it feels very odd.
I have grown to love them a lot and am really going to miss them.COURTESY:CEYLON TODAY