This is the way we go to school… go to school…go to school

They do not have a school van or a bus, leave alone a Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Range Rover, Bentley, or Rolls-Royce. This is how students of Kottagasdoova village in Kandeketiya in Badulla District go to school. The students wade through the water removing their shoes to cross the Viharamankada stream which flows across their way to school. If they are to evade this muddy water, they have to walk more than six kilometres crossing Loggalla Oya, risking attacks by wild elephants. The requests of their parents to construct a bridge across the stream has thus far fallen on deaf ears of authorities under successive governments.  Pic by Nishantha Kumara, Viyaluwa