Pavani Punsara Weerasekera , an 18 - year - old student at Sujatha College in Matara , Sri Lanka ( Shin Hyon - hee / The Korea Herald ) MATARA / COLOMBO , Sri Lanka -- Only five years ago , Pavani Punsara Weerasekera , an 18 - year - old student at Sujatha College , was seen walking along an all - too - familiar path that would have never set her apart from many of her peers living on low incomes and life chances . But an encounter with a volunteer from the Korea International Cooperation Agency helped her discover her knack for languages and improved her job prospects . As she develops her fluency in Korean , her dream of studying in Seoul and becoming a teacher in her tsunami - hit hometown inches closer to becoming a reality . A fan of Korean pancakes , she won a gold medal in a Korean speech contest hosted by the state aid agency ’ s Sri Lanka office in June 2013 and visited Seoul two months later . She has now given herself a Korean name , Soon - ja . “ At first I just happened to have started learning Korean but it became more fun , although difficult , ” Weerasekera said . “ I grew fonder of Korea and learning the language after visiting . I wish to go to college in Korea and become a good Korean teacher when I come back , just like those who taught me . ” Weerasekera ’ s case is one of the success stories that KOICA is seeking to foster at Sujatha Vidyalaya , a girls ’ elementary school in the southernmost city of Matara , and elsewhere in Sri Lanka . Seventy - six volunteers are dispatched throughout Sri Lanka , teaching Korean , computer skills , sports , arts and other subjects . When the Korea Herald visited the school recently , a number of volunteers were planting grass , painting murals in the playground and distributing food . “ People here maintain a pure heart in the face of their hectic , hardscrabble lives , ” Kim Bong - hwi , a 62 - year - old volunteer in charge of poetry and computer education , told The Korea Herald . He came to the coastal province in March after ending his 30 - odd year teaching career at a high school in Busan . “ Teachers are very much honored here , though their monthly pay stands only at about 18 , 000 Sri Lankan rupees ( $ 137 ) . I enjoy my days here despite many difficulties and hardships . ” Currently , KOICA is carrying out projects in about 11 areas including infrastructure , vocational training and environmental improvement . Education is one of the priorities for the institution , as Colombo is stepping up efforts to shake off the impact of its 25 - year civil war and the 2004 earthquake and tsunami . It has channeled $ 5 million over the last three years into building 12 primary and middle schools across the battle - stricken town of Kilinochchi , some 350 km north of the capital , to provide education opportunities for more than 6 , 600 students . Teachers and officials also received relevant training . Sri Lankan patients wait for treatment at a Korean traditional clinic set up in 2004 in Colombo by the Korea International Cooperation Agency . ( Shin Hyon - hee / The Korea Herald ) With a focus on information and communications technology , Sri Lanka is working to install 1 , 000 labs around the country and nurture instructors . KOICA , for its part , plans to launch a project next year to train technology teachers , devise curricula and eventually help set up specialized academic institutions by 2019 in partnership with international bodies like the U . N . Educational , Scientific and Cultural Organization and Asian Development Bank . “ Just like Sri Lanka , Korea had gone through a war and other numerous difficulties . But it worked hard and achieved substantial development , ” Sri Lankan Education Minister Bandula Gunawardena said in an interview with visiting Korean journalists . “ We ’ re striving to offer equal opportunities to students in all regions and Korea offered significant assistance in establishing schools in the North . … ( The new project ) will also benefit our education program . ” With medical care being another major focus , KOICA launched a hospital with 260 sickbeds also in Matara in 2011 as part of its efforts to support the city ’ s post - disaster reconstruction . The 2004 tsunami killed at least 30 , 000 throughout the island country . The Kyung Hee University Healthcare System is currently carrying out maintenance . In another public - private partnership project , the institution set up an acupuncture clinic in 2004 in Colombo to help transfer Korean traditional medicine and create synergy with that of Sri Lanka . On an ordinary weekday morning , the hospital was packed , with around 50 people waiting for their turn . Member doctors of the Korean Medicine Service Team Abroad , a Seoul - based nonprofit association , perform acupuncture on more than 150 patients every day here , while running a traveling clinic about four times a year . At least 175 local practitioners have completed training over the last 10 years and another 52 are receiving education , according to Kim In - gyu , an oriental doctor who works at the hospital as part of KOICA ’ s World Friends Korea Advisors program . “ Sri Lankans prefer Korean medicine because compared with other methods they can treat diseases without many side effects , ” Pearl Weerasinghe , secretary at the Sri Lankan Ministry of Indigenous Medicine . “ Given our own traditional medicine ’ s 3 , 000 - year history , western medicine came relatively recently . There is even an increasing trend that Western physicians are coming back to Oriental medicine . ” By Shin Hyon - hee , Korea Herald correspondent ( heeshin @ heraldcorp . com ) 미래 엘리트 를 위한 영어 신문 주니어 헤럴드 	 더 많 은 기사 보 러 가 기 → [ 코리아 헤럴드 홈페이지 ] [ 트위터 ] [ 페이스북 ] 	 구독 신청 1588 - 0533 	 <ⓒ KoreaHerald ( www . koreaherald . com ) 무단 전재 및 재 배포 금지 >