Born and bred in the backwoods of Dimbulagala, the unsophisticated youth, Yomal Vishvajith Siriwardene won a gold medal at the Bangkok International Trade & Exhibition Centre (BITEC) for his newest creation, an automatic water supply plant.
Beating around one thousand competitors from 29 countries, Yomal, as yet a student, emerged victorious bringing fame to his motherland. It was the human ingenuity in him that once helped the seventh standard student’s creative mind to conceive a sort of contraption to drive away the marauding wild jumbos in the jungles of Dimbulagala damaging peasant property and cultivation.
Yomal’s newest creation is cost-effective, in that, it is operated by a remote-controlled mobile phone from afar. According to him, the machine is a solution to the village peasants’ perennial problem of water scarcity.
‘I made the best use of discarded computers, mobile phones and electric equipment to make the machine. It took about six months for me to complete the job. It is my own concept and effort that materialized. It was however, my mother, father and sister who always encouraged and gave every help to go in pursuit of new things, Yomal recounted his story.
Always, I wanted to experiment with new things which revolted my mind, and intuition would have driven me to experiment with it, he added.
Explaining how his water supply machine works, Yomal said, ‘A remote-controlled mobile phone from afar can operate it. A 12 volts battery supplies power to the electric circuit. When the local canal gets water, the mobile phone gets the message. Availability of signal at the location where the plant is installed, is a must. The new device could also calculate the volume of water released to the paddy lands”.
Yomal had his primary education at the Yakkure Junior School and later entered Sripura MMV on being successful at the Grade Five Scholarship examination. Equally talented in landscaping, music and art, Yomal always gave pride of place to his studies - to experiment with science.
Yomal’s parents are proud of their ‘prodigy’ son.
‘He loved religion, environment, music and art too, apart from his studies. We live close to the Mahaweli Ganga and the Wasgamuwa Wildlife Sanctuary.
Our neighbours, who are peasants, suffer the worst from wild jumbos. This would have impressed our son to conceive a device to drive away the marauding jumbos, his parents echoed.
At present, Yomal is awaiting the GCE (O/L) examination results. ‘I hope to seek admission to a school which is better equipped to help realize my future dreams’, he said. Yomal’s advice to his fellow students: ‘Always try to live a meaningful life and concentrate on experimenting with new ideas’.
