It all happened because of a drawing made by a 10--year-old aboriginal boy in remote Dambana.

They have no art teacher. The drawings were made possible only because of some pastel colours donated by a visitor. All the drawings were colourful and often abstract.

I was particularly struck by 10-year-old Saman Kumara's drawing of an aircraft. It wasn't merely colourful. The concept was very abstract. It was triangular in shape, and looked like a Stealth bomber. But he had never seen a picture of one.

Airliners hardly fly extensively over Dambana. The only aircraft he had seen close are low-flying military helicopters (there are two of them in the drawing, and that's why his triangular airplane has a rotor on top. He naturally thought that all aircraft carried helicopter-like rotors). But the aircraft he drew came entirely from his imagination.

Back in Colombo , I mentioned this to Duncan Jayawardane, an old friend who works for the Civil Aviation Authority of Sri Lanka. He was then busy in his role as a co-ordinator for CAASL's planned exhibition and air show to celebrate the centenary of powered flight (held on December 16 and 17 at the Ratmalana airport).

Duncan is a man of many parts - basketball coach, former air traffic controller, and collector of vintage motorcycles. He is also a man of tremendous enthusiasm who can see the big picture at once. When I asked him if it would be possible to bring Saman Kumara to Colombo for the planned exhibition, he decided that the CAASL could do much more than that.

After a discussion with CAASL Chairman Shibly Aziz, Vice Chairman Mohan Pieris and Director General H. M. C. Nimalsiri, he proposed to bring the entire school to Colombo and fly them in an aircraft, something beyond my wildest dreams.

This was to be part of an ongoing project called "Gift a Flight to Underprivileged Children" - 40 children suffering from cancer were to be flown on December 17, an event sponsored by a domestic airline and Sri Lankan pilots flying for Singapore Airlines.

The aboriginal children too, could be flown on the same day under the same project (due to a last-minute glitch on the part of the cancer hospital, those terminally-ill children could not be flown. A group of children from St. Joseph ’s School for the Deaf, Ragama, were flown instead).

There were hardly six weeks to go, and a lot of work to be done. First of all, it remained to be seen if the Dambana children's parents and community elders would consent to the project.

As telephone communications were difficult and in any case would not be sufficient, Duncan, his wife Sagarika, CAASL coordinator K. M. Jayasekara and myself went to Dambana. With us too, was Nandasiri Wanninayake, the director of Horizon School, Mahavilachchiya, with whom I'd gone to Dambana for the first time.

The results were very positive. The two CAASL co-ordinators and Sagarika struck an instant rapport with the school's children and teacher Dambane Gunawardane (the principal being absent on that day). Wanniyalage Eththo, the current Veddah chieftain, approved of the project, as did the parents.

The children were thrilled at the idea. And why shouldn't they be - as far as I was able to determine, none of them had traveled beyond Mahiyangana town, and certainly none had ever traveled in the relative comfort of a car, let alone an aircraft. Even a three-wheeler ride would be quite unusual in a place as remote as Dambana.

The group that traveled to Colombo on December 16 in an old bus which carried 31 people (other than the bus' two-man crew) - 27 children, the two teachers, and two parents. The children were all dressed for the occasion in their best clothes.

In the meantime, Duncan and his wife had worked hard to make all necessary arrangements for their comfort in Colombo . Accommodation was found in the Buddhist temple of Soysaramaya at Ratmalana. Mattresses were provided by a well-wisher. Food parcels and drinks were arranged. Other well-wishers donated clothes and many other useful gift items.

The group was taken to the Dehiwela zoo during that afternoon. Sagarika and five helpers guided them throughout. The children forgot their fatigue as they saw the zoo's lions, tigers, giraffes and other exotic animals. Coming from Dambana, they were no strangers to wildlife, but they were highly taken up with the zoo's varied offerings. They were particularly impressed by the aquarium.

Having rested well that night, the children of Dambana were taken to the seaside early next morning prior to arriving at the exhibition. Here, they were able to see a number of civilian aircraft, ranging from an Antonov turboprop to a small two-seater Cessna, at close range.

The highlight of the day was certainly the flight in a twin-engined Fokker F27 turboprop belonging to Expo Aviation, provided thanks to that domestic airline's Managing Director Shafik Kasim and CEO Sabri Marikkar.

After a lengthy wait at the airport's small and crowded terminal, both groups of children were finally flown at 2 p.m. (the handicapped children from Ratmalana were flown by Lion Air). The 45-seater Fokker was crowded with the Dambane group, journalists and CAASL coordinators.

While waiting inside the terminal, some visitors were shocked to hear two flight hostesses remarking: "Where are the veddahs?" (These were not from Expo Aviation. All the five hostesses, two male stewards and one flight safety instructor inside the Fokker struck up a great rapport with the Dambane group, and were unfailingly helpful throughout the flight).

The anticipation of these children for the flight was so great that, as we began boarding the bus that would take us to the aircraft, one child wanted to know if they were going to fly in the bus.

The flight lasted one hour. Right from the start, there was exhilaration in the air for the children - from the moment of boarding the aircraft with its softly-lit interior, the fastening of seat belts, the safety demo by a hostess, the roar of engines as the Fokker revved up and lifted off at speed, and then the buffeting due sudden air turbulence - all this was new and hitherto unimagined.

Wonderful too, were the vistas through the windows. It was a clear sunny day, and the Indian Ocean was an evenly ruffled carpet. That morning, these children had felt the ocean at their feet for the first time in their lives. Now, they had a bird's eye view of it. The city and suburbs soon gave way to rolling countryside.

We were flying via Avissawella to Dambana. Normally flying at 13,000 feet, the aircraft dipped down to 3000 feet over Dambana, offering a clear view of Mahiyangana town and the aboriginal settlements. Those parents who could not make it, their families and friends would be watching from down below.

Many of the children started singing. There was a carefree, carnival atmosphere within the cabin which I'd never seen before in an aircraft.

For everyone involved, it was a day to remember. These children will remember it for the rest of their lives - the day they flew over their homes, higher even than the birds.