Day 16 – Tuesday 5 October

The final day before an early morning departure tomorrow. Many mixed emotions of visiting the schoolchildren at both the Nursery School and The Village School. Some of these kids will be moving on to new schools in January when the new school year commences and for all of us who have seen them growing up, it could be the last time we see some of them. We can only hope that they have a better future ahead of them than when we first started supporting them. It seems a possibility that the Village School will have their first ever O’ Level student with the minimum amount of 7 pass grades to continue to further education. Should this be the case we will endeavour to continue supporting his further studies.

Amongst several of the final projects we had set out to accomplish today was a meeting with another bakery to find out if they could offer a better price to supply the 150 meals we provide every school day. Even a saving of 1 Rupee (0.006 pence) a day would make a big difference over a year. It presently costs about 11.5 pence to ensure a child receives a nutritional daily meal and the support that we receive ensures this continues. We found that we currently get good value as the new bakery wanted to charge 16 pence per child……..even after heavy negotiation! It currently cost about £23 a year to feed just ONE child a year. There are 140 mouths to feed every day.

We also had discussions with the Principal about ensuring the security of the school and agreed to provide new mesh windows and secure doors. This will also allow more natural light into the classroom, making a better teaching and learning environment.

Della & Gav also had the opportunity to meet with the Head of Maintenance from the International School in Colombo, where Adam is Headmaster, to give us an idea of costs involved at local prices to make repairs to the leaking and poorly maintained school roof.

We then had some very personal and profound business to complete, which left us all incredibly upset but also with the knowledge that one child had been saved from what could have amounted to a life of poverty and servitude.

Saying farewell to people who have become friends, companions and FODAD colleagues is always difficult. The tears in the eyes of hardened fishermen along with those we were fighting to keep back hopefully paints enough of a picture of the close connections that are built and how much people appreciate the assistance that you give them. When we look back and ask ourselves if we have achieved what we set out to do, we can hopefully say yes. If you’ve been following the blog, we hope you’ve enjoyed reading the experiences. Much more could have been written – only time and really slow internet connections have beaten us -  but maybe those of you who know us and what we do will have the chance to ask any questions. As this is the last entry, it would be great to have any comments.

Thank you to all those who have supported in whatever way be it large or small. Every contribution makes an enormous difference to the lives of people who would shake you by the hand and give an almighty hug or the child who would run up to you and wrap their arms around your waist. Please try to experience this wonderful country and its people.

Day 15 – Monday 4 October

Our last full day but one in Sri Lanka for this trip so time to start tying up loose ends.  First up was a re-visit to the Nursery School where we handed over some more educational toys. We also agreed to fund a new secure cabinet for the school so that toys and educational materials can be locked away securely at the end of lessons.  However, whilst we were there, a manager from the Mount Lavinia hotel visited who currently pay the salaries of the two teachers; we have long pushed for a better building for the school and this may have taken a step closer as it would seem that the increase in tourist numbers means that they are now in a position to commit to funding a new building. 

After the paint job

Next, back to the Village School. First up was a meeting with a company who have agreed to quote us for a new roof for the school; we anticipate the quote will be prohibitively expensive but at least we will have a benchmark price.  At the weekend we bought the school 3 new water purifiers so that the children could enjoy clean, filtered water and so we installed these. As we poured in the water direct from the tap, the misty colour of the water showed what a great investment these should be and they look pretty good against the newly painted, brighter interior.  We couldn’t afford electrically cooled models which turned out to be a relief as the Principal informed us that the electricity board had visited earlier to disconnect the school for non payment of the bill.  She showed us the bill and the savings account which she has to top up with any contributions from staff  and parents.  Naturally there was a shortfall so we have agreed to clear the outstanding amount.  Hopefully the new low energy bulbs we’ve supplied might reduce the bill in the future as well as providing better light but it still seems very odd that a school should have to rely on contributions to basic utilities rather than being met by the education department.

Learning the science of water filters

Day 14 - Sunday 3 October

Dan’s fortnight is up and he left to return to the UK early on Sunday morning – how quickly it’s gone.  But before leaving he had decided he wanted to supplement the Village school band with some extra instruments as it had originally been established as memorial to his father.  So we headed up to the music shop to place an order for 6 new melodicas and 2 tambourines to boost the sound of the school band and of course offer more students the opportunity to be part it.

Later, we met up with Adam the head of the International School in Colombo and his wife Kath, who is the brother of a colleague of Della.  He asked how he could help and we explained that our priority was to make the school water-tight and secure.  With a dedicated maintenance section, he has promised to put them in touch with us so we can consider the available options and whether we can afford any of them.  It has been really frustrating and a bit disheartening not knowing someone in the building trade. He will call us tomorrow and with luck, we should be able to talk to someone before leaving in 2 days and be much better placed to understand the feasibility of the various options which will be a huge relief. Simply not knowing how much a simple repair would be let alone a new roof has been a struggle.

And as it’s typically British to discuss the weather, tonight we witnessed the heaviest rainfall ever imaginable.  Even the fishermen in the Village afraid and hadn’t experienced anything like it.

Day 13 – Saturday 2 October

What a relief – another clear blue sky to start the day – and incredibly hot even at 09:00; Just the job when needing to shift over 30 boxes of clothes for distribution later in the day!  We arrived back at the school at around 09:30 (ok we were late) to find the same group of dedicated volunteers hard at it... they had even already applied the first coat inside the school.  Work continued throughout the morning and the new blue pillars were looking good against the new white walls.  We wanted to create a brighter environment for the kids to learn in and that’s certainly what has been done.  The outside too now looks much smarter and the kids will repaint murals on the wall when the weather eases up.

This project has been a hard one physically but it has been extremely useful in allowing us to work together with teachers and parents and show what we can achieve working together as a team.  By the end of the afternoon, we’d pretty done as much as we’d can just as it started raining.  But we still needed to hand out the clothes to the villagers so we headed off to the heart of the village to start that operation.  

Coming from far and wide...

The rain started hammering down and by the time we had walked the short distance from the Village School to Udaya’s house on the railway line, a small crowd had begun to gather.  As the first box was opened, word had spread quickly and despite the hammering rain now, the queue of people was over 6 deep but remained orderly.  T-shirts, poloshirts, ladies clothes and caps were all handed out and we were told that people from as far as 9 km along the railway track had come in the driving rain.  It’s great that the “Don’t ditch, donate” collection at the offices of Nature had been so successful and had it not been for the appalling weather, we probably would have seen families in matching nature.com outfits parading along the tracks that evening.

 

Day 12 - Fri 1 Oct

We woke to glorious blue skies – probably for the first time since we’ve been here – and knowing that the major task ahead of us later was painting the school, it was somewhat of a relief.  But first there were those 36 boxes to sort out.  Thankfully, the clothes and linen that had been collected by staff at Nature Publishing had been thoughtfully chosen so we were relieved not to find thermals and thick pullovers.  After the initial sort, it was off down to the Medical Clinic to deliver a box for men, women, children and household linens.  They were very grateful indeed as every item would be put to use by the poorest families.

Next, we arrived at the Village School just before it closed at 13.30 annoyingly before the paining and brushes arrived. But we were heartened by the number of parents who had turned out to help and the number of kids who stayed behind.  When the paint eventually arrived, we discovered it needed to be thinned and mixing bowls were pretty thin on the ground.  But, we battled on and before long people were hard at it.  The original plan was to split into two teams, one to start on the interior and another on the outside. But mums, dads and their children had picked a part of the wall to paint and were sticking to it and in no time at all the entire outside of the school and the lavatory blocks had had two coats of paint and it was already a huge improvement. 

No sooner had we finished and returned to base, then the heavens predictably opened again and we couldn’t help worrying about all the new paint being washed away…

Day 11 - Thu 30 Sep

The Nursery School on parade

Early today it was fantastic to see the kids from the Nursery School in a pageant celebrating a feast day. They all looked so smart and happy and their mothers bursting with pride. Very colourful, especially holding what looked like enormous lollipops!!

Later in the morning we were able to visit the Girls at the Orphanage. Much has changed since our last visit to this institution as we were able to witness the fantastic creation of a  new vocational centre which houses areas for sewing, needlework as well as art & crafts. The love and devotion that the Principal and staff have for these girls is so obvious and they do an extraordinary job considering the background that some of the girls come from. Dan was able to see and hear the Orphanage Band strike up the Colonel Bogey tune which was very impressive.

Some of the work in the vocational training area

During a dance performance by the younger children, Della received an urgent call from customs to tell her that if she didn’t go to the airport to check through a consignment of 36 boxes sent from the UK that she would be arrested on departure. She and Don therefore rushed off to the other side of Colombo and said that they would see us sometime later that day. We realised it could be several hours before we either saw them back at the hotel or in a prison cell! 

We meanwhile returned to Ratmalana to source out school equipment supply shops. After a trawl of the Yellow Pages and Internet, we found the grandly named Office Works, several kilometres away. We jumped in a car and eventually found the not so grand garage that was piled with reams of A4 paper and ring binders. Amazing what a good website and large advert in the local directory can do for your business. Hidden away at the back were a few whiteboards which we had promised the Village School. Unfortunately the other materials we were sourcing had to be ordered and we have been promised delivery for Saturday.

The Girls' Orphanage Band

In the meantime, Dan, as the only one with any mode of communication, was receiving updates from Sri Lanka’s latest “Most Wanted”. After much shaking of hands and smiling at the newly appointed Chief of Customs, Bonnie & Clyde were released back into civilisation. By the time they returned it had been a good 6 hours of them being kept waiting after everything was completed in triplicate. Apparently the customs officer refused to believe that there were any charities still assisting in Sri Lanka post-Tsunami. Della & Don were able to show him the website and they now have a new best friend. He insisted on the shipment being delivered and cleared through as soon as possible.

After a much needed relaxing evening meal, we went to bed at 22.30 only to be woken at 23.45 to be advised that DHL were at the hotel with the 36 boxes. We each took 12 boxes into our rooms and decided that we would unpack and separate the men’s, women’s and kids’ stuff the following morning. It’s great to have the shipment here at last and that we’re not harbouring criminals. Best left to your imagination how Della or Don reacted to the threat of hard labour in a third world prison!!!

12 of the 36 boxes which finally arrived