Friday 26 December 2014
Tsunami makes headlines
Tuesday 25 November 2014
9 days into our Nov 2014 trip
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Last week I posted a blog about our new classroom on the beach and there will be more on that before we leave Sri Lanka at the weekend but here is more that we have been up to.
On Wednesday last, we took the girls from an orphanage we have supported since the Tsunami to the beach. The only time they go outside the walls of their orphanage is when FODAD visits. They look forward to these days so much, as do we and have the most fantastic time together. We have known some of the older girls for 9 years now. We have paid for their home economics classes including cookery, embroidery and English. 4 of them were trained as nursery school teachers and a couple have married and had babies. We hope that we can continue to support the girls for years to come.
At the weekend, we distributed toys and clothes all of which had been donated by friends in New York and Oxford. The kids were thrilled to bits
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| In the sea with the girls |
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| New clothes and new toys! |
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| Brand new clothes |
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| No, we are not too old! |
We also visited our dear friend Doreen. We have known her for 9 years as she is the devoted parent of 2 of the children at our school. She lost her leg in a tragic accident just over 2 years ago. We are paying for a prosthetic. The first dummy has been delivered and I was moved to tears when I saw her stand on two feet for the first time.
Today we visited the nursery school in the Jungle at Girilcola. We have bought uniforms, shoes and books for these children for over 5 years now. The Buddhist Monk who also has a Temple where we are based in Mount Lavinia introduced them to us. Their parents are really poor farmers who often have to wade in several feet of mud in paddy fields. We gave the 5 year olds school bags and books to give them a head start at their new schools.
More to come!
Thursday 20 November 2014
Education, Education,Education
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| Children from the Village School attend the FODAD classroom for extra lessons.
My intention was to write a blog today telling you all about mine and Don's very busy first 4 days in Sri Lanka since we arrived on November 16th. We were surprised that there are so few tourists in November and that everywhere we walk there are thousands of butterflies. The whole area is like a butterfly park. For those of you who don't see us on Facebook or Twitter and do not know what a wonderful time we had on Wednesday with the girls from the orphanage whom we first took out 9 years ago, I was going to tell you about that day but ..... today we had an experience which confirmed the very heart of FODAD and its mission. It deserves a blog of its very own. Don and I attended two classes in our very own FODAD classroom in the Fishing Village. In September we had published a letter on our blog from the teacher we had employed earlier this year http://www.friendsofdellaanddon.com/page6.html On Tuesday, we helped to repaint the room we rent in brilliant white so that we could use a projector without a screen and today we attended 2 lessons. We were bowled over. Our kids are really coming on and they absolutely love the lessons. We will get there! They will get there. The kids from our Village will now have the opportunity to learn not only English but extra Maths, Science and History.
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It is almost 10 years since the horrendous tsunami that brought us together but we are so happy that together will all of you, we really are giving the children hope of a better future!
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| Watching English language videos with kids from the Village in Class this afternoon! |
Monday 29 September 2014
A Letter From the English Teacher
We were thrilled to receive a letter from the English teacher last week (see below), who we began to employ in February. He gives English lessons at our school and also teaches our village
children twice a week on Wednesday afternoons and Saturday mornings on the
beach where they live. We joined his
lessons a couple of times in February.
When we returned to Sri Lanka in July, the weather was not
always as kind and there was a monsoon sea which had covered half the
beach. We quickly realised that we would
need to look for an alternative classroom so that the children could enjoy
their English lessons uninterrupted.
There was a Tsunami-damaged house next door to where our friend, the
fisherman Udaya lives. We paid for 6
months’ rent and Udaya and his friends turned it into a classroom. We were absolutely thrilled to receive
pictures this past weekend which showed the transition and the teacher in
class. We cannot wait to see him in action during our visit in November.
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| The original beach 'classroom' |
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| The new classroom |
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| The new classroom in action! |
"Hi
How are you. I hope you both are very well.
I’m writing this letter to thank you for the great help that you have
done .At first we started the English class on the beach with the help of
yours. Then I had to teach to the students who are really poor and innocent in
a hut which was on the beach .That hut was used by fishermen who live in the
area. So sometimes when I went there , their fishing nets and fish boxes were
everywhere .In that dilapidated hut we
could not bear the nauseous smell that comes from the decomposed fish remains
.At the end of a short and worst period we have been given a very nice class
room by you. Although I wanted to thank you at the same time ,since I was busy
with my students every day, I
couldn’t send you an email .I apologize for my delay.
As I explained you I had another problem
also. Since I didn’t have a way to show my students the international pronunciation
way , It was difficult to make them to understand what the foreigners are
telling. Then although they can express their ideas in English when they feel
it’s difficult to understand what they say , they are afraid to go ahead and
continue communication.
As you really know the pronunciation way of
Sri Lankans and the native speakers like you is different .Of course it is
because when we use a second language we have some effects of mother tongue.
I’ve seen it everywhere when I was in abroad.
I’m not trying to push my students to speak
like you. If we need so they should live in your society among native
speakers but I really need to improve them to understand what you say for that
I needed to show the way that native
speakers speak. As always you are here to help us as a blessing
from God you had sent money to buy a multi projector .You will see the
improvement when you come next time.
-
Ishan Gamage -
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The English teacher –
-
Sri Lanka."
Monday 4 August 2014
August 2014 Week 3 Blog
The medical clinic we fund has now been open once a week since May 2005 and the doctors have seen nearly 16,000 patients in that time. As ever we were welcomed by the committee who we have worked with since the beginning. We went through the accounts and were surprised to see how much the cost of drugs has increased in the last 12 months. We are delighted that we can continue to support them as they do an amazing job supplying free advice and medicines to people who could not otherwise afford them.
On Wednesday July 30th we visited the sewing machine project near Hikkaduwa. We bought the women their first sewing machine over four years ago and we subsequently bought two more machines which now support over 100 people. On our last visit in February they asked us to buy an overlocking machine so they could make their saris to a more professional standard and this trip we were pleased to be able to go with them to buy the machine.
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| Visiting the Sewing Machine Ladies in their shop |
The following day we had been invited to open an art exhibition at the village nursery school. The kids had made fantastic sunglasses, drums and hats out of yoghurt cartons and coloured paper. Della can be seen which Della can be seen modelling. The nursery school is on the premises of the local temple, run by Ananda (the monk who divides his time between the temple in Mount Lavinia and the jungle nursery - see previous blog). We discovered that he had a treasure chest of artefacts in the temple, which included a compete bound volume of Singhalese newspapers from 1934.
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| Cutting the ribbon |
We went immediately to the school to watch an end of term cricket match. We all presented trophies to the winning team and best players, which was a nice to way to end the term and say goodbye to all the children.
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| Presenting trophies |
The next day we met with Wishwa whose letter many of you may will have read in May of this year (http://wwwfriendsofdellaanddon.blogspot.com/2014/05/from-boy-to-man.html). He has started his A-Levels and we agreed to pay for his extra classes and uniform. His dream is to go to university as his parents are incredibly poor, and we will do our best to support him in fulfilling his goal.
Many of you will have read about Doreen who is confined to a wheelchair after an accident last year. We support her and her two boys whom we have known ever since we have worked with the school. We took her youngest son, Smith, to buy clothes for him and his elder brother.
On Saturday night the fishing village threw a magnificent party for us on the beach, with some of the best fish we'd ever tasted, as well as amazing music. We ate and danced into the early hours. An enjoyable end to a busy week...
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| Party time |
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