The Beach in Mirissa; we sat on the traditional fishing sticks!
1 day old baby turtles in Mirissa
Mirissa sunset
Home-stay puppy; Hugo. The Sanhinda children had previously put flowers in my hair
Me and Mali (little brother in Sinhala) in the Men's Special Needs center
My Village
Sanhinda Orphanage with Andrea and Annabelle
The Orphanage Sign
Men's special needs using the donated stationary
My donation..... thank you everyone!
MASSIVE stick insect in the jungle... and I wasn't scared. It was so gentle.
So, on the 6th February, I arrived in Sri Lanka from
an amazing and luxurious weekend in Abu Dhabi. I was tired,
hot and the sun was just beginning to rise. At first, it was slightly chaotic,
and I had not mastered how to put my backpack on yet, so I found a trolley and
strolled anxiously through to arrivals. As I scanned for my name, or any kind
of indicator of who was picking me up, I came across Mr Niel, holding an 'SL
Volunteers' sign, and I thought 'result' the journey starts here...
My first culture shock was the 'anything goes' system on the
roads... I clung for my life and the driver laughed... I was constantly
shouting, 'watch out for the dogs,' and he said I was crazy! We arrived at the
homestay in Homagama, and met Amma and Thatha (mum and dad in Sinhala).
They have 8 amazing dogs, some that are originally theirs, others that have
made their house their home, kind of like the constant flux of volunteers. I
took a picture of all my donations and then put it in the storage wardrobe
in the home stay. Here all volunteers access the resources. The family and
project coordinator were extremely grateful! We had a nap and Amma made us darl
and rice, it was delicious! We walked into town and came across a
Buddhist/Hindu temple that was beautiful and had the story of Buddah inside on
pictures. I spoke to Mr Niel, (the man who picked us up and also the Project
Manager), and he told me Buddhists do not pray, it is a meditation, a way of
life, there is no praying as such, just occasional worship but more about
how you live your life. We had an early night and I struggled to sleep due to
the heat of the night.
Day 2: We got up and had jam, bread and bananas for breakfast
then went to the hotel for orientation. We learnt a lot about Sri Lankan
culture- girls must cover shoulders and knees, take shoes off for entering
homes and temples. After that, we used the hotel pool and went for a swim (I
raced a Sri Lankan boy and won!) It was I, Aaron, Annabelle, Janice (a new lady
who deaf had just arrived from England), Min Yan and Andrea and
Natalie. We swam for 3 hours, and then we got out and started learning Sinhala
then Saja and the other people before having our evening meal. I loved being
back in the pool at night as it was Poya day, which means festival day in
Buddhist culture, and we had a full moon. At night, Annabelle and I snuck off
to the shop and I bought a Kik-cola, which is a take on coca-cola, and they
always want the bottle back as a deposit. We came back to the house, had a chat
with others, and then I tried to sleep.
Day 3: We woke up to the blistering sun, had breakfast, and set
off on the bus to The Youth Centre. When I go off the bus, I saw a cow just
walking down the middle of the road amidst the crazy traffic. It was a great experience;
the centre offers English lessons for vocational learning, so computer
engineers, bakers, beauticians, etc, all roughly 18-25. We had a couple of
hours there and observed the lesson led by Katy and Aiden on formal and
informal and debates, such as 'books vs. computers'. In the break, we went to
the cafe; I had Vegetable rotti and mango juice, yummmyyyy. We went on the internet
and afterwards I spoke to Janice about her life. We then set off to the all
girls orphanage. On the bus, the driver told me to sit right at the front next
to him, which was a crazy experience as I nearly flew out of the door, but I
kept my grip and enjoyed the light breeze and wind in my hair riding up front.
We then got off and walked a mile to the orphanage. There, we were greeted by
various young girls, and interrupted one lesson, so went in the textiles room
to speak to older, 14, 15 year old girls. They spoke about parents, and
I had learnt that some are in Sri Lanka others have to work abroad to
make more money. Here, I met a lady called Atigala, she was 77 years old and
had worked in social work and with the orphanage for 13 years. She never
married or had children, a man was ‘too much trouble’. The young girls were
interested in the pictures on my phone, they also brought us food, or as they
called it a ‘tea party’ which consisted of bananas and yummy sweet ginger and
coconut pancakes. After being there 2 hours, just as an introduction and a way
to practice some conversational English skills, we left for home
in Homagama. We got home and had dinner, with a few political debates and I
spoke to Janice about Shakespeare, our favourite quotes ‘Once more unto the breach
my friend’ and mine from Lear, ‘nothing will come of nothing, speak again’. I
am now in my room, listening my fan blow, which is making me feel so warm
inside accompanied by the sound of tropical rain.
Day 4: I woke up and had a shower at about 8am. We got ready and
set off in the blistering heat, we set off for the special needs centre. Whilst
walking through the markets it was funny to see that where the railway tracks
were, the people had set up their stalls and would move them is the train signal
was heard. When we arrived at the special needs centre, we were met by many men
with Down syndrome, physical and mental disabilities. It was very sad to
see, some were just old. One man was isolated in a room, with a cage like
window; he would sit there and reach his hand out to you. He grabbed my hand
too much, scratched it, and pulled my top. I was bit shaken by that so I moved
away. We spent two hours walking around the centre, giving the men our time and
playing, colouring, dancing, talking, sharing stories, giving one man, amazing
at maths, questions to do. In the afternoon, we went on to the mixed orphanage
in Sanhinda. It was a lot nicer and more facilities than the girls’ orphanage,
they had a keyboard, a playground, whiteboard etc, they had rabbits and dogs to
care for. One little boy captivated me, his name Mohammed. He was very good at
English and Yasintha told me he doesn't know his father and his mother
works in Qatar. He was 10 years old, the same age as my sister. We played for
hours with them, they were making music with sticks and on the side of the
slide and singing and dancing. Outside, just before the rain, a
large coconut tree began to shed its leaves and they all started
jumping up to catch them, getting excited. The rain started then and all the
children had to jump up and go and collect their washing. They also have to do
all of their own cleaning. We then left the children and headed home through
the traffic. We got home and got ready for our jungle trip the next day.
Day 5: We had training the next morning on the orphanages.
Yasintha said that many children end up in orphanage because their families go
to work in other places, or their mother is a prostitute, the child had been
born outside of wedlock or family had died in the war. We was told to always be
positive and remember that the children are a product of their experiences, a
lot have seen more than us. We discussed it was inappropriate to touch, cuddle
etc and try to remain distance (which is very hard as one of the first things
is that the children want you to pick them up and cuddle and play). I then went
to Natalie's house at Mr Geewanas and met him from the first time. He was in
the war for 11 years and had been a sniper. 40 men in his regiment had died; he
did not have one injury. He is now a carpenter at the back of his house and his
family live in Colombo where the children go to school. That afternoon we got
ready and went to the jungle. On the way, the driver got out, put some money in
a box for Buddah, and prayed to bless the journey. We got to Kitugala quiet
late so we had food and then started drinking and playing card games.
Day 6: We got up and got ready for white water rafting and team
building exercises. We had a great time down the river and saw the bridge from
the film ‘The Bridge over the river Kwai’. Later in the afternoon, we did some
team building exercises and had a stick insect on my arm, which was HUGE! That
night we went down to the party with people of a 'lower class' and they made
music with drums and singing. They sang a song, political, saying that if you
think the politicians are bad in Sri Lanka, England is all about bribery! I sat
talking to one boy, who told me the history of Sri Lanka, and said he respected
the English for cultivating the land, bringing tea, and doing the railways. However,
he felt angry at the fact the English too a lot of gems and didn’t give much
money to Sri lanka for them. Also, they worked for a textile factory that goes
to the UK, shops such as M&S, they make labels. But, they get very little
pay and the price goes really high in UK. He then told me about the war. He
said he likes Tamil people, they are Hindus and good people. They, however,
wanted a separate state in the north to the south. The Sri Lankan army then
went on to fight a ‘terrorist’ regime called the LTTE, a group of Tamils with
extreme views. He told me, it was a misconception, the Tamils were not Hindu,
but Christian. Were these the Tamils influences by the British and ones that
received a better education?
Day 7: we got up, had breakfast, and set off for a jungle trek. We
did confidence jumps and rock sliding, it was so beautiful. I lay for a moment,
and just looked at my beautiful surrounding and just thought of when Arthur C.
Clarke said that 'Sri Lanka was the best place in the world to view the
universe', it really really is! After going in the waterfall we set off back
home and then had lunch, rice, devilled chicken, beetroot, pumpkin, ginger,
spicy potatoes and for dessert banana and papaya. When we got home, we had a
catch up with Amma and family. We went to Mr Geewanas house and Natalie cooked
for us. That night, I spent time with Rajitha on the balcony and we spoke about
the education system here being very difficult. The free University is a government
run university, which is difficult to get into, and if you do not get into this
university you have to pay to go to one and these are very expensive to run. We
spend time looking at the sun and sharing our life experiences and our plans
for the future. His are to get a good to look after his parents and get a good
job to do this. Once his sister gets married, she leaves the family home and he
becomes the man of the house. If he doesn’t find a wife, his parents will help
find him one.
Day 8: Petrol went up at the weekend, so the buses are on strike
today. We are sat around, writing blogs listening to music. This was the first
day I tried Kottu Rotii; it was delicious! It is chopped pancake, vegetables
and egg, with spicy sauce! We are still going to go in to the project, the
orphanage so we will get a tuk-tuk. We headed to Marhabodi girls orphanage.
When we got there, the girls were running around crazy. We calmed them down by
putting our arms up in the air and counting 1,2,3. We didn’t have a whiteboard
pen so I suggested that we just use paper and write it up and go from there. We
did ‘animals’ and then we got them to write that down, we then went through all
the animals and got them to write all the animals and then act them out. It went
really well. The girls sang the national anthem and drew animal faces. When we
got home, Aaron and I went down to the well to have a wash. Rajitha made me
keep my skirt on, even though I had a bikini on ready for my wash in the well,
because if anyone came, and I had to remember that 'I am a ‘lady’.
Day 9: Natalie, Andrea, and I taught our first lessons at the
Youth Centre. We taught the bakers and the netball girls. It went really well,
we did introductions and opposites 'left-right' etc. With the girls,
we taught them formal and informal language. Whilst in the Bakery class, I had
them come up to the board and we wrote Happy 11th Birthday Grace (my little
sister), and put a love heard around it! After class, we got caught in a Sri
Lankan down pour and managed to find the right bus to get home. On our walk
home the man who gave us a tuk-tuk ride for cheap and gave us his card, stopped
us in the street and gave us a valentines rose each. We also stopped by a shop
and had Hoppers for the first time... made from coconut milk, rice, and flour.
It was delicious. That night, we sat and planned our trip to Unawatuna and
Marissa this weekend after a trip to pizza hut for 'lovers day'.
Day 10: Today we taught a lesson to the engineers, we did
directions and blind folded each other and had to direct in English. They blindfolded
me as an example and Aiden directed me out of the classroom! After, we drew a
map on the board and gave them all direct places to and from and they had to
write the directions in English. After that lesson, we went to the girl’s home
in Marhabodi and played games with them. I danced with one of the girls like
nobody was watching, we went crazy and it was so much fun. For 5 minutes it was
total happiness, I even forgot where I was. People in society, on their
birthdays donate food to orphanages, so we had to cut the trip short as someone
came in to donate food.
Day 11: This morning I got a lift to the special needs place
from Rajitha. On the back of his bike felt so amazing, wizzing through the
traffic with the wind in my hair, he kept asking me if I felt comfortable.
Whilst I was there, I met a man called Bali, who lives at the home because he
is old, but has a separate room because the others have ‘mental cases’. He was
telling me how he has a daughter and son who hardly visit, but he is happy and
used to be a weight trainer. He is Christian and reads the bible every night. I
was also speaking to a boy called Manake, who is a young boy who just travels
in the volunteer with the men. We swapped bracelets. We drew pictures and did
some maths with Mr P. After that, we went to the orphanage in Sanhinda. Here, I
am drawn in to a 10-year-old girl called Nerlam. She fascinates me, and I sat
with her and we did some English one-to-one! We did 'How do you feel? What is
your birthday? What do you like to eat?' We then went out to the playground and
all the children put flowers in my hair. A storm started to brew and the skies
turned black, and when we got back, they open up with a heavy down poor and the
sky would light up and crack every so often. It is the day before Amma’s
birthday so we went to the shop and bought her all kinds of treats, including
hats and a banner. It is Sri Lankan tradition that whose birthday it is takes
some cake and everyone around the table has a bite from the same piece of cake
that was in Amma’s hand.
Day 12, 13 & 14: We had one class at the Youth Centre. It
was a new class and was good. They were very quiet and we were trying to get
them to introduce their name, likes then dislikes. After that, we played a game
in groups where you had to say name and what you like and go around the group,
with the next person repeating all that was said previously! We had fun and got
to know each other, whilst learning English. It was also
the cultural day at the centre and a ship had arrived with
youths from all over the world. So, we watched traditional Sri Lankan fighting,
Kandayan dancing and a Sri Lanka vs Foreigners football match. We
danced outside and sang with the girl’s football team, I cheered for Sri Lanka.
After that, we got ready and headed to the beaches in the south; Mirissa,
Unawatuna and Galle. Here, I saw many animals, python, monitor lizard, turtles;
baby turtles, puppies, and had a monkey jump on my back! We walked around
Galle fort on the Sunday-day time and watched people jump of the cliffs. We
also jumped in, had a swim, walked around, and started dancing and singing with
a local Sri Lankan family. The fort is full of colonial Dutch museums and
buildings, it was incredible and we walked around until dusk then ran back to
sit at the temple in Unawatuna and watch the sunset...The following morning
after a night on the beach in Unawatuna, we went to a meditation class. I was
not able to concentrate as I kept feeling my head drop and fall asleep. But I
learnt that the key to happiness in life consists of the balance of
compassion and wisdom (from meditation class!)....we then set back off home to
Homagama.
Sinhala Language I have learnt so far: Estuti = Thank you. Lassani
= Beautiful. Prashner = problem. Obe nama mokada = what is your name? Obe gama
mokada? What is your village. Ama= Mother, Thatha = Dad, Mali = little brother,
Nangi (little sister), Peasu = crazy.
