Volunteer Sri Lanka Week 2

Day 119 - 25th August 14

The English lesson we have prepared for the Bakery girls turns out to be too advanced, so instead we revise the days of the week and months of the year. For the 2nd half of the class we provide them with toilet rolls, silver foil and decorative plastic gems to make cuff bracelets with. They all enjoy this task and are engrossed for the remainder of the class, while we relax with a cup of tea.

In the afternoon, Hannah and I are teaching the Muslim children again, so we use the lesson plan originally meant for this morning's class. They quickly grasp the concept of pronouns replacing nouns, but it is surprisingly complicated to explain the difference between the subject and object of the noun.

Day 120 - 26th August 14

We visit the street kids project with Elizabeth. Expecting to be faced with scruffy clothing and dirty faces, we're surprised that these children seem well looked after. Their classroom is located in a small building in the midst of a cluster of ramshackle houses, sturdier than slums. We pass through a small network of dirty alleyways to reach the classroom. Outside the door, a cliff face looms set with dangling, rotten vines. The classroom is filled with crafts hanging from different strings stretched across the walls and above our heads, some a little worn and tatty, the colours faded. An elder boy takes charge of the children. They are a boisterous bunch.

We play numerous games: Hide and seek - which seems absurd in such a small room, but there are a surprising number of cubby holes; Blind man's buff - the fear of being caught and blindfolded causes us to laugh nervously throughout, especially after Elizabeth has spent 15 minutes blindly trying to grab someone to no avail, while the kids tease her, tapping her and quickly escaping out of her reach. Although I feel I ought, I am unwilling to sacrifice myself at this stage; 'Simon Says' - Elizabeth orchestrates this game and the children really love it - her drama student days come into use.

In the afternoon, we return to the orphanage. There is a 3 year old child crying hysterically when we arrive who looks absolutely exhausted. When I pick her up, she falls gratefully asleep, her face now peaceful, her closed eyes curtained with thick long lashes - a sleeping beauty. It transpires that her mother left her at the orphanage only a few days ago. It is of little wonder she is suffering from emotional trauma and struggling to sleep. We don't know the mother's circumstances but it's heartbreaking that she could leave her child here after a 3 year relationship together. It's difficult to say goodbye when we leave today.

Day 121 - 27th August 14

We return to the Elders with Ori and Omer. They play games and chat with the men while we massage the women.

In the afternoon I join Omer at the disabled centre. They are rehearsing for a dance show so we watch them practising. A boy with down-syndrome is lord of the dance. His movements are precise and dramatic and he takes his role very seriously. He's an excellent dancer. I and one of the disabled boys copy the hand movements of the dances, while sitting watching. Shoulder shrugging with hands in the Namaste prayer pose and spinning with arms stretched. It's a memorable tune and Omer requests its name, so we can find it online.

We're meeting the others in Galle, but we arrive early and walk around the fort. Omer entertains me posing for photos and running into a group of crows on the grass to cause them to fly into the air. Despite having dinner at Janaka's in 2 hours, none of us can resist ordering one of the incredible crepes at Crepeology. We treat ourselves to a cocktail in the Living Room - a bar with opulent, over-the-top furnishings, black walls, glittering chandeliers and bizarre large wooden ornaments of animals.

After the speeches, we sit in our usual spot under the porch listening to music and occasionally dancing. Ori asks Elizabeth for advice on approaching girls in a club and dances comically towards her, side stepping with his hands on his hips, leaning against the wall with his outstretched hand, invading her personal space while she cringes and sidles away. My stomach hurts from laughing at this exchange. We can't persuade Elizabeth to join us out tonight, but at the last minute as we are leaving she runs out of her room. She tells us she has to come otherwise she will suffer from 'FOMO' (a slightly ridiculous abbreviation for 'fear of missing out').

It's late and we're unable to find a tuk tuk. A pack of stray dogs barking loudly greets us on the deserted road, which a man dressed in a grubby wraparound white skirt and a bare torso, manages to control. We retreat back up the path to the house, but a tuk tuk

passes us and agrees to squeeze the 5 of us in until we reach the crossroads where he should be able to find another tuk tuk.

The party is in full swing on the beach - it's a relatively small crowd but everyone is dancing energetically. They play popular commercial music with a hardcore beat. Elizabeth has an insane amount of energy, incorporating river dancing with raving. It's hard to keep up. Interestingly there are a lot of muscular men drinking here - Hannah informs me that they are mainly ex-navy employed to protect the seas from pirates.

Day 122 - 28th August 14

Elizabeth has left to fetch her friend from the airport early in the morning. We are teaching the bakery girls. They look as bored as ever, so Hannah gets them on their feet for stretching exercises. They all look slightly bewildered, but it wakes them up. We teach them action verbs today, using mime. Hannah has set up a fruit bowl so they can attempt copying a still life. Some of them make a fair attempt, while others seems to have no concept of the idea of perspective, drawing instead what they think they see not what they actually see, but it has been a good exercise.

We are in the orphanage this afternoon, and since the sun is shining the 2 year olds are playing outside, toddling on the grass, sitting on the swings (2 together on a seat) and sliding down the slide, landing on top of each other, some trying to climb up the slide in the wrong direction, until there are a bundle of babies at the bottom. We spend much of the afternoon desperately trying to prevent a group of babies who are standing in front of the flower bed from eating the orange flowers. They invariably copy each other so it's a never-ending battle - as you remove 2, 2 more take their place, their little mouths filled with petals. I play 'ring a ring o' roses' with a few of them, managing to get them to hold hands with each other, walk in a circle and sit down at the right time, but it's not an easy feat and they all become distracted easily.

Elizabeth's friend Cliona has arrived today. She seems really fun and very chilled out. She's going to join a few projects before they travel.

Day 123 - 29th August 14

We play games with the Senehasa girls this morning, mainly Uno, after attempting to read with some of them. We also bring 'Who's who' with us, and with the help of a girl who has a fairly good grasp of English, she's able to explain the game to her piers. This 14 year old girl has beautiful green eyes and light brown hair. I have a conversation with her and she explains that the other girls are not her friends, that she has only been here for 3 weeks and she was sent here as she ran away from home with her boyfriend. She is hoping to be able to return home this Sunday. Her father has forgiven her, misses her and wishes for her return. However, it is not just up to him to decide her fate. The lawyers, the women who run the Senehasa home and the police must also agree that she can leave her current confinement. Another girl who I have previously befriended approaches us. The green-eyed girl tells me in whispers that this girl is not nice. That she started a fight with her friend in the home who is 5 months pregnant and afterwards informed the matron that it was not her who started the fight. She suggests she is manipulative and not to be trusted.

It must be such a difficult place for the girls to coexist with such a mixture of backgrounds and education, some girls victims of crimes, others perpetrators (at least in the eyes of Sri Lankan law). We have heard rumours from Janaka that there is lesbian activity occurring here, which hardly seems surprising considering there is a group of sexually active girls living separated from male counterparts, and some for extended periods of time. I hope that this girl is able to escape at the weekend like she expects.

In the afternoon, Hannah has a doctor's appointment with a dermatologist. Belinda and I take the Muslim children. I teach action verbs, reusing the same material. In the last half hour, we play a game filling a bag with a mixture of actions which are easy to mime, splitting the children into two teams, giving each child a minute to see how many words they can mime while their group guesses. They're a little confused at first, but soon catch on and become quickly incredibly competitive.

Day 124 - 30th August 14

Today I head to Mirissa with Elizabeth, Jenny and Cliona. We catch a bus down the East coast to the beach. A sweeping bay stretches into a long curve, with shacks and hotels lined along the beach, deck chairs placed outside. A landscape of yellow sand and palm trees. The small waves are perfect for bodyboarding. After eating lunch, we borrow bodyboards. It's a lot of fun when we actually manage to catch a wave to carry us to the shore and much less exhausting than attempting to surf.

It reminds me of a family holiday in France, where Bob and I body-boarded everyday. We walk along the length of the beach before leaving, past the little rocky island, only accessible at low tide and head back onto the road to catch a bus. The bus is crammed full and I am still barefooted my feet covered in black and yellow sand.

Day 125 - 31st August 14

Someone has suggested we spend the day relaxing by a pool at a hotel, recommended to us (the Lighthouse). It's a fairly soulless complex, with the exception of the grand, spiral staircase lined with a bizarre procession of life size warriors sculpted from metal. There are neatly cut expanses of lawn and 2 swimming pools. We've had to pay to spend the day here, so we give ourselves a target number of lengths to make the most of the swimming pool, borrowing floats from the bemused pool attendant to practise our stroke. The food at the hotel is mediocre, especially for the price, but the coffee's good. Felix and Jana leave a little earlier, but we are caught in the thunderstorm. We watch from the shelter of the open sided restaurant, which looks out onto the pool, bubbling with the heavy drops, and beyond the white water of the sea crashing against the rocks, palm trees bent to one side beneath the heavy grey sky.

Day 126 - 1st September 14

We are returning to the Street kids today, but we understand the teacher will be back from hospital. When we arrive, they have set up the low tables and chairs, painted in primary colours into a line in front of the whiteboard, as if ready for a lesson. We ask them to write their name up on the board along with their birthday.

A man arrives 10 minutes in, who claims to be the brother of the teacher. He is smiley and jovial and slightly rotund. When he sees they are writing, he is perplexed and almost angry. 'They must not write! This is Montessori school'. From what we understand, the first years of schooling should focus solely on creativity. According to him, if the inspectors find out they have been taught to write at this early age, there will be trouble. He then tells us that only one of the boys currently in the room is actually meant to be here - the other kids have all run truant from school and are simply hanging out. He clearly dotes on the little boy. He asks him to sing us a song. The little boy sings 'This old man, he plays...' from start to finish, complete with actions, including an arm sweeping movement over his head with the start of each new verse. The actions are ill-timed and his singing the opposite of tuneful, but he is adorable and determined which makes up for the faults in his performance.

The class for the Muslim children has been cancelled, but no-one has informed us, so we wait for 15 minutes in the room in the Principal's

house before leaving.

Six of us will be leaving tomorrow. Cliona and Elizabeth are travelling around Sri Lanka and we plan to join them the day after. Jana and Felix are flying to Nepal. Janaka has really taken to Felix and Jana. Embarrassingly for the rest of us he has made them both their favourite roti's, decorated with the first letter of their names. As per his speech, he's especially admiring of their relationship together, which seems incredibly strong - they have been together since they were 16 and they clearly still love each other's company, sharing passions for travelling and photography. Jana's speech is refreshingly touching. After thanking Janaka for the experience, she admits she has struggled in an environment of such a predominantly English speaking crowd, that her language skills are not yet able to maintain such high speed conversation, that she feels she has appeared shy whereas she is normally the life and soul in any social situation. They are both eloquent despite the language barrier and there is exactly the right level of emotion within their speeches.

Janaka focuses his speech on himself, relaying a story of the period in his life in his early twenties when he studied during the day and worked throughout the night, barely sleeping. He gives us a detailed account of his daily timetable. We understand the lesson he is teaching us - how important it is to work and achieve as much as possible in one's lifetime - but the speech becomes a bit of an irrelevant ramble. I have noticed that listening is not his forte so I'm not surprised that he hasn't learnt much about each of us on a personal level. There are so many volunteers passing through, that it can't be expected that he will have got to know everyone. He really is an inspirational figure - his achievements have been exceptional. He continues to give back so much to the society around him and his kindness seems never-ending. Yet he has been so exalted by the people around him (deservingly so), that it is unsurprising that he is also a little arrogant and egocentric.

Day 127 - 2nd September 14

I am staying an extra day and Hannah is heading to the embassy to renew her visa in Colombo. In the morning the Bakery project has also been cancelled. I head into Galle to take cash out. I sit in Crepeology treating myself to an iced latte and use the wifi to ring my family home for a chat - it's been a while since we've spoken.

The bakery project has been cancelled again, but the Muslim class has been rearranged to this afternoon. I am joining Matt and Belinda, but as I already have a lesson plan prepared I teach today. The class is really enjoyable and leads me to consider teaching English professionally.

It's pouring with rain when we arrive back and I can't face the idea of packing and catching a bus to Colombo now, so I decide to remain at Janaka's for the evening. He very kindly allows me to stay an extra night for free. It's a relaxed evening. Matt, Belinda, Jenny, Jo and Rosie are still here. I enjoy a couple of glasses of wine and get a little too excited when Janaka catches a lone firefly beneath an upside down glass, placing it on the table, creating a green faintly flashing lamp. I jump up to try and capture this on film, inadvertently knocking over my chair without noticing. When I sit back down again, it is onto the floor and I scrape a line of skin off my back along the edge of the chair leg. I look at Jo, standing behind me, in an accusatory manner, assuming in this moment of shock that she has pulled back my chair as a strange joke. Everyone's laughing now, and Matt and Belinda both quickly pour me another glass of wine.