Tag Archives: Sri Lanka

Friday 13^th January (our going home day, unfortunately!)

Fascinating creatures, whales.  As I observed on a whale-watching excursion yesterday, they come up for air every 15 minutes or so, and then dive back into the depths.  A bit like certain Sri Lankan politicians we’ve learned.  They surface whenever the people are looking and carry out their good deeds, around election time for example, then go back under cover for ages.  I don’t think the central government politicians have the slightest idea of the work that UKFG is doing, we just continue getting on with the job.  As Mr G said yesterday, investing in the education of rural Sri Lankan people, encouraging them to go on to further education and to university and get qualified and then come back and serve their village communities is the way out of poverty for Sri Lanka.  On the whale-watching trip, I saw five of them (whales that is…the politicians were nowhere to be seen), including two who showed us their tails as they dived.  I also saw many spinning dolphins, seemingly showing off on either side of the boat I was on.  And a sea turtle swimming 2 kilometres from shore.  A fabulous experience and a growing tourist attraction (many of our Sri Lankan friends living close by the harbour weren’t even aware these excursions had started) which, if they continue to manage it as they are now, will become important in Sri Lanka’s economical growth and self-sufficiency.

But this was pretty much the only leisure time afforded to us in the last couple of days of our holiday, for Siri had us running around two more of the UKFG-supported schools Wednesday and Thursday.  Wednesday morning was spent with the teachers and children at the Puskwelada Primary School, about 10 kms inside of Galle) where Nicky has been donating uniforms and some casual clothes, underwear and shoes for the students.  Whilst our contributions here are much more modest than at Masmulla School, we were nevertheless treated to a full programme of music, dance and numerous speeches, kicked off by being ceremoniously escorted up the hill by the school band. 

The Puskwelada School Band

Reception Committee at Puskwelada Scool

The former Principal at Puskwelada School, lighting the traditional oil lamp to commence proceedings

The opening dance sequence, exquisitely performed

The middle child sang too!

Isn’t she just adorable!

Oh my gosh, what’s the next step…?

Nicky and I again joined together for our own speech to the school (teachers, students and parents) and this was followed by tea and home-made delicacies, taken with the Principal and her teachers.  The Principal here and the English teacher deserve special mention.  Both speak excellent English and seem formidable characters.  Once again this school was facing closure and due to the combined efforts of staff, supported by UKFG, that threat has been removed and the roll-call is slowly increasing. 

Margaret, the Puskwelada School Principal

That said, there is much more help needed but our budget is limited.  Lunch was arranged in the gloriously authentic Closenberg Hotel, atop a headland with a marvellous view of the beaches of Galle on one side and the fort and harbour on the other.  In the eighteenth century this was the home of the top man in the Dutch East India Company and has been preserved with some of its original furniture and character features.  It was completely untouched by the 2004 tsunami which went either side of the headland but spared everything on top. 

The Closenberg Hotel, Galle

The rest of the day was spent in meetings with Siri and his wife Ruvini’s family out here (all are involved in UKFG), and a shopping trip for Nicky accompanied by Nilanthi (Siri’s sister-in-law and Mr G’s daughter-in-law) to cost a range of musical instruments for the Masmulla School band.

Dinner that night was back in the Lighthouse Hotel where I managed to get in a good number of lengths in the Olympic-sized swimming pool beforehand.  There was a cocktail party that evening offered by the hotel General Manager, Mr Robert  Claesson, a Swede who greeted us warmly and later informed us that he has got the hotel involved in sponsoring a local orphanage.  He was fascinated by our UKFG work also – possible opportunity for future discounted rooms when UKFG supporters come out to Sri Lanka???  We met a lovely couple from Wolverhampton who run “Slick Stitch” – a workwear embroidery factory, specialising in all sorts of clothing but predominantly uniforms.  They were enjoying a holiday to celebrate their wedding anniversary.  They joined us for dinner later in the evening and, upon hearing about our UKFG charity work, they made the incredibly generous offer to let us have regular quantities of seconds that we could send out to Mr G for onward distribution to the most needy children.  Some of the children only have their school uniforms to wear (they wear them every waking moment) so they won’t care if the donated garment has a discoloured logo on it or has a bit of loose stitching.  Talk about serendipity!

Thursday morning we were up at dawn so that I could take the aforementioned whale-watching excursion, while Nicky went to a third school (Rathanapara Primary School, near Matara) which is sponsored by another UKFG benefactor, Mr Neil Carson, Chief Exec of Johnson Matthey in the UK.

Nicky being welcomed at Rathanapara School

Nicky lighting the traditional candles to commence the programme

On Neil’s behalf, Nicky officially cut the ribbon on the new library, a substantial building constructed in just 7 weeks with the help of Mr G (Ruvini’s father) and his contacts at a cost of £6500. 

The Neil Carson Library at Rathanapara School

Nicky cutting the ribbon with Siri’s son Dinum

Library being blessed by the local Buddhist priest

Inside the Neil Carson Library

 All thanks to one man and his generosity, ably assisted by UKFG

She was once again given the royal treatment by staff and students but after her speech, she had to leave the ceremony because she’d set up a meeting with the Masmulla School Principal to discuss their outstanding needs. 

Nicky makes her speech assisted by Nilanthi as translator on the imaginative School stage

So, although both of us missed the dancing, Siri took these pictures to capture the atmosphere…

Tiny dancers with candles – delightful

The adorable and accomplished younger dancers

Dancers performing in front of the School Shield

One of the many enchanting dance routines

The costumes and the choreography in this piece were outstanding

One performer deserves special mention.  Throughout all the ceremonies we attended this week, Siri’s son Dinum performed a number of solo song and dance routines to the rapturous applause of the assembled crowds.  His renditions of “I’m coming home to Sri Lanka” were extremely moving.  He showed total control of his craft and a lot of confidence.  Nicky and I think that is extremely far-sighted of his father to get Dinum involved like this, in just the same way that Siri’s father must have done years before, so that he can carry on the good works when Siri is no longer able to.

Siri’s son Dinum doing a solo song and dance performance

 Dinum’s impromptu singing in playground

Siri’s eldest son Deshan is also making a valuable contribution to the cause by raising money for these children through the sales of UKFG branded T-shirts at his school – the Norton Knatchbull School – near Ashford in Kent.  The money donated from the sale of these t-shirts has helped fund the provision of textbooks and reading books for the Neil Carson Library.  This endeavour is continuing, with representative members of UKFG and members of the Sixth Form currently selling t-shirts in the Sixth Form area, the Library and the ICT department.  I proudly wore my t-shirt during the Rathanapara School celebrations and Deshan was more than once mentioned in despatches!

Deshan’s T-Shirt design, currently raising money back in the UK

Back at Masmulla again, the hugely modest Principal said he felt humbled to have been invited to draw up a school wish-list as he didn’t want to be seen as taking advantage of our generosity.  After some coaxing from Nicky (she was accompanied by Nilanthi as translator because the Principal’s English is limited), he finally revealed that he would greatly appreciate any of the following:

-            a concrete cover for the water well

-            a notice board, for ‘thought of the day’ and to display the children’s artwork

-            two baskets that can be attached to trees (reading books are placed inside so that children can find a quiet and shaded place to read)

-            educational newspapers and magazines (an assortment of 12 per week)

-            an iron gate to stop the wild animals coming in and making a mess of the classrooms at night

-            a retaining wall around the raised play area to stop mudslides

-            x 2 volleyballs, a net and two metal posts

-            a multimedia projector for computer presentations

-            a pair of shoes for each child (most have outgrown the ones we bought before)

-            x 4 uniforms per student per year, plus appropriate underwear.

Its quite an extensive list, but a lot of this attracts a low cost out here, and as well, part of our ongoing strategy is to create even more interdependency amongst the community which will help stretch already limited resources.  For example, maybe we could teach one elder in the village to sew and provide her with a sewing machine and thread, and then our gift could be restricted to simply the school uniform material which she could make into shirts, shorts and dresses for every student.   That said, I’m not sure at the moment how much of this we can afford on our own…we also have Puskwelada School to think of as well as the ten scholarship children.  Nicky and I have already decided that instead of our families buying us each Christmas presents, from now on we want them to club together and fund the scholarship to another child each year.

Just a quick reminder of how basic life is out here, feminine hygiene is very hard to achieve simply through lack of funds and availability so Nicky had bought a quantity of sanitary towels while shopping on Wednesday and gave a package to one of the teachers who pledged to pass them on to the relevant girls after showing them how they are used.

She returned to Rathanapara School in time to find me the centre of attention from staff and students alike (I was recounting tales of whale watching) and we posed together for the obligatory photos with staff, students, parents and associated dignitaries. 

Some of the students at Rathanapara School

Sri Lanka’s next First Eleven…?

 This is why we do it, it’s all the reward we need!

Teachers with us outside the new Library

Final group photo with all teachers, students and us

After a guided tour of the School by the Principal – a man with impeccable English – it was time to say goodbye…

Part of the inspirational Rathanapara School grounds

Siri, no doubt looking for his next project!

You will be forever celebrated Neil

One final gesture yesterday afternoon was to return to the house of Ayesha’s mother (Shirome she is called) – remember, this is the lady who made the inspiring closing speech at Masmulla School on Tuesday.  She’d given birth to a baby son a few months before and Nicky wanted to offer her some baby clothes, some nappies and a cuddly teddy bear.  Shirome was deeply touched by this and insisted on preparing for us some light snacks.  It was so very difficult to finally tear ourselves away.

Ayesha with her five month old brother

Nicky with Ayesha’s baby brother

Nicky and I with Shirome’s family

And that was it.  Official duties concluded…for now at least.  We had a final supper at Mr G’s house and then retired to bed at the Lighthouse Hotel.  An early start this morning, for although the journey to Colombo airport is just over 120 kms, the last 40 of these are spent driving through the city itself which is a hustling, bustling metropolis where who dares wins!  One really worthwhile investment the central government could make to sponsor tourism would be a ring road!

We hope you’ve found this series of blogs and the accompanying photographs interesting and stimulating.  If we have in any way encouraged you to make any sort of contribution towards the work of UKFG, no matter how small, we ask that you contact me first at cpn@tlcglobal.co

THE END (for now!)

Tuesday 10th January

This blog continues the account of our visit to the village of Masmulla yesterday afternoon.  Masmulla is a small village near Matara, which is close to Galle on the south western corner of Sri Lanka.

The girl student whose mother so eloquently delivered the closing speech of yesterday morning is one of ten children that we sponsor by way of a small scholarship in addition to the charitable donations that TLC makes to Masmulla Primary School.  Our afternoon was spent visiting the homes of all of our sponsored children.  Nothing could have prepared us for what we were about to witness.   It gave us a whole new perspective on what ‘poverty’ really means.  Not ‘poor’…as Nicky pointed out later, these families are rich in so many other ways.  But the conditions in which they live – many without water, electricity or mains sewerage – are a real jarr to the senses of comfortably-off Westerners like ourselves.  We can assure you that the photographs accompanying this blog do not truly convey what their living conditions are really like.

Our scholarship children

That said, each family was proud to show us what they had accomplished with the very little that they had.  Their utter resourcefulness in the construction of the buildings (in several cases made entirely out of dried local clay) and their self-sufficiency through growing fruit and vegetables (Buddhists adhere to a strict vegetarian diet) are a sight to behold.  Some had even planted flowers and shrubs within the boundaries of their modest plots.  To say we were deeply humbled would be some way wide of the mark.

One by one we travelled round to each of the homes of the 10 children that we sponsor.  In nearly all cases we met both parents (in one case the father had recently died, another suffers from severe mental health problems and is often absent for long periods, and one or two others were out working the land).  Often present to greet us was the whole extended family: siblings, grandparents, aunts and uncles, and even an occasional cousin or two!  On each occasion we left a food parcel and a small box of chocolates.  A local UKFG administrator (in total they have 250 scholarships to look after) appraised us of the child’s school performance and affirmed that they were applying themselves well at the school.

  Two of the best dancers, both children that we sponsor

 Another scholarship child with Nicky, pictured in the driveway of her home

 We sponsor the little boy, pictured here with his sister

Another scholarship student, seen receiving her hamper with her Mum

One of our dancers again, receiving food hamper with her mother

Ayesha is the daughter of the inspirational lady who made the closing speech of the morning

Ayesha’s family receiving their hamper – they don’t even have electricity

Nicky wanted to add some words of her own before I finish this leg of our adventure…

I was deeply moved by the band that welcomed us as we got out of the car at Masmulle School where we saw the school and children for the first time.  The children were beautifully dressed in matching uniforms with an array of instruments all hand made by local villagers with makeshift materials because they could not afford bought instruments.

 

The band played and marched us up the hilll and into the school.  We were welcomed in a formal address and then taken to the library for tea and cakes – an amazing selection of local treats made by the community.

 

We then went to the Assembly room and we listened to speeches thanking us for our generous donations and the difference they had made to the standard of education which in turn gave the children more opportunites to go into further education and out of poverty. We watched singing and dancing performed by the children and they weren’t only doing it for us but for the whole community that had turned up at the school too (300 in total!) - their parents and their families.  We were deeply moved by the tributes and thanks to TLC for the difference we had made by our donations from the Principal, teaches, students and parents plus the senior District Education Minister who has to approve everything we do at Masmulle school!

 

We arranged for the whole community to have ice creams (second time they had eaten ice cream in their lives) and that enabled us to personally meet every child and parent in the village – to say hello and exchange smiles.  Wonderful.

 

We then had lots of photographs taken and at this point the children swarmed around us wanting to touch us, be touched, kiss us, hold our hands, be picked up and cuddled and to engage with us.  It was overwhelmingly touching and humbling.

 

We then went to visit the homes and families of the 10 children we gave scholarships to and and these families live in the jungle that surrounds the school.  We hired a driver and a local guide as the houses were so remote with no proper roads – just dirt tracks that led to their houses in the middle of the jungle, literally.

 

We visited every home which meant meeting the parents (we had met the mothers earlier but now we met fathers, siblings, aunts, uncles, cousins and grandparents).  We gave them food parcels that would feed the family for 3 weeks and we were able to talk to the children personally and ask them about their schooling and see how they lived.  We were welcomed with big warm smiles, hand holding and deep gratitiude which was humbling beyond words.

 

We were deeply moved by their living conditions as they lived in poverty.  They did not have running water and some had no electricity.  They proudly showed us their kitchens – usually an open-sided annexe to the main house with a fire and a few pots and pans – and invited us to sit down in their homes.  One mother gave us drink, fruit from her jungle garden and home made cakes that we were told take hours to make. 

 

Another family lived in a mud hut and another family had no house to speak of at all.  Four walls chest height made of bricks and mortar with no foundations and the walls wobbled if you touched them and no roof.  The bed for the family of three was one bed under a canvas open more or less to the elements so if it rained they would have got wet.   They ate in their grandparents house just up the road.  The jungle was their lounge and bathroom.  Yet despite all this the girl is the most happy, smiling affectionate young child and with her scholarship is working hard and doing well at school.  And every day she turns up for school immaculately dressed in her white uniform and blue tie.  Amazing.

 

I have come away realising how important Masmulle school is not only for the education it provides but for the whole community.  Sri Lanka has the highest suicide rate in the world and mostly amongst the rural village people.  They commit suicide in some cases because of physical and sexual abuse problems at home and because they cannot see a way out of their poverty and a better life for themselves and their families. Schools like Masmulle need support to provide a better education and hope for all for a better life. 

 

The final part of yesterday was spent having dinner with Mr G and his and Siri’s relations at his nearby home and then the long, wet drive back to our hotel in a local taxi.

 

 Dinner at Mr G’s house

 

Today was a rest day (actually most of it spent posting these last two blogs!).  I’ll write more after our second school visit on Wednesday…

 

Tuesday 10th January

This blog recounts our adventures up until lunchtime yesterday…

This story is so very difficult to write.  As I do so, there’s a lump in my throat and tears in my eyes.  It kind of makes the travelogue I’ve been writing about our trip up ’til now seem somehow rather trivial.  Until we made this visit it was impossible to express our charitable contributions with real emotion.  I guess – sitting in the relative comfort of our various hotel rooms over the last few days (especially the one I’m writing from, the incredibly stylish and beautifully situated Lighthouse Hotel just outside Galle), and before that in the day-to-day machinations of our busy TLC offices back home – we felt somehow detached from it all.  Now that we have seen and, more importantly, felt the results of our support, it just serves to strengthen our resolve to continue making a difference.  Okay…lets keep it in perspective…the donations we have been making to Masmulla School are helping just one primary school out of many hundreds across Sri Lanka, but as someone famous once said “The longest journey starts with the smallest step.”

Before I start though, let me paint the background to how we ever became involved in the first place.  I first came into contact with Mr Devsiri Hewavidana (known as “Siri” to his friends) when he was a participant on a series of executive devlopment workshops I delivered for our local Business Link. 

Meeting up with Siri & family earlier this week (Siri is second from left)

The fact that Business Link’s role has changed considerably since then and that its been a long time since yours truly delivered any workshops (TLC was pretty much Nicky and I doing everything in those days) serves to illustrate how far we have all travelled since then.

Siri was by far and away the most diligent participant on that programme and faithfully applied what he learned.  He has maintained a dialogue with us ever since.  Siri is a Sri Lankan national, born near the town of Galle, who later emigrated with his wife to Ashford in Kent and went on to have three children in the UK.  He pursued his career as an engineer, specialising in LEAN manufacturing.  He is currently a consultant to the GE/ Airbus organisation in the UK.  This man survives on 2-3 hours sleep per day, the rest of his time is shared between performing a vital role for Airbus at its Southampton manufacturing site as well as being the driving force behind “UK Friends of Galle” – the charity he formed after the tsunami hit Sri Lanka in 2004.  Like many of you I’m sure, Nicky and I were relaxing at home that fateful Boxing Day morning when the television news relayed the awful events that were happening on the other side of the world.  We knew we had to do something.  Our first thoughts were to simply make a one-off charitable donation, as I’m sure many of you may indeed have done at the time.  But very soon afterwards, Siri made contact asking if we could do more by becoming supporters of UKFG.

While there was a myriad of projects where funding was required, Siri had big plans for UKFG.  He wanted to concentrate efforts on the area surrounding the birthplace of father, the village of Masmulla in the hills inland of the devestated town of Matara, near the city of Galle.  Our first involvement was to fund the building of a home to house a mother and her children, whose father had persihed in the tsunami.  UKFG was greatly assisted in this by the efforts of Siri’s father-in-law, known to everyone as “Mr G”.  In some ways, this guy reminds me of the imposing figure of “Mr T” from the internationally loved TV series ‘The A Team’!  Just like the central character in that series, Mr G has a heart of gold with the most beguiling countenance – a man who is constantly smiling and chuckling to himself. 

The infamous Mr G

Behind this warm and attractive visage however lies a power house within the local community, a successful building contractor with contacts in very high places.  His efforts were instrumental in this intial house building enterprise and he has continued to be Siri’s local ‘man on the ground’ for much of UKFG’s work ever since.  We had great pleasure in seeing photographs of the delighted family being handed the keys to their modest new home some months later.

Without doubt, in our estimation Siri is one incredible human being and by far and away a worthy recipient of any future “Pride of Britain” award or similar – his tireless efforts in support of the community where he grew up are deserving of far more widespread recognition. 

So, back to the story…

Our subsequent charitable donations have been focused on the village primary school in Masmulla. 

Masmulla School main building

On visiting yesterday, it really feels like we have “adopted” the school.  Our names are everywhere and ‘our story’ of how we became associated with the school (and in turn the community of Masmulla – for out here the scool IS the community) is woven into the fabric of each of the schoolchildren’s lives.  We were referred to in the many speeches that were made during the morning as part of the family and not just as donors.  It was impossible to understand just what a difference we have made to Masmulla until we’d actually seen it for ourselves.  The photographs that accompany this blog cannot truly convey what their conditions are really like.  To say we were deeply humbled by the experience is a gross understatement.

Our visit to the school began by being greeted at the entrance by the school band – about 30 children who were exquisitely dressed in locally made band uniforms and who proceeded to march us into the school grounds playing a variety of instruments, many of them creatively made out of local materials (such as a side drum beautifully constructed from a wooden box with discarded X-Ray film stretched across its top surface).  The band played an English tune (it sounded like the nursery rhyme “3 Blind Mice”) all the way up the long driveway into the school enclosure.  At the top we were greeted by the school Pincipal and his teachers, as well as some other local dignitaries, including the Director of Education for the region of southern Sri Lanka of which the school is a part.

Masmulle School Principal

Teachers and staff with us, plus Siri and his son Dinum (far right)

There followed a welcome speech in the main school building from the stage that TLC had built.  We were then ushered into an adjoining classroom where we were offered local delicacies as well as an Ayuvedic herbal tea to wash down the many and varied beautifully presented home-made cakes and biscuits.  Already we were beginning to feel the immense effort that the people of Masmulla had gone to in order to make our visit so special and so memorable.

Sumptuous spread at Masmulle School

The morning continued with music and dance routines all performed with incredible precision by the extraordinarily well-rehearsed schoolchildren from all grades within the school. 

School dance No1

School dance No2

School dance No3

This was interspersed by a series of speeches and all this was co-ordinated by an outstanding announcer – the head girl in the school.  At one point yours truly was put on the spot by being asked to perform a song, which I did with the aid of a borrowed guitar.  My rendition of “Don’t Let The Sun Catch You Crying” was probably worthy of an X-Factor audition out-take but nevertheless received rapturous applause – and all this despite the fact I hadn’t picked up a guitar in several years!

One speech was delivered by the aforementioned local Director of Education who recounted the story of how Masmulla School was threatened with closure before we came on the scene – there were too few students and funding to the school had all but been cut off.  Due to the efforts of our friend Siri, supported by contributions from TLC and topped up with personal donations by Nicky, we had succeeded in turning the school around, he said.  Now there are over one hundred students in the school with a growing waiting list.  Moreover, the Director holds up Masmulla School as a centre of excellence for primary school education in southern Sri Lanka and hopes that many more struggling schools will be ‘adopted’ in this way.

Pictorial history of the School’s growth

While the speeches were all delivered in the local Sinhalese language – with the exception of one truly heart-warming thank you piece from the English teacher – one of the local school dignitaries would get up and do a short summary in English for our benefit (we soon discovered that it takes a lot longer to deliver a speech in Sinhalese – there can be as many as three Sinhalese words for the equivalent single English word). 

Our English teacher – a formidable lady who knows what she wants

We were invited to make our own speech, which Nicky and I co-delivered.  Here is a transcript of what we said:

“Good morning everyone!  It is an honour and a priviledge to be with you today.  We have been looking forward to meeting you all ever since we began sponsoring Masmulla School.  We appreciate and understand what a difference our support has been making to the students, the teachers, and the surrounding community.  We want you to know that we will continue supporting your school as we are delighted about the success and reputation that you are creating by making the most of an education you can be proud of.”

“As you know, the Library is dedicated to the memory of my beautiful grandmother Lillian.  If she was alive today she would be 107.  She would have been delighted and honoured to have a library in her name because she had a very hard life as a child.  She was made to go out to work at the age of 11.  She only found education later in life.  Contrast Lillian’s story with the life of our own beautiful daughter Sara who made the most of her education from the age of 5 and is now a successful lawyer.  Both of these stories are about realising a dream through education and hard work.”

“Let us share with you a wise saying:  Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day.  Teach him how to fish and you feed him for life.  That is how we see education: learn well and it will feed and sustain you and the lives around you forever.”

“We thank you from the bottom of our hearts for all of the letters, pictures and gifts you have sent us over the years.  We are deeply touched by your gratitude and blessings.  We would like to give a special thanks to Devsiri and his family – without them none of this would be possible.  We thank you for all the effort you have gone to in making us welcome today.  God bless you all.”

The final speech of the day was so moving it brought us both to tears.  It was from one of the mothers of a young girl student in the school. 

Nicky with the mother who made the final speech

She recounted one by one the many gifts we had given to the school over the last few years, together with what a difference each had made to the lives of her daughter and to her family as a whole.  She talked about Lilian’s Library, built and stocked with books from a TLC donation and named after Nicky’s grandmother; the building of the Principal’s office and adjoining computer room equipped with four computers, a printer and a scanner; the stage on which she was standing which was enabling so many children to express themselves so magnificently through song and dance; and countless other items that TLC have donated such as furniture, writing materials, uniforms and shoes.  And not once did this graceful and capable lady refer to any notes – she spoke the whole thing direct from her heart, making constant eye contact with the two of us throughout and delivered as professionally as the most accomplished presenter you can possibly imagine.  When we later visited this lady’s home (see blog Part 5), we could not have been more surprised by what we encountered.  Truly unforgettable.  An outstanding memory that will live with us forever.

Teachers and us outside Lilian’s Library

Inside the computer room

Before we left the main school building, we handed out an exercise book and pencil to each of the children, plus sweets for all the teachers, and then we ourselves were presented with a series of beautiful gifts, including two huge hand made pictures: one was a painting of the school with children playing in the playground (a group effort hand painted by the students) and the other a picture of a vase of flowers entirely constructed from pressed flowers and leaves.

All of us on stage together

We finished our school visit by handing out ice creams to every single child and her parent in a shaded spot next to the main school building.  This enabled us to meet every child and parent personally and exchange smiles and the Sri Lankan greeting “Ayubowan” (May You Be Blessed With A Long Life). 

The queue builds for ice cream

Next please…

Each little one waited patiently in turn

And then it was the turn of parents & siblings

Finally, we got one each!

A last round of photographs with first the teachers and school officials and then several group photos with all the schoolchildren together with parents and siblings rounded off the morning.

All students plus some parents and siblings

We spread some smiles that day

An incredible experience, it put our own lives into true perspective.  Food for the soul.  Nothing could have possibly prepared us for what was about to follow though…see Part 5

As we left on the Thursday morning and began our decent down the hill to the main road, so the mist began to clear and we saw some blue skies and sunshine emerge.  It wasn’t to last unfortunately…we were greeted with cloud and heavy rain for the last part of our journey to Yala, in the south east corner of the island.  Didn’t stop our driver Douglas from showing us the roadholding capabilities of his small Toyota sedan however!  I swear he actually accelerates as we pass through the villages!

Two key viewpoints on our journey: the Grand Motel in the village of Ella (ella, ella), where we competed for the waiters’ attention for morning tea service with a coach load of Ozzies celebrating one couple’s 50th wedding anniversary…

View from Grand Ella Motel

…and the falls at Rawana, just outside Ella. 

Rawana Falls near Ella

Our arrival at the Yala resort hotel “Chaaya Wild” saw the approach (about 3 kms of rough dirt road) partly under water – it was surprising to us just how well Douglas’s little Toyota coped with the three of us plus luggage, but somehow we managed it.  Not sure how many bits of undercarriage are still there though:(

At least the hotel itself was a welcome sight…a stunning location with the sea on one side and a big lake on the other, although we were immediately warned that on no account should we swim in either.  Apparently there are crocodiles in the lake and the sea has very strong currents which would carry you half way to the Maldives before anyone would hear your screams for help!  A large pool with interesting design features went some way to make up for this, mind you.  Not that swimming was actually on our minds…after our day-long road trip and with me still nursing a cold I had contracted at the previous hotel, we were both ready for an evening meal followed by an early night. 

Beach at Chaaya Wild resort

One word of warning we were given: as the hotel rooms are all individual cottages built on stilts and spread around the hotel complex, we were advised to call for a hotel guide to escort us to the main dining area just in case we should run into a herd of elephants, or the odd wild boar.  And very odd they are too!  Right on cue, as we were preparing to go for dinner, a herd (?) of wild boar strolled right past the cottage steps – one of them with about a dozen small offspring (boarlets?).  From where I was standing, boars must have been right at the end of the queue when God was handing out looks!

Dinner was the usual buffet, and a pretty good one too, and we were reunited with the Australian coach party we’d seen earlier.  We later succeeded in dodging the rainstorm as we were guided back to our cottage.  We had our afternoon safari to look forward to the next day and slept very soundly.

Next day dawned bright and sunny and we were assured these were good wildlife spotting conditions.  There were no luxury jeeps available so we settled for a 50-year old Land Rover which was to prove later to almost be our undoing!  But before commencing our safari experience we had a leisurely relax in and out of the pool, and a snack lunch from the poolside bar.  And that lunch, light though it had been, turned out to be a big mistake as before we’d finished digesting our meal we were rushed on board the first Land Rover to leave (drivers pride themselves on being first away because they can later claim the glory for the first sightings of the rarer animals, such as elephants and the elusive leopards).

So how do we sum up our safari?  Curate’s egg I’m afraid: good in parts.  There’s no doubt that the Sri Lankan wildlife conservationists have done a marvellous job in keeping developers away from a massive area of land that is the Yala National Park.  And there is a vast array of species (air, land and water born) available to be seen.  The highlight of our trip was seeing a family of wild elephants munching their way alongside the track: a male ‘Tusker’…

The rare Tusker male elephant at Yala

…with a mother and baby in tow. 

Mother & baby elephant at Yala

There was a leopard sighting, but if you can make it out, camouflaged atop a tree branch in the picture that follows, then you’re doing better than we did (it is there, honest!). 

In the middle, there's a leopard, no really!

We made many other sightings during the trip…

Big yawn for a crocodile

…and we were blessed with an expert driver (he is also the tracker) who caught sight of many creatures we’d have missed…

Mongoose at Yala

…although we’d have noticed these!

Water Buffalo at Yala

…but the downside was the condition of the tracks throughout the Park when coupled with what appeared to be an ex-troop carrier!  By the time we returned to the hotel, there wasn’t a bone in our bodies that hadn’t been re-arranged.  To say the journey was grossly uncomfortable doesn’t come close.  I see no reason why the quality of the tracks couldn’t be improved while still leaving an authentic wildlife experience to be proud of.  At the end, I’m not sure whether I’d just completed a day’s stages of the Paris-Dakar Rally or whether I’d gone 10 rounds with Mike Tyson.  Our ‘Elf & Safety’ boys would have had a field day!

Let’s summarise the safari experience as being something I’m glad we did but that next time we’d get a booking in early for a luxury jeep which has proper sprung bucket seats so that you can just focus on spotting the wildlife and not on physical damage limitation!

An early night to rest our bruises followed and then it was ‘pack the bags’ time again and off to the final destination: Galle.  Galle of course is the real reason why Nicky and I made this trip:  for the last few years, we and the TLC company have been sponsoring a community based close to Galle and which was devestated by the tsunami of 2004.  We look forward to giving you daily updates of our visits to the beneficiaries of our charitable donations.

To be continued…

Thursday 5^th January

We woke up to a very sunny start last Monday, as the mist cleared from the Mahaweli Ganga underneath the hotel.  After breakfast, our driver Douglas was ready in reception to take us to the Temple of the Tooth, perhaps Kandy’s most famous landmark, and promptly requested that I went back to our room and changed my shorts for a pair of long trousers.  All Buddhist temples require that the legs of both men and women are covered to at least three-quarter length.  On arrival at the temple, shoes are removed and left on numbered shelves, and we then proceeded into the temple.

Inside the temple we observed a time-honoured tradition of priests bringing food gifts to place in front of the Bhudda’s tooth relic, all accompanied by a loud and rhythmic drumming.  Douglas invited us to join a procession past the tooth (actually, this is kept well hidden and shielded from the public – the closest you get is to the door of the shrine where it is stored) and we received a blessing as we did so from a head priest there.

A further hour or so is spent walking around the temple grounds, with Douglas pointing out all items of notable interest.  After regaining our shoes, we went for morning tea at the famous Queen’s Hotel opposite the temple, a colonial time-warp edifice with service to match.  Douglas declared the weather too hot for a trip around the Botannical Gardens and suggested a walk around the colourful fruit and veg market.

This was followed by a visit to a silk merchant where Nicky tried on a Sari and I found a lightweight cotton material that could be turned into a pair of trousers overnight!  A lunch overlooking the river was our last official outing today, before retiring to the hotel for an afternoon by the pool and some time spent writing up this blog!

Tuesday dawned a little more cloudy and that made conditions perfect for a trip around the 147-acre Botannical Gardens, yet another product of British imperialism. 

Whilst there were endemic trees of every variety, there were a huge number of foreign trees planted by overseas dignitaries over the years, resulting in one of the best stocked parks anywhere in the world.  Particularly fascinating were the thousands of fruit bats hanging from the trees in one part of the Gardens.  The noise and smell were overwhelming!

We then proceeded with the next part of our adventure…a drive past the impressive Kandy University campus and on into the hill country for our next overnight stay at the Tea Factory hotel in Nuwara Eliya.  This was not before we realised – 15 kms out of Kandy – that we’d forgotten to collect my newly-made trousers back in the city!  The short return detour was well worth it though – my trousers were incredibly well made at a very reasonable price.

The country we were driving through is the heart of the tea-growing plantations of Sri Lanka and is some of the most beautiful scenery we had witnessed anywhere in the world. 

A visit to a working tea factory was enlightening:  although modern machinery has been brought in to speed up production, many of the processes used have changed little in over one hundred years.  Having sampled the tea afterwards, it would have been rude not to have bought some! 

Our impressive (late) lunch stop a little while later was within sight of three separate stunning waterfalls and lunch at just over a fiver (including beer) represented the best curry I’d had all trip – devilled prawns with local basmati rice.

As we got nearer and nearer to Nuwara Eliya, the cloud thickened and we actually experienced rain for the first time.  We stopped in front of the aptly-named Grand Hotel, another throw back to Victorian spendour, en route to our own hotel a few kilometres away.  On reflection, I wished we’d stopped for high tea at the Grand but we were tired and dirty from the day’s travels and just wanted the comfort of our own hotel.

The road up to the Tea Factory hotel is 3.5 kms of single track carriageway with very few passing places – how we didn’t meet another vehicle coming the other way I don’t know! 

The famous Tea Factory Hotel, Nuwara Eliya

The hotel is exactly as the name suggests…an original tea factory abandoned in the 1970’s and subsequently converted into five-star luxury for the likes of Nicky and I.  While the hotel itself is very impressive, with tasteful updating but retaining many nods to the past, we can’t say the same for the weather I’m afraid.  There has been a thick mist ever since we arrived and constant heavy rain showers.  I can see now why so many of the original tea factory owners were Scottish!  There’s nowhere to go around the hotel (a walk would be pointless as there’s nothing to see with all this mist), so we’ve resigned ourselves to reading and blogging!  At least the meal times here are exciting with a good choice of local and foreign dishes all cooked to perfection and kept very warm in their bain-maries.

In closing this part of the trip write-up, two customs we have become familiar with here are a rather unusual checking in procedure at hotels, and the fact that all meals are presented in a buffet format (although there is sometimes the choice of a ‘posher’ restaurant with a la carte dining).

Checking in is done by arriving at the hotel, while your baggage is taken care of by a porter, and then being shown to comfortable chairs while the registration process is taken care of separately leaving you to just be presented with a key some 10-15 minutes later.  Each check-in is accompanied by a hot face towel and a local fruit drink.  Once you’ve got used to it, it’s really rather lovely!

Buffet dining is the same everywhere and is courtesy of rows of bain-maries filled with clearly labelled delicacies from all corners of the world (with the emphasis being on local dishes of course).  We’ve neither of us ever been on a cruise ship, but we imagine it’s the same idea.  There’s good and bad in this approach:  its fine if the food is kept hot but it often isn’t (there are often no flames under the dishes) and it requires you to spend several minutes pacing up and down to take it all in otherwise you invariably end up seeing a dish you would have preferred that you hadn’t spotted first time around!

So, confined very much to quarters for this part of our trip, we continue our journey tomorrow towards the National Park in Yala, where we undergo something of a two-day safari experience, before arriving at our final destination of Galle – the location of our charity work and the primary reason for our visit.

More to come…

Just to place this trip in perspective… ever since the awful tsunami of 2004, the two Directors of TLC, Nicky Pharoah and Colin Newbold, have been exercising corporate responsibility by supporting a charity in Galle, Sri Lanka.  Together with other UK Friends of Galle, TLC has been donating funds directly to key people in the city which go straight towards the building of houses and schools, as well as equipping the houses with furniture and the schools with vital equipment such as books and computers.

It was now time for Nicky and Colin to travel to Sri Lanka (SL) and meet the recipients of their benefaction.  These are their words sent directly from the first part of their trip (their first to SL), which was designed to see other parts of the country as well as to take in some well earned rest and relaxation…

The story so far:  having arrived in Colombo on Dec 29, our first impressions of SL are that it is a genuinely friendly country – the national airline uses the strap line “Fly Smiles” and that certainly reflects the people we’ve met.  The climate at this time is really pleasant – there’s quite a bit of cloud but the humidity is well under control.  When the clouds disperse, the sun is keeping temperatures around 30 degrees in the middle of the day.  Hot, but not overpowering.  Being driven around the island is quite an experience!  Most roads are tarmac single carriageway and the sides of the road fall off into the verge which is generally terra cotta dirt.  It is common for tourists like us to be assigned a driver to travel around the country to see the major sights.  Ours is Douglas, a 66-year old Sri Lankan from near Colombo who has been driving Kuoni clients for 15 years now.  He certainly knows his stuff and has shown us some spectacular attractions in just the few days we’ve been here.  It is not uncommon for Douglas to pull in without any warning to following traffic just to point out a rare tree or an animal normally confined to zoos in our country!  He sometimes seems to attempt his overtaking manoeuvres as soon as he sees oncoming traffic (like he’s using them as some sort of datum point) – often resulting in a third lane being created!  Although there isn’t really a caste system such as in India, we’ve worked out that bicycles are the lowest of the low, next up are motorbikes (often carrying the whole family!), and then it’s Tuktuk’s (three wheeled covered scooters) which Douglas seems to force over towards the ditch once his front wheels are past.  Pick-up trucks and buses seem to attain higher status than even we do – probably due to their sheer size and the fact that Douglas limits his top speed to about 35mph!  We’ve even witnessed two buses racing each other (a schedule to make up perhaps?).   But up til now, at least he’s kept us safe!

There are some customs here that we’d wished we’d had a bit more warning about.  Although we in Europe are used to the concept of tipping for good service, it is expected that virtually everyone you meet here in any kind of service role gets a tip.  It is easy to run up a large expense bill at the end of each day but we should keep this in perspective…100 rupees (really the very smallest tip you should give) is still 30p short of £1.  We’re averaging about £20 a day in tips we reckon.  Perhaps a bit more clarity about what is expected would be helpful.

In terms of the sights we’ve seen…the first day’s road trip (Colombo to Dambulla) took in the Elephant Orphanage at Pinnewala where yours truly bottle fed an elephant with milk.

On arrival at our hotel – the spectacular lakeside edifice known as Heritance Kandalama – we retired early and then arose the next day to take in a trip to Polonnaruwa which is the site of the remains of a large twelfth century city complex that has been completely excavated.

Just down the road is the Gal Vihara – an awesome series of Bhudda statues carved out of solid granite, although somewhat degraded by huge corrugated metal structures overhead to keep off the rain.

Next morning, Nicky meditated in the cave temples at Dambulla while I swam in the hotel pool and later that day we both climbed up to the top of Sigiriya Rock, the site of King Kassapa’s summer palace about 1600 years ago.

On the summit, our guide got a spectacular picture of me ‘touching’ the sun as it set behind the far off mountains.

Next day it was back on the road again, this time to Kandy, almost in the centre of the country high up in the hills.  Our hotel, the Earl’s Regency, affords spectacular views over SL’s longest and widest river, the Mahaweli Ganga.  Before we settled down for the night we’d taken in a demonstration of 101 things you can do with a palm tree, an Ayurvedic herb garden, a gemstone retailer and a one hour local dance show.  We were ready for an early night.  On tomorrow’s agenda: the Temple of the Tooth, shopping in the local market and the Botanical Gardens.

More soon…

Please keep an eye on this post to see how our journey to the TLC chosen charity “UK Friends of Galle” is going.  We arrive there in time to see in the New Year and we will be uploading photos and commentary as the days go by.