Fame at last

Popped down to the test match on Thursday. Sri Lanka v Pakistan - 4th day. Not the most exciting afternoon of cricket and it was hardly full, but C appreciated the chilled atmosphere, J had some space to run around, and we sat in seats that only cost 80p.

More to the point, we were on TV! The camera lingered on the whole family (it was right in our faces) and apparently Sophie was a natural, acting just like she did not even know she was on television. Amazing for one so young. We learned all this from our friend Jonty watching the match in Northern India.

At stumps for the day we popped down to the Galle Face Hotel for a sandwich and a sundowner. The hotel seemed to have more of an atmosphere of the troubled country that this is. The view one way was of the sunset (and me and S),

and the other way was towards the swimming pool, with an unfinished building behind it, on top of which was a fairly prominent machine gun encampment. You can just about see it below:

My name is Wesli and I want to be an artist

I think that the most intesting project I have started since I have been here is to give some of the children cameras, ask them to take photos of thieir lives, and then talk about the photos to me.

It is a real way of getting an insight into the children's lives. Most strikingly, its very rare for a child to be living with both of his parents. Some have died, others work abroad. One girl's mother and father had worked in Dubai since she was six months old, and she only saw them once a year.

Then there is the standard question, "What do you want to to do when you leave school?" The most common answer amongst the boys is that they want to join the army. This is probably partly a route to a career for poor children the world over, but in Sri Lanka it is primarily the result of the fact that this has been a country at war for 30 years. The army, particularly in the last few years and the final months of the war, are promoted as heros to most people. Posters like this of smiling soldiers with machine guns are common all over the place, including in people's houses and taxis:

That is what made Wesli stand out. He is a softly spoken boy of 13 who lived with his mother and whose sister had been given to a hostel when she was very young as his mother could not afford to look after her. He saw her twice a year. He told me he wanted to be an artist. You could see from some of his photos that he had a real eye. Here he is with one of his paintings,, which he brought in to show me yesterday.

Bad Education

Some thoughts based on the school that we have been working with.

The poorest always lose out. Just like anywhere, if you are working with children from families with the sort of problems that serious poverty brings, there are real challenges. Also, the poorest rarely have access to the resources that the rich can access. Three examples from this week so far:

1. On Monday I went into the school to find that not only had they been burgled last week (no insurance), but that they had no water supply as their water tank was leaking and they had no money to fix it, and apparently the government would be unlikely to cough up for months, if at all.

We could fund fixing this for what turned out to be less than a tenner, and it was done on Tuesday afternoon.

2. Then yesterday I dropped in at the school to see a separate lesson in the afternoon taking place in a separate building just opposite the school (school finishes at 1pm here). These were free English lessons given by local church members, to local children. They seemed really well organised and the children were really engaged.

But there was only one child from the school there, all the others were from other schools. in our small fishing village (just a few yards from the school), it is likely many of the children or childrens parents are not so interested. But could it be that the children are not made to feel welcome? Surely not the latter, as the school principal's elderly mother was one of the teachers at this class, but...

3. Next to the room with the lessons is a well organised library. This was funded by the Friends of Della and Don for the school children, and is staffed by a volunteer librarian, also from the church. But the library is only open outside of school hours, apparently because when children from the school were lent books, some did not bring them back. So a resource intended for the whole school was effectively closed to the school because of a few bad apples.

The principal and I persuaded the librarian this morning to give the school another chance, and open the library during school hours once a week for the children that the books were intended to help.

We're doing some real good here, but every day I learn a little more about the background and motivations of the people involved.

Beach Life

A few things to do on the beach in Colombo, all of which I saw today.

In the morning, there is some kids boxing practice. As you can see, its tough stuff, no head guards for the kids, and they were really going for it:

Or you could get married on the beach in front of the Mount Lavinia Hotel. If you do you will probably need an elephant to arrive on. Here is one strolling down the beach into position for a wedding this afternoon:

And of course there is cricket. Yet another picture of J playing. Here's Papa bowling to J in his latest innings:

Finally, C and I sneaked out while her parents babysat for a candlelit dinner on the beach, just 10 mins from our apartment. The table was perched way out onto the sand. I picked out a pretty good fish for grilling, although I've no idea what it was called.

Cool Colombo?

Thurs July 16th

Hardly anyone at the school this morning as they all got back around midnight from the trip yesterday. C and I went in and spent about an hour with the few kids that were there playing word games.

So we spent the day in Colombo with Steve and Val checking out the small block that houses the few attractive places to hang out in what generally a mess of a city.


Here are Sophie and I asking directions just off the main “Galle Road”




And Sophie hanging out in the soft toy section of “Barefoot”, a rather nice shop and café.

We then cruised over to the Gallery Cafe, housed in the architect Geoffrey Bawa’s former offices. Probably the coolest building I’ve seen in the city.

And finally, the Cricket Club Café, where I caught some of the test match at Lords, while confirming just how far we are away from home.

Sleeping through dinner

Wednesday 15th July


No school today, they are on a trip to some historical sites in the north. But we learned that the school suffered a break-in overnight and lost their (non-functioning) computer, a DVD player, the mike and amp used in the sports day, and some money collected from the kids for the trip. The money was in particular drawer - the robbery was clearly an inside job and all the sadder for it.


It was also Della, Don, Steve and Gav’s last day here. J spent about 5 hours in the pool at the hotel in honour of this fact, then collapsed during an early dinner at the hotel with everyone. But the restaurant staff were not phased, the simply made a bed out of two large chairs for J - v comfy:

Help to Grow

14 July

Before the sports day I went with D&D on an interesting trip to meet some children that the charity sponsors this morning. It is managed through an existing church organization which is very well organized, and appears to assess the claims of needy children and their families carefully before giving them support to help with their education, and in some cases, their health.

A great example is Merrenage Fernando, a boy who could not afford the drugs to help wih his growth hormone deficiency, but which was funded through the Friends of Della and Don along with a contribution to his education. Check out these photos of how he was a few years ago, and then the photo of him today. He no longer needs the drugs and has just got 7 As and a B in his O Levels.