Today was the long awaited opening of the new Rassandeniya pre-school. Rassandeniya is a tsunami-hit fishing village on the southernmost coast of the island, just a short walk from our university accommodation, and part of our volunteer team will spend time in the school and village from Monday to Friday for the whole of our two month stay.Having each raised £2000 throughout the academic year to contribute to the building, it was with great excitement and tense anticipation that we approached the site. Our first view was of a large and beautifully decorated archway with the word WELCOME spread across. There could have been no fitter indication of the general atmosphere awaiting us. Through the arch a group of very young children, smartly dressed in red bow ties and waistcoats and each holding a bunch of flowers, stood shyly waiting for instructions from the adults of the village to proceed towards us, broadly grinning at this novel invasion of their home. The formal opening of the school took place as Ellie unlocked the door and we were all invited to enter the building, which will hopefully serve the community for generations. It was with a feeling of pride that we stood in the exceptionally cheerful school and I was overcome with a sense of gratitude for the opportunity to enter this community.After being generously fed with the warm hospitality we have been so privileged to consistently experience in Sri Lanka, a formal welcoming ceremony took place. After gracious speeches by leading figures of the community and Sarvodaya (the NGO through which the school was organised), we were entertained with traditionally choreographed dances by the older children of the village and songs from the younger. The rendition of ‘Give Me Oil in My Lamp’ by the pre-school children and Felicita, their tireless teacher, was especially moving. The moment made us look forward all the more to interacting with these children ourselves. We were subsequently invited to stand up and perform and formed a respectable choir, very generously applauded. The welcomes we have received from various individuals and organisations in our short time in Sri Lanka so far have been greatly moving and it was rewarding to see that the work we put into fundraising this year will make a tangible and positive difference to this community. I know we are united as a group in greatly looking forward to starting our work in the village and hopefully getting to know both the children and adults well.