Our week in Palana West began with the announcement that we were going to a meeting in Matara.We were quite confused about what the meeting was about and why it was important that we should be there until after the meeting had begun. It transpired that it was about the scholarships being provided for children by sponsors in Durham, Spittal and elsewhere. The sponsored children and their parents were there to receive their bank books for the accounts their scholarships would be paid into. We were invited to present the scholarships, which was an unexpected honour. Most of the children have already received the first installments of their scholarship; a small number are still waiting for sponsors.Following the success of Saturday’s family day at the community centre, Monday saw a marked increase in the number of children at the after-school club. More and more children came as the week progressed; there are now forty children and we hope this number will continue to grow. Particularly encouraging was the increase in the number of Tamil children attending; it is great to see the Tamil and Sinhalese children playing together. It is difficult for us to gauge the extent of the unity or division between the Sinhalese (predominantly Buddhist) and Tamil (largely Muslim) areas of the village, but the village certainly seems to be a remarkably harmonious place. It is our hope that the community centre and after-school club can help increase the co-operation and harmony that already exists as people aim to develop their village and community and help each other overcome the problems and challenges they face.This week we implemented a new structure to the after-school club, which had previously tended to be disorganised and unstructured. We planned the week to provide a variety of activities and provided a breakdown of what we would do each day and compiled some ideas grouped in different categories of activities that can be alternated to provide a balanced programme (sports, dance and drama, arts and crafts, musical and cultural activities, literacy and creative writing and helping in the community). At the end of the week we helped the leaders to plan next weeks activities. The aim is for the after-school club to involve the wider community as well as benefiting the children, and for the community centre to become a space for all kinds of community events.This week also saw an increase in our English teaching, with children unexpectedly turning up for lessons each morning as well as the usual mothers. By the end of the week we were teaching about thirty children of varying ages and abilities, and the children had begun to request homework! Our English lessons for the preschool teachers and after-school club leaders continue to be rewarding. Everyone expresses such gratitude for what little we are able to do for them and everyday we receive gifts from our students or their parents: friendship bracelets, drinks or food.An experience in the village so far has been quite remarkable, although we are now so used to it here that it almost seems commonplace! We are constantly invited to people’s houses where we are given food they have lovingly prepared, usually asked to dance with or for the family or to provide some kind of performance, often shown the family photographs and always invited to come back soon. Notable among these invites have been a marmite party and a coming of age ceremony at which Laura and Ros were required to dance to a Backstreet Boys song five times over.It’s amazing how quickly we have become integrated into village life and been adopted as these people’s brothers and sisters. We’ve only got less than three weeks left in the village and we don’t even want to think about what it will be like to have to leave. But for now we will make the most of the days we have left to spend time with our Sri Lankan friends as we work alongside them to make Palana an even more amazing place to be.