We made our way along the now familiar road to Rassandeniya this morning, looking forward to the eager faces that would greet us with a chorus of ‘Ayubowan’ as we entered our pre-school.The children were engaged in a cutting and sticking activity as we arrived, which we were more than happy to join in with. Once all the pictures had been cut around, and all the gaps on the blank pages filled with sticky shapes, we moved on to musical instruments. With harmonicas proving to be far and away the most sought after, probably owing to the loud noise they are capable of producing, we helped share out the various percussion instruments and organised the children into a line, to march around the room like a band on parade. Keeping with a musical theme, we next started a game of Musical Chairs, which led to some fairly interesting interpretations of the rules – including running to fetch one of the removed chairs in order to avoid being ‘out’! Seeing all the grinning faces was a lovely reminder of how participation truly is what matters. Snack-time was extra special today as it was Nishan’s birthday, with cake and biscuits accompanying the usual milk rice and banana. We were taken further into the village than ever before to go for tea at the home of today’s host family. The house was situated high up in the village, surrounded by dense greenery, through which the strong sunlight was filtering, and I was once again taken aback at the natural beauty of this area.Refreshed after our tea, we arrived back at the school and brought out a batch of playdoh, which we had spent the previous evening preparing. The children’s eyes all lit up as I shared out the squidgy blue dough, and each handful was met with cries of ‘more!’ (helpfully translated by Felicita). We were all kept entertained for a good three quarters of an hour, with some of the children putting a great deal of care and attention into their creations – we had an elephant, many snakes, a house and even a fake moustache! Sensing a need to use up some energy after sitting still for so long, we blew bubbles for the children to catch, met with many loud shrieks of excitement. The morning was rounded off with some face painting and a few songs, which by now quite a few children know well enough to sing along to. As they all sang the national anthem to finish, and wished us goodbye, I felt indescribably happy just to be there, sharing in all these experiences. Lunch today was delicious as usual, and it was with regret that we had to refuse the third and fourth helpings that our hosts urged us to accept. We took a couple of photos with the family at the end of the meal, and were immediately asked to send them copies too, which, coupled with the exceedingly polite and humble manner in which we had been treated, made us so aware of the impact our presence in the village has. We left feeling tired but inspired by the morning and determined to make our stay here as fruitful as possible. Rachel Walters