Sadly our time in Sri Lanka has now come to an end, and as a final farewell we decide to throw the pre-school a party, complete with cake and biscuits, traditional English party games, our usual medley of songs and even some comedy glasses! On arrival we decorate the school building with party streamers on the windows and then start the celebrations, beginning with songs followed by the traditional English game of ‘pin the tail on the donkey’, our own Sri Lankan version being ‘pin the tail on the monkey’!We have had such an amazing and rewarding time here in Sri Lanka and as a thank you to the pre-school for having us and letting us reminisce about our childhoods, we present the teacher with a cd/tape player for them to use in the pre-school, swiftly brought into use with a couple of rounds of musical chairs and musical bumps. This is then followed by a game of pass the parcel, in which each child ‘wins’ some pencils, stickers and a spinning top, much to their delight!To finish, we sing our hearts out one last time, finishing with our all time favourite, The Hokey Cokey, before having to say a final farewell to the children. By this stage I for one am already in tears, and the final moment when we have to tear ourselves away from the children is truly heart-wrenching.Having said goodbye to the youngest of the children we have spent so much time with over the last 2 months, we then have to go through it all again with the young adults and some of the older children. After a last lunch courtesy of the Monk, the time finally comes when we have to leave the village for good. Having been presented with gifts and swapped addresses, promising to write soon, we finally drag ourselves outside for a tearful round of hugs to all the villagers. The Monk in particular tells me he has “great sorrow” that we are leaving, and even he seems to shed a tear as we finally leave by tuk tuk, but only after one last rendition of our farewell song (debuted at the cultural show!):To the tune of “Any Dream Will Do” from Joseph and The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat:And now farewell, it’s time to leave you
Gandarawatte, Thanks for all you doWhen we arrived, you were so friendly
What an opening ceremony, great dancing tooOver these 8 weeks, we’ve made some fine friends
All good things must end, we’ll remember youYou’ve cooked for us, So much food
We’d like to thank you with this tune
Rice and curry, curd and honey
Bohoma rasai foodAll we have to say, is that we’ll miss you
Gandarawatte, Thanks for all you doAs you can see from the lyrics of our song, we have had a truly fantastic time in Sri Lanka and have thoroughly enjoyed each and every day that we spent in the village. We have all made some great friends and have some fantastic memories to look back on in years to come.