On Tuesday, all 8 of the group had another early start and headed up to the village for a day of painting! Unfortunately, the local bus had broken again so the University drivers kindly gave us a lift up the hill. We immediately headed to the preschool and set up to paint the front of the building. It was great fun and a gorgeous sunny day to be outside. Everyone helped to plan, draw and paint and we decided to have letters, numbers and shapes up the pillars, a flower vine around the door and sports equipment in the 2 middle-sized sections. In the larger middle section, Franky with a little help from everyone else drew and painted the Team Durham crest. Around this the team and the preschool children all left a painted handprint, which looked amazing! It was also a very funny experience trying to wash the oil-based paint off everyone hands with water! Luckily, Laura had her hand wipes handy! Although we stopped for a quick tea break (we all love Sri Lankan tea!) and a lunch break, it was a hard day of work and when it was time for us to get the 3 o’clock bus home we still hadn’t finished! We assured everyone that we would finish on Friday when we were back from Kandy.

Back at the University, Franky and Sam coached the University rugby team whilst the rest of the group went swimming. Unfortunately most of the students are now on study leave and so it was just the Durham team in the pool but it was great fun and a nice bit of down time after the painting.