This week Helen, Abi and I have been in Paratha, a rehabilitation facility for teenage girls that have suffered in their homes. This aspect of the programme has only been added this year, and is optional for any female team members.

I will say that anyone that can show compassion and give some support to these girls should definitely consider going: it was one of the most productive, worthwhile, and enjoyable weeks here for me. Although the girls have suffered a lot, with their own individual reasons why they are there, and with a fair proportion of them having lost family in the Tsunami, so many of them still smile every time they see you, and genuinely seem happy to have you there. Having Abi with us, who can speak Tamil, definitely helped us this week, as it meant a lot of the girls could open up more to us, and share stories that Abi translated back to me!

Today we were woken at 6 with a cup of milky sugary tea, before joining them for breakfast at 7.30. The girls are scheduled to have prayers in the morning, and we either sat with them or just outside, to listen to the singing and the prayers. After breakfast, we watched their assembly in the yard, and then taught English from 9 o clock until lunch time. Some of the girls can’t read or write in any language, and some can discuss things with you in simple English, so the range of things we did with them was rather great. On this day we recapped ‘Hello, how are you?’, ‘what is our name?’ and ‘where do you live?’ with them today, including the infamous Hello song, before moving on to I like Dancing, I like Singing, I do not like Cricket with them. Pretty much everyone got involved, and they continued to practice what we had taught them all day, which was lovely.

In the afternoon they go to the local temple on a Wednesday, despite their religion, to pray and have time out of the home. The temple was beautiful, and we joined in with certain aspects of the visit, and spent the rest of the time talking to the manager’s wife, who has really good English, discussing the differences between Sri Lanka and England…The expense, the food, and the bad weather! Our evening was spent as usual in the TV room with them, where they talk to us, and get us to sign their diaries, and draw pictures for them. Three girls even got me to write the lyrics down to the songs we had taught them today!

Overall, the week so far has been wonderful. The girls are inspirational; some of them are so talented, either dancing or singing for us, with their drawing, and some because of the home, are now bilingual too! Definitely a worthwhile week!