Today was a big day for all of us…not only was it our last day at Hitataya but also the day of our cultural show! We had been building up to this day for many weeks with rehearsals and last minute preparations. Many of us had a sleepless night on Monday night as we were […]

On Saturday we decided to visit Dondra lighthouse, which is located a short distance from Matara. The Lighthouse was built by the British over a hundred and sixty years ago and offers stunning views of the coastline. A few hours too long in the sun yesterday meant quite a few members of the team were […]

Today it was Poya day (National holiday) so the school was closed. Jack and I still decided to go in as we had arranged with the teachers and some of the children to meet up and play volleyball in the playground. The other members of the group went to Gandawatta for breakfast with the monk. […]

Today we set off for our last teaching day at Hitataya, armed with kids games, party poppers and parcels! We arrived to hear the usual clattering, banging and laughing sounds coming from the preschool. We all spent extra time interacting with the children; I particularly enjoyed spending time with the ‘lovable rogue’ Netmony and the […]

As the rain poured down and we huddled into Lally’s van, we were sadly reminded that this would be one of our final days at school. In the meantime, other members of the group were busy baking in preparation for our English tea party that evening. It was a particularly important day as Becki would […]

Rain! Rain! Rain!The weather today was no different from the previous rainy days. As our mini bus approached the school, we all took a gasp to find the playground had completely flooded. We waded through the muddy water and entered the classroom where we got a welcome of giggles and laughs from the children as […]

A little bit of Blackpool in Sri-Lanka.In the morning there was no pre-school as the children were having a lie in from their fun packed trip to the zoo yesterday. We joined the teachers in the afternoon still on a high from yesterdays party bus. The electricity has now been switched on, so it was […]

Today was the first day of our Sri Lankan dance workshop. It is fair to say that Britain’s not got talent! As we tried to follow the graceful dance instructor, it was clear that this was going to be one of the biggest challenges yet. A certain gangly member (Matt) particularly struggled with general co-ordination, […]

This week the “Sri Lanka’s Got Talent” auditions commenced.When we first mentioned the idea of a cultural show to the children, a look of what can only be described as sheer horror appeared on their faces. As soon as we arranged the chairs in a circle around the room and the first victim started to […]

The random zoo party bus.This weekend was full of exciting events for all members of the group. Some members of the group went to Hikkaduwa to celebrate Anna’s 21st birthday by the sea. The other members of the group, Faye, Natalie, Fiona, Jack and Ashera all got up super early at 4am to go on […]

Today we started the day in Hiththatiyia with the lovely pre-school children. On our arrival the children were playing with a variety of toys. This included some alphabet picture cards which two little boys were trading in a very business-like manner acting very grown up. I helped them to arrange them in order and learn […]

Hiththatiya and a slithery intruder.On arrival at the school, 6 of us were kindly greeted by smiling children shouting ‘Ayubowen’ meaning hello and welcome. We decided to make fluffy birds using scrunched up tissue paper which we stuck onto paper to make the birds body. As a final touch, we gave them big pink spotted […]

The monk from Gandarawatta kindly us over to celebrate Anna’s 21st Birthday. This was done in true monk-style with lashings of woodapple juice an enough food to feed the 5000. Unfortunately there were no children in school that day, probably due to the rain, which meant that maximum food consumption was on the cards. Whilst […]

Today there were 5 of us in Hiththatiya. The morning was pretty standard as far as pre-school goes. We sang songs, drew pictures and had fun with the little ones. The afternoon session however was exceptionally awesome! Despite constant rainfall, having the full number of kids (ages varying from 5-19 yrs) was not a problem. […]

Today we were unexpected in Gandarawatte. Not too sure why, but we weren’t and as a result, the day was short lived. 9-11:30. There were 5 children at the school. We sang songs first, then moved over to arts and crafts where we helped them make fish pictures out of foil. We enjoyed a good […]

Today Faye, Rebecca, Georgina, Ashera and I spent the day at the pre-school in the village of Hiththatiya. On our arrival, the children were outside singing and dancing enthusiastically to a Sinhalese nursery rhyme and making loud animal noises. Afterwards they stood in a circle and took it in turns to race each other in […]

Wednesday greeted us with our first visit to Hithathiya village.A nervous moment all round I am sure. But we were soon met with a spectacle to welcome us; a parade of traditional dancing, music and singing. This was a truly welcoming sight. We viewed our sponsored school for the first time and enjoyed a wonderful […]

This was our first day of teaching at our pre-school in Hithathiya. We were welcomed by 15 excitable children, of whom a few were a little overwhelmed by the six giant strangers entering the room! However as we began our arts and crafts activities the children soon relaxed and became at ease in our company. […]

Today was the first day spent at school in Rassandeniya, the school from two years ago. Anna, Rebecca and me went along to the pre-school where we were met by the teacher. In typical Sri Lankan form, she went out of her way to offer us a very warm and friendly welcome. It instantly made […]

Today Georgina, Faye and I visited the Durham University pre-school of 2008 located in the village Gandarawatte. We arrived by tuk tuk at 8:30am and we were welcomed into the local monks home for breakfast. The monk’s house and the pre-school are located on a very steep hill that has stunning views of the coast […]

Today was the last day of the post graduates time in Sri Lanka (well, outside of Colombo at least). We had been invited to go see their show they put on with the children from their schools. So after a slow morning in which many of the girls who participated on the second venture up […]

Today was one of our very rare days off from work and interestingly it just so happened to coincide with the 20/20 cricket international between Sri Lanka and Pakistan. How convenient! Jack and I left Moonbridge for Colombo at 5am in anticipation of a 2.30pm start at the ‘Premadasa’ national stadium. We made the trip […]

Relaxed weekend.It seems as though the past few weeks and weekends have been non-stop; it was time for a chill. A few others and I decided to have a weekend of relaxing and watching some football from the first day of the premier league. We invited Sampath over (our friend from Hithathiya) and three of […]

Rassendenyia is a small Sinhalese community which lies just off the beach on the road from Matara to Dondra on the Southern tip of Sri Lanka. Like most Sri Lankan communities it revolves around the temple and the monks that live therein: Meals are served to the monk every morning as tithe and, in return, […]

As we arrived at Hiththatiya on this particular Thursday morning a strange silence greeted us. Used to the normal hustle and bustle of the children this was a surprise to say the least and our entry into the school grounds was a bit more timid than usual. Inside the grounds a solitary parent stood sweeping […]

Today the group of 12 students visited the fishing village of Gandara on the South West coast of Sri Lanka with the previous chairman of Ruhuna University and his son. On our arrival we were met by the President of Sarvodaya village bank who welcomed us into her home for a cup of tea. The […]

Today, Katie and Anna and I made the journey up the Sri Lankan version of cardiac hill up to the Gandarawatte pre-school. Fish and curry seemed to be off the breakfast menu for us this morning as we got to go straight into the school. Due to the rain there were only four children at […]

Today, Katie and Anna and I made the journey up the Sri Lankan version of cardiac hill up to the Gandarawatte pre-school. Fish and curry seemed to be off the breakfast menu for us this morning as we got to go straight into the school. Due to the rain there were only four children at […]

This weekend three members of our team; Jack, Becki and Matt made the long journey up to Adam’s Peak and climbed the some 5200 steps to the top of the rock face. They returned extremely tired and hungry on Sunday night but despite the fatigue, they felt exhilarated by their experience. The rest of the […]

The fishing project and an exciting adventure on a boat.Today, two members of the group, Faye and Natalie, went to a local fishing village called Gandara to ask some of the villagers questions regarding their lifestyle to help with our fishing research project. We were kindly assisted by the vice chancellor of the University of […]

Today, we rocked up at the school bright and early to find the children settling down to start their day. This morning’s task was all about learning the English alphabet. Each child had a ‘D’ drawn on their books and they had to cut out and stick on pieces of paper like a mosaic. This […]

Today started off as any normal day in Gandarawatte with the usual upbeat welcome from the resident monk. It soon became apparent however, that we were to have no ordinary day. We entered the monk’s house and were faced with a potato curry breakfast. Believe me, although this sounds pleasant, it’s hard to stomach at […]

I would like this opportunity to recap over our weekend and the rather epic adventure of climbing Sri Pada. It started bright and early on Saturday morning with a 4:45 wake up call, we staggered bleary eyed and bushy tailed out of bed and grabbed our luggage; ten minutes later we were in the mini […]

Today I spent the day in Hiththatiya helping teach in the pre-school alongside Faye, Fiona, Georgina, Jack and Matt. During the morning, we played games outside involving lots of hand actions and singing! Unfortunately one little boy had an accident where he fell over and hit his head. The teachers immediately rushed to help him […]

Today we experienced a relatively normal Hiththatiya day. We spent time with the pre-school kids in the morning on the topic of fruit and vegetables. This actually turned out to be more of an education for us as we came across a number of exotic fruit and vegetables! Later we helped the children to construct […]

If there is one word that could sum up my experience in Sri Lanka so far it would be, ‘random’. A perfect demonstration is our adventure to ‘world’s end’ and back in under 48hours. On Monday we travelled to Sabaragamuwa University Campus to stay with the DUCK sports team. The journey itself was beautiful; beaches […]

After a delightful meal with Joy and David and the other teams in Sri Lanka we set off towards Unawatuna, a beachside resort that was almost totally wiped out by the Tsunami. We stayed at a guest house on the beach that had been been rebuilt, and had many interesting conversations with the owner who […]

Today we all took a visit to Weligama with our ‘surrogate father’, Lali for a Durham gathering organised by Professor JoyAs we arrived at the same hotel, we were greeted with a warm welcome from some familiar faces. The day was a great opportunity to meet the other Durham groups including the postgraduates and social […]

Today, three members of the group went to the school in Gandarawatte. On arrival, we were all kindly invited to breakfast with the resident monk. Unlike in Britain, we had some delicious lentils, string hoppers, spice, bananas, watermelon and coconut cake. Having been warmly welcomed into the village, we made our way to the pre-school […]

Today I find myself and other team member Fiona facing an 8-10 hr journey (inevitably going to be faced with numerous challenges) back to Moonridge, Matara and the rest of the team. In order not to overwhelm the little pre schools in the first couple of weeks, we are sending 6 people a day to […]

The morning at the pre-school started off with the children aged between three and six colouring in teapots. This was then followed by them learning the song, ‘I’m a little teapot’ which we all enjoyed joining in with. We then decided to try and teach them some other English songs such as ”Head, shoulders, knees […]

Today I will commit this diary entry to looking back on the highlights of this interesting day in Sri Lanka.I spent most days working in Hiththatiya which was exceedingly enjoyable apart from one tiny occurrence; after the children had left to go for lunch at noon we were expecting to eat our own meal. However, […]

As the Tuk-tuk struggled up to the pre-school in Gandarawatte, Becki, Fiona and I immediately noticed our favourite monk smiling and waving at us. This could only mean one thing…food time. After breakfasting with the monk, we moved on to work in the pre-school. The children’s faces lit up as we entered the school building […]

Today we went to the Gandarawatte school. In the morning we had a very filling Sri Lankan breakfast at the Monk’s house which involved rice, noodles, vegetables and lentil curry. The monk as usual was very welcoming and enjoyed fussing over us. Whilst we were stuffing our faces, we heard a family of monkeys run […]

Seeing as though it was one of my few weekdays off, some of the other team members and I decided to explore a bit of the south coast a bit so we got a train to a local fort town, Galle. Galle is steeped in history, primarily with Dutch influences and it was very interesting […]

As the mini-bus drew up outside Hiththatiya school at nine o’clock it slowly dawned on me what lay ahead, a whole day of teaching children who didn’t speak a word of English. As we moved inside, however, it was clear to see we were not the only ones feeling the strain as two children immediately […]

This morning the six of us that had the day off went along with Joy and David along with several of the Sarvodaya members to see next year’s village, Kirenwella.What an incredible opportunity! It was an unforgettable moment to see the strip of land that will be next year’s school. I felt a sense of […]

Today was the big day for both our team and the Hiththatiya community – the opening ceremony of the pre-school we funded. This was the first time we actually saw the school and what a wonderful experience we had! As soon as the minibus pulled up outside the school, we were greeted by what seemed […]

Today was the day of the great move; we would uproot from our temporary base in the Sarvodaya headquarters near Colombo and make our way 160km down the south-westerly coast to Matara and our base for the next eight weeks. The day started bright and early with a 7:30 breakfast of curry, rice, poppadom, bananas […]

Today was a very memorable day for the team indeed! It was Poya Day here in Sri Lanka which is a national holiday celebrating the full moon. Along with everything else, the school was closed. As such we thought it would be the perfect opportunity to begin the task of painting the school, something I […]

Today we spent a day in our main project village of Hiththatya. The children in the preschool made animal masks, which as a result, filled the classroom with meowing, barking and monkey grunts. We were anticipating that some children would start swinging from the ceiling, thankfully this was not the case (Teacher would have been […]

Today brought another much anticipated day in Rassandeniya. We all love to visit this school because the teacher is so pleased to have us here, and to tell us stories of the 2007 team with such fondness is lovely to hear. The children, as usual, were on their best behavior and very, very adorable. It […]

Today was a very exciting day for all of us; we finally got to see the past two Project Sri Lanka team’s schools in Gandarawatte and Rassandeniya. We were all very excited to see both what the schools were like, as well as what inspiration we could obtain from visiting the schools and meeting the […]

Today we spent the whole day painting the school as the preschool teachers were off on a teacher training course. The painting is coming along very nicely and we cannot wait until it is finished. In the evening we were joined in Moonbridge by the post-graduate group from Tengal, consisting of John, James and Kim. […]

This weekend the team travelled up to Kandy Perahera festival. We set off very early on Saturday morning (6am!) from Moon Bridge excited for the three days of traveling and sightseeing that lay ahead. Along the way we stopped in Tangalle and picked up the four postgraduate students that had arranged to come on the […]

Today we spent a day in the Hithathiya. I suspect that the dear reader can guess the range of activities enjoyed by both ourselves and the children during the day (based on previous diary entries). For this reason, in today’s entry I will delve into an important component of our everyday lives.Anyone who travels to […]

On Monday, 3 of us went to the pre-school at Gandarawatte, which is last year’s adopted village. The first thing that struck us was the idyllic views the pre-school had from the top of the hill. When we arrived at 8.30am we were greeted by the ever friendly villlage monk wh furnished us with a […]

Today, Anna, Aimee and I visited the school funded by Project Sri Lanka 2007 in Rassendeniye.We were greeted by a class of just four children out of a usual fifteen. The reason for this was that a rumour had been circulating in the region of a second tsunami so many families fled their costal homes […]

We are currently staying with the Sarvodaya Organisation, getting to know the project and the different units of the organisation. We have all had a jam packed day but it has been brilliant. We started the morning with a visit to the abandoned children unit where there were 22 babies up to the age of […]