Report working visit Januari 2019
In January, two board members went to Sri Lanka for a working visit.
First they went to the new home in Ja Ela. 10 girls currently live there.
The older girls live here, those who go to the university, the hotel school or the sewing school.
Two girls are in the final year of “high school”. They go to school by bus.
Unfortunately, the home is still not connected to the water supply. This will not happen until 2020 (the planning). Now they use water from the neighbouring church.
It happens regularly that they have no water for half a day or even a whole day. That is also the reason that there are only 10 girls living there now instead of the intended 16 girls.
An investigation has started as to whether or not a water pump can be installed in the garden, so that they have their own water source.
The plants in the garden have grown considerably. The house looks clean and tidy.
It was fun to talk with the girls. They now dare to speak English more and more. We also danced together, made postcards, and watched television.
On Sunday we went to the beautiful basilica in Te Watte. The girls were accompanied by sister Angelica.
There is a cheerful, cosy atmosphere in the home.Angela, one of the girls, is very happy to have been admitted to the national dance group: “Channa Upuli Dance”. It is very special to be chosen for this dance group. Every Saturday she has to go to Colombo to rehearse. The dance group performs in several countries.
Angela was one of the first girls taken in after the tsunami in 2004. She was a very quiet, withdrawn girl with whom it was difficult to communicate. How moving and nice to see how she has now developed into a happy, cheerful, enthusiastic girl!Lanka, also one of the first girls taken in, now works in a hotel near Negombo. She lives in a hostel along with 12 other girls. This hostel also belongs to the hotel. They have free boarding here. All girls who live there work in the hotel. Lanka really enjoys it there. She now earns her own money. Sister Amatha keeps regularly in contact with her. Lanka also regularly visits the children’s home. That is and remains her home! We are glad to hear that the older girls find their place in society. Last year one of the girls even married.* The girls, who will soon be finished with their studies, will, until they have a job and can live on their own, or until they marry, be supported by Sister Amatha. As long as they do not have their own living space, they will continue to live in one of the homes.* Sister Amatha buys rice, vitamins, milk powder and the like in large and distributes them over the homes. Each home receives a monthly amount from which they have to pay for the electricity, daily food, the bus and school attributes.
* Every year new uniforms, shoes, socks, backpacks, water bottles, lunch boxes and textbooks are purchased for the children. That is a rather considerable cost item every year. |
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| Two new girls joined the home in Katupotha. A little girl of 5 years old who had lived on an island near Negombo where only fishermen live. Where there are no facilities at all, also no water. They have to do everything with salt water. Her father is a drunk and her mother has gone. That is why the child protection department called Sister Amatha for aid. Of the other girl, 6 years old, the mother was seriously ill and therefore could no longer take care of her child and the father had left. Other family could not take care of her either. Fortunately, these children feel completely at ease here in the home. They look relaxed and cheerful. One of the girls does not like rice, which is still a problem, since they eat rice 2 or 3 times a day. At the beginning of January these 2 girls started school.
We were welcomed very warmly and enthusiastically in all homes. The homes look good.
In the gardens there are mango trees, banana trees and palm trees with lots of coconuts. The coconuts are used in cooking and baking. Occasionally they also try to plant and harvest vegetables and herbs, but that is quite difficult here because it can sometimes be very dry for longer periods of time. The children help taking care of the flowers and the plants in the garden.
One of the homes has problems with the toilets, there is a leak somewhere. Hopefully the problem will be resolved quickly. We believe it is very important that the homes are well maintained.
It is fun to eat together with the children and the sisters. We also had plenty of time to play games together, to sing and to dance. From the Netherlands we had brought along the games: “Memory” and “Domino”. The children really enjoyed playing games together. They could not get enough of it. But homework had to be done too. We tried to help a bit. They enjoyed it when we tested the English words they had to learn. The children also liked teaching us Singhalese words. There was lots of laughter when we tried to repeat the words. But we can now count to 10 in Sinhalese! And we also learned some other words, but it is a rather difficult language for us.
When we were in Katupotha, the children had a day off because it was a Tamil holiday.
We went for a walk with some of the girls. We walked along pretty roads with lots of palm trees. We also passed an old Buddhist temple and a beautiful lake. We had a lot of fun together and of course we took plenty photographs. The girls enjoyed having their picture taken! They also liked picking flowers for us. We were to put them in our hair and behind our ears. After 1.5 hours we walked back to the home, because it was becoming rather hot.
Back home they immediately took off their pretty dresses and changed into their “normal” clothes! Sister Gabrielle gave us all a glass of delicious cool lemonade, and we treated everyone to sultanas. |
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School visit
We drove to the school in a tuktuk with Sister Gabrielle. This morning the new 6 year old children were given a festive welcome. When we arrived, the children were all waiting outside. The girls on one side and the boys on the other. They had flowers in their hands for the new children. After a while the youngest children came walking by, neatly in line, two by two. They all got a little bunch of flowers. The parents were all waiting and watching too. Then we all walked towards a large hall. The headmaster was so pleased that we were there, that we were directed to sit in the front row. After his opening word the candles were lit in the Buddhist chandelier. We were also invited to light one of the candles! Then the Buddhist monk preceded in prayer. The children had to go to him in turns and they received a prayer cord around their wrist. This was all followed by speeches from the headmaster, an English teacher and a benefactor who was the school sponsor. Dances were performed by the oldest girls and then by the youngest children. The headmaster asked if we would sing a Dutch song ….! We could not think of anything other than “Altijd is Kortjakje ziek” (Kortjakje is always ill). But then we also sang “Lang zal ze leven” (A birthday song). Everyone started clapping spontaneously. We were given a grand applause! It was an exciting experience. Again we were invited to come on stage this time to distribute bags with books to the children. It was very nice to be allowed to help. To top it all off, we were also invited to officially open the class by cutting a ribbon and then we guided all the children to their desk in the classroom. Even though some children found it pretty exciting and a bit scary. After having taken another group photo, they took us to an office, where all the teachers were gathered, the lady teachers in their beautiful saris. There we were offered milk-rice, a banana and tea. The headmaster thanked us heartily for our visit. They had really appreciated it. Then we had another look in the classrooms. The children had also received a plate with delicious food.
What a wonderful, special morning!
We went back by bus. Also quite an experience to travel in such an old, crowded bus! |
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We ended our working visit in Sri Lanka at the home in Kelaniya. We also received a warm welcome there.
Sister Raffaëla and Sister Bernadette take care of the children here.
After dinner we played all kinds of games outside with the children. They really enjoyed it, and so did we! There are girls from the age of 4 to 16 years old here and they all play along.
Six new girls came to live here last year, including a pair of twins aged 4 years. The mother of the girls could not and did not want to take care of them anymore and she “gave” them to their grandmother. She just told her to keep and care for the children. But it turned out that she was not even their grandmother and she just left the children to their fate. Child protection brought them to the home in Kelaniya. It is really good that we have a house here where these children can be taken care of. But how sad these stories are! It makes you realize all the more how extremely well off we are, here in the Netherlands. In February 3 or 4 more girls will arrive here.
Child protection in Sri Lanka keeps a close eye on the ins and outs of the homes. They regularly make unannounced visits to the homes.In Kelaniya, the sisters have set up a nursery. This is where the youngest children from the home go to and also children from poor families in the neighbourhood. When they are 6 years old they go to school. A fine initiative, this nursery. The parents of the other children pay a minimal fee. We helped out one morning, singing, playing games and painting with the children. We enjoyed it! The children go to school from Monday to Friday from 8:00 am to about 11:30 am.We celebrated the birthday of Sister Amatha together with the children and a couple of the sisters. She had brought a delicious cake. The children had flowers for her and beautiful, homemade postcards. It was a pleasant, cosy afternoon.We also watched how they make roti (a kind of coconut flour pancake) on a wood-fired furnace. One of the girls mixed grated coconut with sambal in the mortar. So for dinner we had roti with sambal and grated coconut and banana. And of course we finished with a cup of tea.
We have learned to eat nearly everything here. Sometimes it was very spicy and they laughed at our facial expressions.
One of the younger children had a fever for 3 days. We went to see the doctor with Sister Bernadette and the girl. She was prescribed medication. The next day she had to have some blood drawn, because malaria is diagnosed more and more here, and she had the symptoms. In the morning almost no fever and in the evening a high fever. Sister Bernadette also said that she is a bad eater and therefore has little resistance. It is fine to know that the children also receive medical help when necessary. They also visit the dentist regularly.Almsgiving
The homes regularly receive a so-called “Almsgiving”. That is a nice tradition in Sri Lanka. When you have something to celebrate, you also bring something to people / children who are not so well off. We have experienced it twice. First a man brought rice and chicken from KFC. An “Almsgiving” on the occasion of his birthday. The children sang for him.
On another occasion an entire family came with “Almsgiving”. Their son had become 7 years old that day. They brought a beautiful “train pie”, lemonade, cookies and bananas. As the girls sang, the mother watched through Skype. She works in Dubai. The grandmother, the sisters, the brother and the nieces and nephews had also came along. “Almsgiving”, what a particularly nice custom!
The children also have a “music class”. Led by one of the oldest girls, they play on the melodicas, bells, tambourines and the like. Nice to see how much fun they have together.
During our stay in Kelaniya the “Perahera” was held. Together with Sister Raffaëla and Angela we went to the temple to watch the “Perahera”. That was held on the grounds of the temple now, due to lack of money. There were 4 decorated elephants, musicians, dancers, fire-fighters and much more in the procession. It was really a special experience to be able to watch this, together with and among the locals, in their own temple.
What else did we do
On Sunday we went to mass in the adjacent church with the children. Early in the morning at 7 o’clock! After breakfast we went to the river with a few of the girls. We had an umbrella for the shade, because the sun is very hot. The children enjoyed showing us all kinds of things. We learned the names of several flowers and fruits in Sinhalese.
We taught the children to finger-crochet and we showed two of the oldest girls how to crochet with a crochet hook. Really snug to be busy together like this. They make chains and bracelets from the crochet handiwork. But it was clearly not that easy to crochet with a crochet hook!
We made postcards together, they taught us how to make filigree figures. A prudent work. Some girls made beautiful cards. They gave us a lot of cards to sell on the summer markets back in Holland.
We were taught how to grate coconut with a rasp mill. Quite heavy work! We saw how the sister set fire to the garbage heap, to prevent vermin.
Around 5 o’clock, every day, we had to rub mosquito repellent on our skin because that’s when the mosquitoes came.
We also had a meeting with the archbishop. If Sister Amatha needs any kind of help, she can always turn to the archbishop. He has had a home built for homeless elderly people. This home is also in Kelaniya. Our children regularly visit this home and sing and dance for the elderly people. The oldies enjoy it very much. Sometimes they are allowed to bake cookies or pies in the large kitchen of the elderly home, which they then eat together.
We were invited for dinner. Sister Francisca made pizzas especially for us.
It was a delicious, super pleasant meal. The archbishop is a very friendly man with modern ideas. He is also a very good narrator and his knowledge of the the history of his Sri Lanka is extensive. He also told us stories about the many journeys he has made.
After a warm farewell we returned to the children’s home.
Every Sunday evening they celebrate “happy hour”. Then there is dancing and singing and one of the girls announces the performances in English! They have to write the texts themselves. They asked if we would sing Dutch songs. Of course we would. Then we all danced together. What a nice, enjoyable evening that was!
Groceries
Together with Sister Amatha we bought a printer for the home in Kelaniya. They often have to make copies for school. Before they had to go to a shop for every copy and that is quite expensive. We also bought a rice pan for the home in Katupotha, and some small domestic supplies. We bought some games, puzzles, paint and brushes and paper for the children too. How wonderful it is that we have the opportunity to help and to do this together.
We also went to Negombo to buy some small items that we can then sell back in the Netherlands. |
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Goodbyes
Far too fast our last day came. For our farewell party we went to the supermarket and we bought potato chips and cookies for the children and chocolate for the sisters. We also bought pretty coloured bracelets in a nice little shop. Then we hurried back home, because it was very hot.
Back home, we were greeted enthusiastically by the children and the sisters from the other homes. They had all come for our farewell party! This kind of took our breath away!
After lunch the children went to rehearse for the party. We went to make nice presents to hand out. Bags of chips, cookies, bracelets and “heart cards” with our names on it. For the sisters chocolate with a “heart card”.
The feast started at a quarter past four. They had put chairs outside for us and benches for the children. It looked very festive.
Two girls came to get us, the others were waiting outside for us. A nice flower chain was hung around our neck. Behind the dancers, in beautiful white dresses, we were taken to our seats. After we had lit the candles the show began. Beautiful dances and lovely songs. They had all put on their most beautiful dresses. What a feast!
Really moving. The children were also enjoying themselves very much. At the end of the party we had to come forward and we were addressed by one of the girls, in English! They thanked us very much for the work we do, including Theo, our treasurer, who, due to his illness, had not been able to join us. We received beautiful homemade cards and a several small gifts.
We thanked the children and the sisters for the amazing party and for all the indulgences. We presented our treat, which was received with cheers. The delicacies were eaten with visible delight. After that, all kinds of games were played, such as sack-racing in rice bags, throwing water balloons, filling bottles with water, a game throwing flour and tug-of-war. And of course we had to participate. What a happy, cheerful bunch. And what a great farewell party!
We ended the day with a pleasant meal, everyone had a delicious ice cream!
After talking to the sisters for a while after that, it was time to go to sleep.
The last things were packed, a short shower and then to bed. |
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Departure
At half past six the alarm went off. We were waved goodbye by the children at 6:30. It is over…….
In the evening at half past seven we landed in Amsterdam. At half past 10 we arrived home in Kloetinge.
We saw so much, did so much and discussed so much! But most of all we enjoyed the time with the children and the sisters!! |
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