My experiences volunteering in Sri Lanka with SL Volunteers. For more information about how to join our team in sri Lanka please contact lucy@slvolunteers.com
Yesterday at the disabled we were greeted by a group of the men showing off their muscles! They also made a few portraits of us, as well as some lovely artwork.
That's Pablo, in the middle.
Despite a lovely day there was a very sad incident. One of the boys with down syndrome had a fit, and there was no one there to help him or do anything about it. After lying him down on the ground he eventually stopped and recovered. It was really difficult to see it happening though; the others were quite nonchalant about it, suggesting that it is something frequent which they are used to, and have to get over themselves.
This is what happens when they steal the camera!
Musculos!
Ayer en el centro nos dieron la bienvenida ensenyandonos sus musculos! Tambien nos graciaron con retratos y otras obras de arte que hicieron con mucho entusiasmo.
A pesar de un dia encantador con ellos, tuve un momento muy fuerte. Uno de los chicos con sindrome de down tuvo un ataque epileptico, y fue muy duro verle y que nadie viniera a socorrerle (no hay nadie que les cuida). Al cabo de un rato se recupero y siguio jugando con nosotros, pero fue muy fuerte ver que ninguno de sus companyeros del centro reaccionara porque estan acostumbrados a ello, y se las tienen que apanyar solos.
I wrote about the boys in Maharagama Mixed Orphanage a few weeks ago, mentioning their bully matron. He has got no better. We have been unable to give a single lesson to the older boys; its only the young ones that he will give up, and it's never for long enough. Amy and I have essentially given them 3 lessons. It's absolutely ridiculous. Mr Neil has spoken to him about it but he is STILL not helping. I really wish there was something I could do.
Maldito Bastardo
Hable hace unas tres semanas sobre el encargado de los ninyos en el orfanato. La situacion no ha mejorado: no nos ha permitido dar una sola clase a los chicos mas mayores, y nunca nos da la hora y media que se supone que deberiamos de tener con los mas pequenyos. Me da una rabia inaguantable, no poder hacer nada. La situacion es increiblemente delicada, porque podrian prohibirnos la entrada al orfanato si hicieramos algo mal... pero me encantaria librarme de el!
Last weekend we decided to explore the hill country a bit further. Robbie, Amy, Pablo, Mark and myself hopped onto what was meant to be a 6h journey on a bus (it ended up being 8 and a half hours) on Friday afternoon and made our way from Colombo to Ella. We were extremely lucky and had seats; even though there were about seven people squished in the back row of the bus, we didn't have to suffer the torment of standing up all the way. In Sri Lanka it's not about the comfort, it's about getting as many people on board as possible (see my previous post on the train journey to Kandy!). We finally arrived at around midnight and met our impatient guest house host, who had been waiting for 2h. Pro tip: Never trust a Sri Lankan when he says you are 20mins away from your destination. Arriving at the Forest Paradise Inn was a massive relief; we threw our things down and crashed straight away, not giving much importance to our surroundings since it was all pitch black.
I woke up the following morning to the sound of rain. Giving up on sleep and dragging myself outside, I was welcomed by the stunning view of the forest. Our guest house was tucked in the mountain, a five minute walk away from the main road in Ella. We made the most of that day: waterfalls were followed by a full body treatment inc. massages, and topped off with an amazing meal at one of the multiple guest houses you could stay at. I have never been more relaxed. We devoured the nine different dishes straight away. We were right in the process of debating whether we should order more or not when the woman who runs the guest house tottered over and said,
"Good? Still hungry? You want more? If you want more just ask, this is not a hotel, this is your house!"
This is your house! I had tears in my eyes.
Yes. We bathed here.
Waiting at the bus stop.
Sauna.
Enjoying The Best Curry In The World.
We returned home to our very happy (and slightly tipsy) guest house host, Nellie, who insisted on shaking the boys' hands for uncomfortably long periods of time. Lol.
Early start: breakfast in the garden.
The next day we got up early and had breakfast in the garden, and decided to climb up Little Adam's Peak (the 'climb' turned into a tuk tuk drive). After laboriously dragging ourselves up the steps for twenty minutes we reached the top, and were hit by one of the most stunning views I have encountered in Sri Lanka- and might even dare say in my life. Mountains folded out everywhere around us. Lush greens rippled down and spread themselves over the land. A blue, blue sky pierced the landscape, and the wind rushed over the mountain top. I have never been more awed by nature.
Inspired
Walking back from Little Adam's Peak
We made our way back down and stopped for moist cakes and fresh dragon fruit juice, going back to the guest house to pack and say goodbye to Nellie. I can tell you right now that I am coming back.
We had to teach the girls the other day, and after splitting them up into different groups I decided to teach mine how to describe people... by talking about boys! This resulted in about an hour of constant giggling. Whoever said gossiping was counterproductive??
Mi novio es...
Tuve clase con las niñas el otro dia, y una vez divididos los grupos decidi enseñarles como describir a gente... hablando de chicos, claro! Nos tiramos una hora partiendonos de risa. Quien dijo que cotillear no era productivo??
I've not had the chance yet to mention the work we do at the disabled section in the Maharagama mixed orphanage. The activities we've been doing have mainly consisted of dancing, singing, drawing and playing with the ball. As you walk down the path to reach their section of the orphanage you're greeted by smiles and general excitement. You can't start a day any better than that. Right now we've introduced friendship bracelets, which most seem pretty keen on. There is one cripple in particular which we thought would not be able to do it, since he walks on all fours and cannot move his limbs properly. To our massive surprise he has been able to make them all by himself with no help from us at all. Goes to show that you never really know what someone is capable of doing. Other ideas for activities are extremely welcome!
Making a friendship bracelet
La seccion de descapacitados
Aun no he tenido ocasion de hablar sobre la seccion de descapacitados del orfanato. Voy dos veces a la semana, los miercoles y jueves. Por ahora las actividades que hacemos se limitan a bailes, canciones, dibujos y jugar con la pelota, cosas que parecen simples pero que les mantienen super entretenidos. La mejor forma de empezar el dia es bajar hacia su seccion y tener de repente a cuatro chicos corriendo a darte la bienvenida, a tirarte de la mano y pedir que juegues con ellos, mientras pegan voces y dejan saber al resto de los compañeros que hemos llegado. Ayer les enseñamos como hacer pulseras, algo que parecen disfrutar mucho. Hubo uno que nos sorprendio. Tiene un problema en los huesos y camina a cuatro patas, sin poder moverse bien, y pensamos que necesitaria mas atencion que los demas. Sin embargo ha sido el unico que puede hacerlas totalmente solo, cosa que no puedo hacer ni yo- y eso que tengo uso completo de mi cuerpo! Si teneis ideas de que hacer con ellos, mandadmelas porfa.
Sorry everyone for the lack of posts! This past weekend gone by we decided to explore the delights of the hill country and headed off to Kandy for a couple of days. On the way there we took the train, which I believed would a) be faster and b) ensure us seats, a completely faulty notion that was proven wrong on the journey. We spent about 40 minutes in a corner sat on top of our bags whilst the pungent smell of the toilet (which we sat right next to) wafted towards us way too often. Surrounded by legs and just generally being really awkward and uncomfortable, we made the most of the situation by pulling out music and accepting that we would spend the rest of the train journey with our legs intertwined and arms flailing about with every screeching halt. Luckily enough this was not so, and soon there was room for us to stretch out. A couple of us enjoyed the amazing experience of sitting on the door of the train dangling our legs off the sides, letting shards of grass hack at our feet as the train dragged itself through the countryside.
Kandy's lake
The highlight of that weekend was visiting the elephant orphanage. It took about an hour and a half to get there and cost everyone 2000 rupees (except for Mark, who had his passport and volunteer card and, after claiming he was a resident in Sri Lanka, got in for 100. Pro tip: follow his example when you're here). The orphanage looks after elephants that have retired or have been hurt- there is one that stepped on a land mine and lost a leg, and he would not have been able to survive on his own. However, it was blatantly obvious that it was a massive source of money making. As soon as we arrived we saw a pen with two baby elephants tied up in chains and people feeding them bottles. The rest of the herd were all chained together so that tourists could approach them. Don't get me wrong, they have a great routine and they are looked after- many wouldn't have had a chance in the wild- but the chains were seriously unnecessary. You can stand in awe of elephants at 500m away- they are no more impressive if you're right in their faces.
The orphanage visit was followed by a trip down to the local stores, which sold a variety of elephants in all different shapes, sizes and materials. You could even purchase notebooks and boxes made out of elephant dung (due to my fetish for notebooks I indulged in the former. Contrary to what everyone believed, the books do not smell.). After looking for a place to have a meal (Pablo was fuming since he was forced to walk around with a packed lunch which he was dying to eat for 2 hours!) we rushed back to Kandy for a dance show, which involved the typical dances of the area plus some men walking on burning-hot coals and rubbing fire on themselves. The amount of tourists took me by surprise- the city was full of them waiting to enjoy the festival.
Cobra charmer
The following day some of the luckier people went to visit the Temple of the Tooth, which claims to hold one of Buddha's teeth. Which is in a gold casket so nobody can actually see it. Robbie and Pablo were refused entry because their trousers weren't long enough. I'd run out of money by this point so I accompanied them through the pouring rain to find a place that sold cigarettes and a shelter where they could smoke them; no easy task, since smoking in public is illegal and due to the festival it was virtually impossible to find places that sold tobacco or alcohol. Once the quest had been successfully accomplished we went to a mall and drank some lovely ceylon and ginger tea, and then joined the others for our bus journey back home.
Other than the fact that there were 3 people to a bed which made sleeping a bit of an odyssey, it was a very enjoyable weekend. I'm looking forward to going back at some point.
You would think that at the age of 10 you'd be playing around with friends and completing schoolwork. Today at my orphanage I saw the boys- aged 8 to 14- carrying massive blocks of concrete on their heads as their charming matron chewed some gum and got the younger ones to push him around on his chair. Getting him to let us teach the boys some english and play a few games with them takes so much effort. How can children be deprived of an opportunity to perhaps get somewhere in life just because they were unlucky enough to be orphans? They believe that they won't be able to do anything beyond the most rudimentary jobs. I could barely lift one of those blocks up with my hands.
Imaginaras que a los diez años un niño estaria jugando con los amigos y haciendo deberes. Hoy he visto a los chicos del orfanato llevando unos bloques de cemento sobre sus cabezas de una punta a la otra mientras su guardian gritaba ordenes y mascaba chicle desde su silla. La semana pasada apenas nos dejo dar la clase de ingles con ellos; las tres horas que se supone que deberiamos de tenerles fueron reducidas a una y media. Y yo me pregunt: como es possible que se les prive de una educacion y se les haga creer que no valen mas que para hacer los trabajos mas rudimentarios simplemente porque llegaron a este mundo en condiciones desfavorecidas?? Apenas podia levantar yo uno de esos bloques. Los chavales no tienen mas de 14 años.
We hit Unawatuna at around midnight and stayed there for the weekend. It is a small beach with crystal clear water and powerful waves, and two nights were enough for me to fall in love with it. Luckily we didn't hit the peak season, where up to 600 tourists flock the sea. The second night we enjoyed cocktails on the shore and a beach party, complete with a DJ rocking out some tunes and several fire antics including fire poi and a bonfire (as well as some very beautiful men that resembled Snoop Dog). We all left feeling refreshed and eager to return! I highly recommend a visit if you are ever in Sri Lanka. Be wary of the sun though- none of us have left unscathed!
Llegamos a Unawatuna a medianoche del viernes y nos queadmos todo el fin de semana. Es una playa pequenya, pero con mucho que hacer. Encuentras chiringuitos al estilo sri lankes a la orilla del mar, y te puedes hacer hasta fotos con monos. Por suerte evitamos la epoca turista, cuando pueden llegar a haber hasta 600 personas. La segunda noche la pasamos a la orilla del mar en una fiesta completa con hoguera, danza de fuego y un DJ muy bueno (y unos sri lankeses guapisimos!). Un fin de semana y estamos pillados. Volveremos fijo. Aunque el sol dejo huella!
Greetings from Sri Lanka! I decided I'd do something productive with my summer this year and have ended up on the other side of the globe as a participant in the SL Volunteers scheme. The project lasts a total of 6 weeks, and I'll be keeping a blog so that friends, family and future volunteers can take a look at the different things I'll be getting up to (it will also save me having to write the same email five hundred times over for different people!).
There are 24 volunteers in total spread across 5 different homestays. I'm working in Maharagama, whilst others are staying in Homogama and helping out there. I'm staying with three other people at my house, with a lovely family that have two boys who really like to draw all over the walls. Literally. During the week I teach english at a youth center, provide entertainment for a group of disabled (both physically and mentally) men, and visit a retirement home. In the afternoons I go to Maharagama mixed orphanage, where we get a different group of kids every day and try very hard to keep them under control whilst attempting to get them to learn some english! We get the weekends to ourselves, which have so far involved climbing mountains whilst hungover and large amounts of trust. Today we're hopping on a bus and scampering off and away to the beach, something that everyone is looking forward to after a long and exhausting week.
I've been here for 2 weeks so far and I can't believe how quickly time has gone by. The culture differences were quite a shock at first; the heat and humidity can really get to you sometimes, and the mosquitoes take the term 'annoying' to a whole new level. It was quite hard to see the conditions that the children and the disabled men live in, but we're making the most of our time here and helping out as much as possible. Usually a smile and a cheer is enough for them to grin broadly back at you. Who would have thought that some enthusiasm could make a group of people so happy.
I'll try keeping you all updated as often as I can. I am now going to leave the comforts of the only internet cafe that I've managed to find that has air con and head off to my orphanage- friday is sports day! Sweaty times ahead.
