Ayubowan!

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. 

I can't wait for the beach.