Thursday - the final pre-schools and an evening of entertainment

The transport to the preschool today was a little different. My [Ruth's] Tamil translator Chitra, my Tamil helper Pama, and myself travelled for about 50 mins in a Tuk Tuk, with all the resources for the playschool stuffed in, around and behind us. We journey through the busy morning traffic of Batticloia, with motorbikes carrying children to school and emerged in the rural community of .......... 32 smiling and excited children greeted us with fresh flower garlands, then we proceeded our daily regime of introductions ,circle time, activities of making owl hat's and puppets. The school was small with no running water or electricity. The two teachers were marvellous, as one very excited little boy led the Hindu prayers and continued to lead the children in morning exercises.

Once the children left and walked home in the dusty quiet village, the teachers and us all set for lunch which was the most delicious tasting dahl and rice. I reflected on the simplicity of life there. The teaching resources are limited, yet the excitement of the children and the teachers tenecity to enable the children to learn never diminishes.

I considered the value of fellow sojourners on this earth, and how my little bit of Tamil language made the teachers laugh at my mispronunciations !! Yet we communicated in a different way,  through smiles,touching, actions and yet again the gulf was no more.

This afternoon started with a major sort out of the Resources Room, ready for the Teacher Training Day tomorrow. Then off with the Calthorpe School Team for the Variety Show at Amirthakali Secondary School, which is Calthorpe’s special link school. Garlanded and surrounded by curious students, we were ushered across a sandy courtyard, on the walls of which were all sorts of biologically informative and/or morally advisory murals, and into a large Assembly Hall. The opening ceremony involved Hindu and Christian prayers and speeches in English and Tamil, followed by the the lighting of many wicks, on what looked like a very tall brass candelabra, by individuals representing the different groups of people present.

There were two absolutely exquisite traditional Hindu dances by girls, the peacock costumes being especially striking. An extremely creative and amusing mime performed by boys wearing black, with mask-like white painted faces, warned us of the dangers of giving too much attention to our mobile phones. A visiting school band gave a spirited Samba performance, prepared and led by the Music Teacher from Calthorpe School. There were dramas in English  and Tamil (two on the grisly themes of “Hansel and Gretel” and “Sweeney Todd”) and some very enthusiastic singing. Team Two sang Ruth’s song “Let’s go Dilanee” to the by now  VERY familiar tune of “Hokey Cokey”, which Philip concluded with an energetic drum solo on his Sri Lankan drums. The final piece was Gaush leading us all in the hilarious “Make a Melody in my heart”.

(Today's blog was written by Ruth and Kathy)

Friday - teacher training and goodbye to Batti

Teacher training is an annual event that the pre-school teachers really look forward to. This year for the first time all the preschools were represented. It was really exciting for the Kilinochchi and Yatiyanthota teachers to be there along with teachers from Trinco and Batti so the morning started with a formal welcome and introduction.

This year we introduced the teachers to mega bloks. We played a colour sorting game and a circle game, both of which included lots of fun and laughter.

We then split into 3 groups and took part in some Maths and story telling sessions using the mega bloks.  Everyone enjoyed using the bloks and there was some wonderful creativity.

After the thank yous and the presentation of certificates, every Pre-school received lots of mega blocks to take away and use. 

It was a lovely way to end our time with the pre-schools and had a real atmosphere of friendship and celebration.

(Today's blog was written by Julie)

Wednesday - Visit to the Trincomalee projects

Today the team took the new road (when Ocean Stars first started, the road between Batti and Trinco was completely destroyed) to Trinco to visit the projects there.  The team split into three groups, visiting a secondary school, a primary school and a pre-school.

Vellaimanal pre-school in Trincomalee is a short way up a track impassable with a van.  As we walked up to the school Poojah, Dan, Preneetha, Ruth & Hugh were greeted by a collection of about thirty smiling children who presented us with shell necklaces.  Some particularly pleasing aspects of the school and the visit:-
Despite being in a Muslim area the school provides for girls and boys in approximately equal numbers

A lot of mothers, sisters, brothers and a father came to see what their children were doing, peering with eager curiosity through the mesh which makes for windows

The children sang two quite lengthy, lively songs for us and they danced enthusiastically along with them

The mothers were happy to converse with Ruth who exchanged many a 'Salaam Aleikum' with them
the teachers gave us multitudinous delicious refreshments:- for each of us a fresh coconut, a plate of lovely sweet papaya, a plate of cakes and a banana!

These refreshments were an unexpected prequel to the lunch which was subsequently provided for us, for the rest of Team 2 (who had been visiting the Vellaimanal primary school & the local secondary school - and working rather harder than us), for all the Calthorpe Park students & teachers and for some of the Ocean Stars sponsored children & their families.

Meanwhile, during the morning Stephen and Phil joined the Calthorpe Park School team of students and teachers at .... secondary School in Vellaimanal.  As it was a Buddhist public holiday, school was meant to be off all day but we were grateful and honoured that probably around 140 children came in to school to meet us, play sports or do artwork.

Around half the students (mainly girls) stayed in the school and practised origami and did crafts and sang songs which went down enormously well. The other half, almost exclusively boys, went to the field opposite to play 15-a-side football and cricket. We (Phil and Stephen) mostly set up games for the younger children who didn't join the bigger games of football and cricket, and played bowling and parachutes.  We had a great time all morning and it was good to interact with some youngsters closer to our own age. The school had a good community feel to it all morning, with English and Sri Lankans sharing and enjoying eachother's company.

Meanwhile, Karen, Kathy, Pam and Julie went to Vellaimanal Primary School expecting to run a session with a group of girls. Instead, up turned 48 girls AND 52 boys and so Karen and Pam heroically took on the outdoor session with the lads, without any balls or outdoor games except bean bags! The English volunteers certainly felt the heat on the field and had to take more breaks than their Sri Lankan counterparts.

The lunch/banquet was provided by and hosted by the indefatigable Janabdene, the leader of the local community and the key wheel for Ocean Stars in the Trincomalee area, and by his equally indefatigable family.  Happy conversations flowed easily and the occasion was rounded off by a visit from some of the women (mostly mothers of children attending the pre-school) who work in an Ocean Stars supported sewing/embroidery project, the building for which is located just up the hill from the pre-school.  The women brought examples of their colourful & intricate work and I am glad to say that quite a number of these were bought by the visiting Ocean Stars volunteers.




(Today's blog was written by Hugh and Stephen)

Tuesday - The team scatters to the areas surrounding Batticaloa

As we wanted to visit every Ocean Stars pre-school project in our week in Sri Lanka the team split to visit six different pre-schools today.  Below is a small snapshot of our day.

Pam and Phil went to the Mandoor 2 pre-school in the morning, where they taught about 30 children. They were allowed to use the small church next to the pre school, which had lovely varnished white tiles; (they were worried about using crayons on the surface but the class teachers weren’t concerned). When they first arrived there were about 18 kids, each of whom had a flower necklace to give, and Pam and Phil each ended up with well over five on them, and fortunately were able to take them off before running the session. The morning went well and it climaxed with Phil and the children running around doing animal impressions outside on sand that turned out to be very hot; (it wasn’t just because Phil was a frog that he was jumping up and down).



This afternoon both teams have had the privilege of being part of the hearing impaired evening. It’s a time of celebration in which members of the hearing impaired community and their families come together to share in fun activities and enjoy a delicious meal.

After being warmly welcomed by Dilanee, everyone got stuck into the activities which ranged from scratch art and colouring to hand puppets and bubbles.

There was a real sense of togetherness as we spent time with one another, broke down the language barrier and got to know people better.

It’s so clear how much of an impact Ocean Stars has in the lives of these families.



(Today's blog was written by Julie and Phil)

Monday - Thirukkovil and Chenkalady

Another early start, a couple of pieces of toast and off to Chenkalady preschool (Pam, Karen and Julie) to be met by more earnest young children bearing garlands and a warm welcome from their teachers. We said hello to each child individually, which took time, but there the formalities ended, with Julie leading frivolities with a rousing hokey cokey - that tried and tested favourite of children everywhere!

Once we had broken the ice and got everyone excited, it was time for calm, so out came the trusty hat kits and peace was restored.

Much as we’d like to say the highlights of the morning were the beautiful colllage (it was) and the delightful hats (they were), the top honours today went to a shy little girl in hysterics at a glitter glue bursting and a group of boys laughing at our attempts to say the work ‘star’ in Tamil. But we can’t go without a final award to the amazing teachers who clearly care for the children under their wing and who shared their most delicious lunch with us!

Phil, Ruth, Stephen, Hugh and Kathy went south to two pre-schools in Thirukovil.  Stephen and Kathy and their Ocean Stars helper and translator arrived at Thirukkovil 1, which is situated adjacent to the Church visited on Sunday and had a great morning again with around 20 children.  They were impressed by how organised the pre-school was, with each child having their own tray and workbook.  One particular highlight was the game of skittles which the children went wild for, and cheered after every ball was thrown, regardless if any skittles fell or not.
Ruth, Hugh and Phil went ten minutes out of Thirukkovil to Thirukkovil 2 pre-school where Ruth started the kids off with an energentic circle time with 'Rainbow' the parrot puppet, before Phil and Dinutia, a staff member of Ocean Stars, took over.  At this point Hugh and Ruth left (Ruth on the back of a motorbike - picture to follow possibly...) to meet with the ministers of the Thirukkovil Methodist Church to discuss furthering their partnership with Beacon Hill United Reformed Church and possible ways that Beacon Hill may be able to help develop local enterprises in Thirukkovil, including peanut farming.  Their tour ended by supping fresh coconuts on the beach with a local farmer.

Whilst others had been visiting pre-schools, Dilannee and Dan went to the opening ceremony of a new pre-school building in Batticaloa, which was fund raised through ocean Stars.  The ceremony was attended by the local MP, and officials and many families and parents.  The party went on all day until the rest of us arrived at about 4pm for more food, dancing, singing and chatting.  This new building will support the development of 40 children and will make a real positive difference in their lives.  Everyone came away feeling very positive and merry!

On the way back to the hotel we visited the (very tidy) Ocean Stars Office in Batticaloa to see where Chitra, Gaosh and Puja manage the work of Ocean Stars day in, day out.

Now we are tired, so to bed!

(Today's blog was written by Karen and Stephen)

Sunday - A visit to Church and Calthorpe Park students arrive

Choice of activity this morning: 1) leave at 6am to go to church in Thirukkovil, where Ruth was preaching; 2) leave at 6.30am to go to church in Mandoor, where Dan was preaching; 3) stay in the lovely seaside hotel in Batti and relax. Dan and Julie went to Mandoor, while Dilanee, Hugh, Kathy, Philip and Stephen went with Ruth to Thirukkovil to meet the church community which is now going to be linked with Ruth’s home church in Beacon Hill.

We arrived shortly after 7.30am to find the bright church already full of children and young people in their colourful best (girls one side, boys on the other), singing Tamil hymns very melodiously, accompanied by a beautiful young woman on a keyboard out of which was coming the sound of a tabla (traditional South Asian instrument). The older people had chairs to sit on towards the back of the church behind the youngsters who either stood or sat on the floor. A row of dog-collared clergy at the front: a woman in a pale yellow sari, Ruth in a bright pink blouse and three men, very striking in their white suits and black shirts - which is the formal clerical attire for male (not female) Methodist ministers in Sri Lanka.

The service followed the same order as an English Methodist service, except that the prayers seemed to be almost all ex-tempore - and very much longer and declaimed with very much more animation than in England! Ruth preached a sermon about Trust which was translated as she went along by one of the Reverends. At the end of the service the rest of us introduced ourselves and led the congregation in “He’s got the whole world in His hands”, and we were then presented individually with a huge number of beautiful homemade cards. Following the service, over cups of hot sweet tea, there was a discussion with the Reverends about how Beacon Hill United Reformed Church might help the community in Thirukkovil in a practical way, perhaps with a piece of machinery which could be used cooperatively (which would be of particular interest to the engineers in our congregation back home).

On the way back, as we travelled along the narrow slip of land between the beach and the lagoon, we stopped to look at the Tsunami memorial and the gravestones which were all along the beach, each stone marking the grave of fifty or more of the thousands who were drowned along that part of the coast. The ruined, roofless and empty houses are still there; Dan later said that not only have the people gone, but nobody is allowed to live so close to the sea anymore; he then added that in some cases hotels have moved in and taken over the plots of land - meanwhile, there are people displaced by the Tsunami still living in camps.

We returned to the hotel to find that, far from relaxing all morning, Karen and Pam had most nobly spent hours and hours sorting out all the resources from the Sports Direct bags! And Dan, who had lovingly and painstakingly prepared a sermon which he thought would be just right for the church he was attending, wasn’t asked to preach after all!

As the others were relaxing in the afternoon, Pam and Karen spent the afternoon unpacking and sorting 160+kg of resources, from toothbrushes and toothpaste through glue sticks and glitter to mega bags of mega bricks. Consternation when no owls were found - a vital element in our preschool sessions. Contingency owls were hastily put in place, but happily the originals turned up.  

From total mayhem to impressive organisation took Pam and Karen a mere 5 hours. Then the team from Calthorpe school arrived and the whole process was repeated.

Sitting down together for a welcome meeting provided an opportunity to relax and listen to messages from both U.K. and Sri Lankan schools and team members. Then it was off to sample more of the excellent Sri Lankan cuisine!

(Today's blog was written by Kathy and Pam)

Saturday - Kilinochchi, Vavuniya and elephants

This morning we said goodbye to the Kilinochchi children's home guest house with its great vegetarian food and friendly caretaker.

Before we completely departed the home, Ganesh gave us a guided tour of the home's farm which includes, amongst other things, banana plantation, dairy (with ~30 contented cows), vegetable garden and rice milling plant.  We were also given a tour of the home's kitchen, where cassavas were being chopped up and a wide variety of home-grown vegetables were being stored in preparation for the next meal.

Then we visited the older girls' accommodation (c/w library & computer room) where we met a few of the girls and some housemothers - by that time most of the girls had left for a morning at school.  Finally, we visited the boys accommodation where we played ball games, frisbee and skittles - empty water bottles proved to be excellent skittles.  Two of the boys showed great ingenuity in retrieving a ball from a locked shed in which two big combine harvesters (for rice harvesting) were parked up!



A couple of hours later we all arrived in a house in Vavuniya where we were the guests of Thusanthan -  the Vavuniya station-master.  The house belonged to Nadarajah, the lady who founded Grace House, a children's home which was established in Vavuniya to care for boys orphaned by the tsunami of 2004 and which was one of  Dilanee's main inspirations in setting up Ocean Stars & in giving steadfast support to the boys brought up in Grace House.  Thusanthan was one of those boys.  Nadarajah, having sadly died not so long ago, Thusanthan now lives in her house and many of his friends from Grace House days appeared to participate with us in a delicious meal.  There was much merriment and it was a joy to see that boys who had experienced such trauma had, we believe substantially through the work of Grace House & of Ocean Stars, established themselves happily in the adult world whilst also maintaining the friendhips formed at Grace House years ago.



Then back in the minibuses and off to Batticaloa.  On the way we experienced some local heavy flooding and stopped to admire two elephants by the roadside.  Unsure at first of the elephants' gender one of our drivers said that if we saw that an elephant had a third back leg it was male.  One was indeed male.  Looking at the other elephant, one of our party said she could see some wee titties.  So that was the matter settled!  A bit further along the road we saw, three or four hundred metres away, a herd of forty-eight elephants of all sizes (and, we presumed, genders) strolling majestically across grassland beside a huge lake with towering hills beyond.



Arriving at Batticaloa we met some of the Ocean Stars staff who presented us with bright garlands.  Then fish curry and verbal receipt of tomorrow's timetable!

(Today's blog was written by Hugh)

Mahadeva Childrens home and Kilinochchi

Another early morning (for those of us who aren't morning creatures!), kicked off with a warm milky coffee and a very welcome wake up snack of rice with fruit, served on a banana leaf. Still, no time to linger, it was off in the bus to our 2 preschools in Killinochi, where polite little children greeted us with outstretched arms.

Because it was a Hindu festival day,  we started with fewer children than expected. Not that anyone passing by would have guesed the reduced numbers, given the raucous 'woah, the hokey cokey!' from the circle of young smiling faces. A group of slightly older boys, standing enviously at the door, soon became enthusiastic helpers for the skittle game and finger puppet making and seemed as excited by the glittery stars for the collage as their younger companions.



As the saying goes, 'time flies when you're having fun' and all too soon we were waving goodbye to a bunch of teddies being eagerly taken to their new homes.

In the afternoon most of us took a trip up to Jaffna to see the capital of Sri Lank's north.  Whilst there we visited a ice cream palour, with Fawlty-Tower-esque lack of ice cream and lots of changes to the menu.  We also visited Sri Lanka's largest Hindu temple, in a city which actually feels very much like Southern India.

In the evening we visited the girls in the children's home.  There were about 85 girls aged between 6 and 12.  They were so excited to see us and gave us a really warm welcome.  They had fun creating beautiful butterflies with crayons and stickers.  We spent time singing, dancing and playing with bubbles.  It was such a special evening and lovely to share in their joy.  It was definitely a lesson in appreciating the simple things in life and being in the moment.

The team reflections tonight were overall much more positive as people felt they had planned better and learned from day 1.   We reflected on how we felt after a couple of days working with the children and Dilanee shared some moving conversations that she had had with some of the teachers that she had spoken to.

(Today's blog was written by Karen and Julie)

Video to follow shortly...

Day 1 in the schools

What an early start this morning! Having settled down for a good night’s sleep we woke with a 5.30am call from the hotel. Bags were packed and in the car by 6.15am, breakfast by 6.25am, departed the hotel at 6.45am and on the road to Yatiyantota.

Yati in a bustling rural community, where over 40 pre-school children meet daily. Today was market day so it was really hot, as well as stall holders selling various items of clothing and a display of colourful fruit and vegetables. The children waved and greeted us by giving us flowered garlands.
The pre-school was divided into two groups, and as volunteers we shared with the children new activities. We read the book ‘Wow said the owl’, and assisted the children making owl themed hats and making small felt owl finger puppets.

We taught songs, and finished by distributing knitted teddies and lollipops.

As new volunteers we did not know what to expect, but we were met with warm smiles, and children’s generous hearts. We then travelled an eight hour journey to Killinochchi. We are now exhausted but pleased we have completed the first days.  There were mixed feelings in the group about how the day had gone, with some feeling very positive and others feeling that e could have done more planning.  However, we have made sure that we are well prepared and have discussed everything for tomorrow. We now are waiting to get to bed. Phew!!

(Today's blog was written by Ruth Dillon)

The luxury launchpad

We're now all on Sri Lankan soil and are staying in the very swanky Covanro hotel near Veyangoda, just outside Colombo (inset). Karen mentioned 'the calm before the storm', but we have been making the most of our day of relaxation before we hit the first pre-school tomorrow in Yatiyanthota. We've been swimming in the hotel pool and have eaten hotel buffet meals for breakfast, lunch and supper (all very nice!). Philip and Stephen hired bikes from the hotel and cycled down to Veyangoda, where they got a flavour of lively, colourful Sri Lankan life.

On a group reflection this evening, just before a musical number from the Le Fanus, we all concluded it is great not only to be in the country but to be here with a purpose. Karen has known Dilanee for forty years and this is her first trip to Sri Lanka! Ruth, Pam, Dan and Julie are looking forward to forming deep personal connections with those whom we meet.

Our wakeup phonecall tomorrow: 5.30 AM

Below are, clockwise from top left: a) the second half of the team arriving v) the first half of the team arriving, c) Calthorpe Park school preparing to leave from the U.K. and d) Team two have their first meeting in Sri Lanka





(The blog will be written by a different member, or members, of the team each day.  Today's was written by Phil)

Packing evening

The trip is almost here!  With just one or two sleeps to go (the groups are flying out on either Monday evening or Tuesday morning), we met at Dilanee's house to pack up all of the educational resources that we will be taking with us to Sri Lanka.

With a luggage allowance of 47kg per person, there was a lot of packing to do.  Dilanee's garage was piled high with pre-packed bags full of toiletries, glue sticks, scissors, paper, tissue, glitter, crayons, pens and books.

The sitting room was also a hive of activity.  In all there was around 700 teddies to be packed, hand knitted by dedicated people around the country and vacuum packed to save space.  We are aiming to bring enough arts and crafts for each school that we visit and a toothbrush, toothpaste and a teddy for each child. 

The second picture (Above Right) is the Le Fanu family's luggage and a small sample of the overall trip's capacity.

Most of the resources that we packed were donated from schools and churches so a special thank you to everyone who donated or made something.  Our next blog post will be from Sri Lanka so stay tuned!

Calthorpe Park School, Fleet

A group of 21 students and 4 members of staff from Calthorpe Park School Fleet will also be travelling to Sri Lanka in October 2018. Please follow this link to se how they have been preparing for the trip.

You can follow their blog here - https://oceanstars.org.uk/blog/latest

September (and final!) team meeting

On the 18th September, the team met for the last time before our packing evening.  I think it's fair to say that everyone was pretty excited!

We went through the updated itinerary for the trip and Julie went through the plan she kindly made for the teacher training morning we will be conducting; we will be using 'megablocks' (basically large lego brinks) to show the teachers how they can use them as tools to tell stories and to teach maths.

We then went through the detailed (but important) visa application process.

Here are the reflections from the team from September:

Julie

I’m really excited now with 4 weeks to go. I can’t wait to get there and see everyone. It will be great to get stuck in and have lots of fun; playing games, singing, telling stories and making things.

Stephen

It seems very real now, but thanks to Dilanee and the teams’ organisation and forward thinking I feel comfortable. It was good to go through the activities again so that we all know what we are doing. Especially looking forward to the variety show and getting to know the communities on church days. Not so much the long journeys. Very excited. It’s time to rush up on my cricket rules!

Pam

Bit apprehensive about the amount of organisation needed but excited at the prospect of visiting preschools, working with children and getting to know teachers.

Phil

It only seems like yesterday when we had our first meeting about this trip! I’m very much looking forward to it and I am not feeling so nervous about our sessions with the children any more.

Ruth

Getting close now – feeling excited and just “going with the new”!! T-shirts and hoodie arrived. Feels good. No real concerns.