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...
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