Day 12 -Thu 18th Feb

We know from the feedback on Facebook that loads of you are reading the daily updates and it’s great to hear from you. But don’t forget you can see the full feed on the blog at http://wwwfriendsofdellaanddon.blogspot.com/ where there is other stuff such as videos and links to the website.

Back to today, which was hot… very hot. But we kicked off with a visit to the Nursery School where it was their turn to receive brand new socks and shoes - made possible by a very kind single donor in the UK. We spent about an hour just playing with them and ending up making as many animal noises to match the pictures in their books, which they found hilarious.

Then we handed out the shoes and it wouldn’t be exaggerating to say that some of the boxes were as big as the kids receiving them! Whilst this was going on, Della met with the Buddhist monk who pays for the orphanage for an update on the plans for a new building and to see what could be done to accelerate the repair of the open mains electricity fuse box. Hopefully that will be sorted very soon while the new building may take another year or so.

Next was a return visit to the Village School. The first thing they had organises was the official unveiling of the Declan Gallagher memorial plaque in honour of Don’s brother where the band instruments are stored. Don made a short, moving speech honouring those who made the band a reality (we’ve subsequently received a video of the school band playing at Christmas on Sri Lanka’s equivalent to GMTV which we’ll post on to YouTube when we’re back in the UK.

Other events included the official handover of winners’ medals for the Sports and Fun day earlier in the week which was introduced by Steve making a speech in Sinhala which went down really well and was much appreciated.

We also managed to tie up a few loose ends. First we agreed to pay the “volunteer” teacher who has been at the school for over a year but hasn’t received a penny. Although a relatively modest amount (about £360 per year) we have complete confidence in him and that he will continue to teach the kids English, music and computer studies. He is extremely popular with the students and got the biggest cheer and applause when all the teachers were presented by Della with gift vouchers to buy new shoes.

We also agreed to pay a mother who has 3 children at the school enough each month to cover their bus fares – just £3. She is a model mother, totally dedicated to her pristinely-turned out children and who cleans and sweeps at the school. Until now, she had made drinks at home and sold them for just enough profit to pay the 100 Rupees to cover the fares each week. It’s such a small amount but she is absolutely determined that her children get the best education possible so perhaps can lead a better life than she is used to. Her eldest son now Head Boy and accredit to her.


These amounts are relatively small but additional expenditure for us – WARNING shameless plug follows: if you think you could help cover the costs, please make a small donation. It’s amazing how far so little goes.

We then lunched at Udaya’s house on the beach. A Malibu mansion it’s not and even after visiting many times, there’s still that rather uneasy feeling of discomfort at the living conditions. But, they had gone out of their way to lay on a spread of freshly caught lobster, fish balls, dhal curry and rice, that even the flies failed to stop us tucking in.

After we took tea on the beach – yes, the Brits were sat in the roasting sun whilst the locals found whatever shade they could. Udaya and his wife then presented Della with a surprise birthday cake to mark her birthday last month and a rather extraordinary musical lighty-up thing. Almost surreal, but special nonetheless.


Eventually we got back, hot, dirty and dived into the pool before rushing off in Tuk Tuks in the evening to try and source a computer for the school in time for our last full day on Monday.


We’re all pretty tired now; it’s been so full-on. So on Friday we’re heading for the cooler climes of the tea plantations to try and start some of the books we brought.


Next full update on Monday – enjoy your weekend!