Day 6 –Friday 12th February

The good news is that following a dose of the strongest dose of antibiotics known to man, Don and Steve are on the mend and made it down to breakfast. Just as well, as we had a packed day planned. First, was a trip to the Medical Clinic where FODAD funds at least 10 families with medical and educational needs and provides drugs for the clinic. We met each of the 10 children and reviewed their progress. The difference each time we visit is remarkable; each child continues to improve at school or is responding well to the treatment they receive.

This is Diva & Kiva’s story:

Born to a poverty stricken mother, their father was an alcoholic and drug addict who left the family soon after the birth of the twins. Their mother receives no income from him or his family to support the children and is unable to work due to severe depression and Kiva has chronic asthma . Through FODAD, the clinic is able to support this family by providing drugs and childcare. Both children are doing well and their performances at school are improving.  And the remarkable thing..? This assistance costs as little as £7 per month.

Next up was a visit to the School. One of things we arranged on our last visit was a Prize for the Best Attendance and Most improved pupil in memory of Sareth, an old friend of Della and Don who helped in the early days immediately after the Tsunami and before his death was their major contact in Sri Lanka. We needed to find out who had qualified so that we could buy the promised bicycle. The only problem was that the school wasn’t able to separate 5 different pupils. So there was nothing for it but to estimate what we thought we’d spend on a single bike and split into 5 equal cash prizes to be presented at next Monday’s sports day. Out of interest, we went to a couple of bike shops that afternoon – it sounds a doddle but everything takes five times as long to do especially in the heat – and soon found we’d seriously overestimated the cost of a bike. After a bit of deliberation we all agreed that, as the reason for the prize is to motivate the kids to attend school, we’d buy five! Just can’t wait to see their faces when each child gets a bike when they’re expecting some cash which most likely would end up in the pockets of their fathers…


Also today, we discussed with Udaya how the new fishing nets were going which were donated so the village could act as a co-operative and become more self-sufficient. They have used the nets and caught fish but the numbers have been relatively light so far but there are still about 2 more months available to them before the monsoon season hits. The normal fishing still continues to provide a catch – the shark pictured would be sold for about £30.