A shed - for seven

We reported earlier on the progress that the street kids had made in such a short space of time - from being almost feral, uneducated and unruly to now becoming model students, disciplined and well mannered. 


We wanted to know more about their backgrounds and how they lived. Our journey took us to a suburb of Colombo into marshland. Although it's the dry season (today reached 38 degs), there were still patches of lying water and mud and it was easy to imagine conditions after a typical thunderstorm but much more difficult to understand the conditions endured during the two sustained monsoon periods a year when the rain is relentless.


We were taken to five of the boys houses. All were atrocious but this one left us dumbfounded - a shack housing 2 adults and their 5 children  (all of whom went to the school project) with no running water or mains electricity.  Words aren't necessary - the pictures speak for themselves - well, they would if they didn't leave you speechless. Suffice to say, I wouldn't think of leaving the lawn mower in a shed like this. But this shack is home to a family of seven...