Toy Story

Between us, we had probably had 20 kgs of soft toys which had been collected for us - all packed into vacuum bags so we could squeeze as many in to our suitcases as possible.  So, you could almost here the sighs of relief from Woody, Snoopy and all the other toys when it was time to release them and find new homes with children in Sri Lanka.  There were two loads for the youngest children in the Village School and a further bag full for all the kids at the village nursery.


We do quite a lot of things out here, some quite ordinary, some more ambitious, but seeing the poorest kids' faces light up when each was given a small cuddly toy, something for just them to own, is incredible.  Many of the families live on subsistence levels and so for lots of these kids, it is probably the first possession they can call their own.


And I'm sure I saw Snoopy, Big Ted and the rest of the gang smiling just as much as we were in the arms of their new owners...