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.

Day 5 – Thursday 11th February

In medical news, the health of both patients deteriorated overnight. Don was extremely uncomfortable with severe vomiting and diarrhoea while Steve’s aches grew progressively worse and both were confined to bed for the rest of the day.



Elsewhere, reports of a general uprising by the populous to some of the political activities going on at the moment seem to be exaggerated. Our lone reporters, Della and Gav, travelled to the Negombo region and witnessed no visible signs of malcontent on the streets.

And finally 72 orphaned girls were taken out by Della and Gav, their only trip outside the orphanage since our last visit in July 2009. The girls were visibly disappointed that ‘Uncle Don’ wasn’t able to make the trip but excited nonetheless even if there was much less singing on the coach. After an hour’s travel we stopped at Bird/Fish World, a pretty old fashioned park with sad looking birds in too-small cages. The girls didn’t seem that impressed either and found the play park more fun; who wouldn’t if you hadn’t been out for 6 months?!
 Another hour went by and we made it to the beach near Negombo. The girls’ initial reticence was short-lived as soon as we changed into our swimming costumes and charged into the sea. In no time, the girls were splashing around, playing ball and just having tremendous fun.

They all missed Don terribly – ‘he is like a father to us all’, said one – and many spoke about how hard they had prayed for him to recover after his recent surgery.


Although FODAD provides funding to the orphanage for some lessons, sewing and crafts and a music teacher, it’s almost impossible to think of anything we do that brings such joy to so many and the girls are a credit to the orphanage.

Day 4 – Wednesday 10th February

During the cricket match we were introduced to a young boy of 11 and pupil of the Village School who had recently undergone surgery to his abdomen area. Following the surgery, his doctor from the free medical centre insisted that he underwent a scan as the boy was still complaining of pains. As he would have had to have waited for more than a year – there are only 6 machines in Sri Lanka – Della and Steve agreed to meet the family at a private clinic in Colombo where he could be scanned. We will find out what the outcome of the scan is next week.



Next was an extremely useful return visit to the School where we met the new English teacher. She is only 25 and originally hailed from Ratmalana. She was full of enthusiasm and almost tearful when speaking of her hope that should one child graduate through university it would fill her with pride and satisfaction.


Then to the plaque maker, who has been charged with making Declan’s memorial for the music room in the school. Unfortunately, the sign-maker had taken it upon himself to change the words that he thought more appropriate, change the colour and font and insert random spaces where he thought they might look aesthetically pleasing. We put him right and were assured the corrections would be made.


Finally, by the end of the day, the first casualties of this trip had been reported. Don didn’t make it to dinner because of sunstroke and Steve was complaining of aches and pains apparently as a result of a “spectacular diving catch” during yesterday’s cricket match.

Day 3 - Tuesday 9th February

If we didn’t have BBC World on the TV or occasional access to the internet, it would be hard to know what was really happening in the outside world. So it’s slightly unnerving to hear that the President has arrested his only rival in the recent presidential election and dissolved parliament. Such actions can only risk the stability of this country, which just seems to be getting back on its feet with 100% occupancy levels in hotels now that the war is over and confidence had returned.



It was therefore great to spend today with the local kids and villagers to whom the politics matters very little. In the morning we went unannounced to both the local nursery school and then St Mary’s primary school. Both are places where we can see for ourselves the difference that FODAD is still making.

At the nursery school, we spent loads of time just playing with the kids and it’s amazing to see how trusting in us they became. There are now 25 kids registered in the school’s, one-room building. The two teachers do a fantastic job with what they’ve got but had been promised a new building after the tsunami. We called the local Buddhist monk who owns the land and he has agreed to meet later in the week so we can at least find out when a more suitable building might become available. In the meantime, if we can simply get the overhead fan working, it’d make it much more comfortable. Needless to say, the daily meal which FODAD supplies, is still eagerly received as you can see and the teachers said is often the only food or drink they receive.

On to the primary school which now almost feels like a second home. Even though we hadn’t announced our intention to arrive, it was still surprising to see so many teachers “at seminars”… First job of the day was to hand out pastels and paper to 25 kids to do drawings of things that matter the most to them which we intend to bring back to the UK and exhibit and maybe make calendars from.


We also spent a lot of time holding an impromptu English class and finding out more about the students. There are some outstandingly bright children who want to learn.

In the afternoon, our friends Pat and Clive came up from the south of the island where they have been stopping for 4 weeks. They joined us for the 3rd “Ten-ty Ten-ty” cricket match with the coveted “Queen Della” trophy up for grabs. This year’s event had some added prestige given we were using some brand new cricket equipment donated by Callum in the UK who is cricket mad. The locals were especially impressed by the stumps which didn’t get washed away each time a wave hit the beach! So with the sides picked (a record 22 players) and the spectators taking tea on the sidelines, battle commenced. Udaya’s team batted first but managed only 48 runs in the allotted 10 overs. As Steve’s team went into bat it seemed that the trophy would be retained by the English captain. But after some crazy run-outs, and superb catches by the opponents (and glorious ducks by Steve and Gav) victory was Udaya’s.

Day 2 - Monday 8th February

Pretty much an organisation day and down to breakfast at 7.30 and arrangements made for the three wheeler tuk tuk to collect us at 9. Taking our life in our hands we climbed aboard and sped away along pot holes and bumps, through oncoming traffic and fumes to arrive at the Village School where we were to have a meeting with the principal. To our surprise she was actually there and not away at another seminar or meeting! However out of the 12 teachers there we only counted 5. Out of the 120 children we provide food for, school uniforms, shoes and many other things there were about 60.

Eventually we got down to business and discussed the new school band for which we had provided instruments on the last visit in memory of Don’s brother Declan. They are actually very proud of the band, which in Sri Lanka is apparently hugely important and 24 kids stay after school on a Friday for music lessons. And they’ve made pretty good progress in the 6 months since our last visit, featuring in the local press and TV reports! The Principal then asked for an accordion, which we said we would look into, but subsequent enquiries suggest that this would cost over £130 which seems excessive. There was a long list of other essential things she wanted too, which we’ll have to look into.


We then discussed education and were delighted to hear that there was a new English teacher whom we hope to meet later in the week. We did get to speak to some of the kids from last year, who said she was a very nice lady and a good teacher.

The Principal discussed the forthcoming exam results and of the 12 children who took O Levels, they hope 5 will pass. This would be a vast improvement on last year when it was 2 (must be the 2 weeks of English lessons in June /July ’09!!). We then talked about new uniforms, shoes, food, sports, attendance and asking the kids to do artwork that can be taken back to the Village School in Hampstead who support this Village School by the rail tracks.


After what seemed hours of an exchange of views we went off for a meeting with Udaya (the fisherman and our main Mr Fix It man on the ground) and managed to put a timetable together in order to achieve what we can for the school over the next few weeks.


So, a plan is beginning to take shape…


The one thing that we have noticed is just how much busier it is. Lots of tourists are at the hotel which has to be a good thing for the local economy . The downside is that some of our European neighbours don’t get the concept of queuing or being polite to the staff. The only other discernible change? … good to see just 5 years after the original Tsunami, there are now signs erected directing people away from the beach should another hit the coast.

Day 1 - Sunday 7th February

The great thing about travelling is that you get to experience a whole new world. The worst thing is the travelling itself. So about 16 hours after getting up On Saturday, we arrived, bleary eyed at our base for the next 2 weeks at 4am on Sunday morning. We managed to stay awake long enough for a bit of breakfast before snoozing for a few hours. The rest of the day was pretty much reconnecting with our bodies and adjusting to new time zone but we did make a start on discussing the things we needed to do and so the start of an agenda for the next fortnight began to take shape.

New Year - New Look

To mark the new year, the blog has had a mini makeover... hope you like the new look.  But it's also in readiness for our next trip to Sri Lanka - in 2 weeks time we'll be back in Ratmalana to catch up with what's been going on.  At last week's trustees meeting, we set ourselves some challenging objectives for the trip including:

• Checking up on the exisiting projects especially to find out if the new nets are working
• Investigating whether we could set up a women's sewing co-operative
• Research whether we could use a local community centre for projects
• Identify children who would benefit from further tuition
• Follow up on the children who left the school last summer

BYOK disco is back!

BYOK is back for the first time in 2010.

Fun for kids, just as much fun for grown ups, its a chance to raise money for kids in Sri Lanka (see www.fodad.co.uk).

A kids disco in a grown up venue, with face painting, fun and games and a chance for dads to DJ, in between dancing to our resident kids DJ Mat.

Its £4.50 for kids(0 - 8 yrs welcome) and FREE for adults

Sunday, 31 January 2010

14:30 - 17:30

The Good Ship

Help us raise funds when you shop

Have you heard about easyfundraising yet? It’s the easiest way to help raise money for Friends of Della and Don. If you already shop online with retailers such as Next, Argos, John Lewis, Comet, iTunes, eBay or HMV, then we need you to sign up to http://www.easyfundraising.org.uk/dellaanddon for free to raise money while you shop!

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Happy Holidays!!!!

Dear Friends,

On December 26th, it will be 5 years since the devastating Tsunami changed our lives. We started 2009 in Sri Lanka and we had every intention of being back there now. But as many of you know, fate took a hand and Don is now recovering from the surgery he had in late September. He is improving really well and we hope to join our friends in Sri Lanka early in the New Year.

We did visit in the summer and with your help and generosity we:

• arranged the continued supply of daily meals for all the primary and nursery school children in the village
• distributed the contents of 15 boxes and 2 suitcases of donations to children at the school, people attending the clinic and the villagers
• bought new shoes for all the children
• arranged to ay for the continued education of seriously deprived children
• supplied a new uniform for every child at the school
• provided cricket bats, balls and badminton equipment for the children to use
• made arrangements for a prize of a bicycle for the child who achieves the highest attendanceat school
• took over 80 orpahned girls out for a day at the beach; their only trip outside since our last visit in December 2008
• provided English lessons to the pupis at the village school
• ordered musical instruments so that the children could learn music
• arranged weekly music lessons at the orphanage
• provided funds to support th Medical Clinic so that they can employ a doctor and buy drugs
• handed over letters to some of the orphans from pen-pals in the UK
• provided funding for the children unable to afford the fare for a school trip
• made arrangements for a girl to receive extra tuition and be looked after whilst her recently-widowed father works
• hosted a sports and games day.

You can see lots of photos and some video clips on the website.

Wherever you are and whomever you are with, have a wonderful time

Della & Don