It's such a Prefect Day

Sarath de Mel was Della and Don's guide when the Tsunami hit back in 2004.  Unfortunately he passed away several years ago but believed that every child should have access to the best education possible.  In his memory, we provide prizes at the Village School for three children who have excelled in discipline, performance and attendance and these are presented by his widow and children.


This years winners were Ruwani (Grade 5), Shahin (Grade 9) and Vishwa (Grade 10).  All were worthy winners but it was particularly pleasing to see Vishwa make it because last year he asked how he could win; "work hard, turn up and be good", we said.  All but Ruwani chose a bike; instead she chose a melodica and we made up the prize by buying brand new clothes and towels.

The ceremony at the school also marked the annual Prefect's Day when the new ones are sworn in and the blazers which we supplied 18 months ago are handed out to them. And then, we handed every child in the school with a new uniform - 124 of them - a task which was completed in about 20 minutes but had taken days to set up, with multiple trips to the suppliers and each individually sized and signed.   

It may seem indulgent, but today was a great day to see the culmination of our ongoing efforts actually pay off - a smart, impressive school band; prizes for those who have excelled and recognition and pride for the new prefects.  Things are never perfect and perhaps progress is slower than we'd like, but today we can reflect on just how much of a difference FODAD and all its supporters are actually making. 

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...

..but terrible frustration

After the elation of the success of the street kids project, we then embarked on a mission to try and find the boys from our village who have been put in a children's home.  The back story is tragic one - their mother went to work in the Gulf but is untraceable so heaven knows what has happened to her.  Their father is a drunk and incapable of looking after his sons and subjected them to terrible abuse.  They spent a while living in squalid conditions before being taken to a childrens' home.  Regular followers of our visits to Sri Lanka will instantly recognise them.

Frustratingly, we did not have the correct information and drove around for about  3 hours without being able to find them or anyone who knew of them.  We will continue in our search as we do not want to leave Sri Lanka without finding them and ensuring that they are being taken care of.

Wonderful successes

Proud Father

Today we visited Father Mahendra.  For those of you who don't know, he was the Parish Priest to our villagers at the time of the Tsunami.  He is still much loved by everyone here. He is now in Kandela where we have been supporting his street children project for the past year.

He is the most incredible man and has had wonderful success with the children.  Whilst their cheeky, smiling faces are recognisable they are completely different children to those we first met. They are supplied with a really nutritious meal every day by  the fund and they are clearly more healthy.  We were told that they did not really know how to sit and eat as they had furtively found food wherever they could.  The all sat and ate together.  We saw their exercise books and they proudly showed us their paintings. This all with one dedicated teacher whom we supplement with $30 a month. 

Meal time

He has had so much success that 15 of his original group have now been accepted at the government school and he has also been able to get  8 of the children in to a technical school.

Proud kids

Not only that, with the money we give him, he also helps support 20 children whose parents are too poor to keep them at school and we are apparently also supporting a teacher for 50 incredibly poor children in rural Sri Lanka.  He said it was a bit like loaves and fishes and that we are now 3 charities in one!

School Sports Day

As we finish packing ready to fly out to Sri Lanka for a month, it was heartening to receive photos from the Village School of their annual sports day held last week. All the kids look really happy and like they're having a lot of fun. And given it's 2012, we particularly liked the Olympic-inspired flame.


We'll send more updates on all our projects over the course of the next four weeks so keep reading!

Progress on all fronts!

Today we received some photos of work which has been completed over the Christmas holidays at the Village School which we're really excited about.

Firstly, new drains have been installed around the rear of the school which will help drain away stagnant water and help remove the risk of dengue fever.  The issue was highlighted as a big health issue during the last trip in August 2010 and you can read more about the risk in Lucy's blog entry.  

As a result of that trip, all of the money raised by NPG at last September's 10k run was put towards the cost of installing the drains and providing new taps and effective drainage in the immediate area as well as a brand new, large capacity water tank.  This is an amazing achievement and we have to thank all the runners and those who supported them at NPG for making this happen.  It will have a fundamental effect on the children's health by reducing the risk of them contracting deadly dengue.

Our new water tank!

During the work, the contractors were able to clear the back of the school, remove the rubbish and flatten the area.  This has allowed the installation of a new badminton net, giving a much needed new facility.

And finally, it looks like work which has been ongoing for over a year to make the school secure with metal mesh doors and new window frames has been completed, hopefully drawing a line under a long-standing issue for us.  Hopefully, when we visit next month, we will see all the improvements for ourselves and confirm that all the work has indeed been completed.

Before...

The secure metal gates

during..

and after!

So thank you to everyone who has helped us over the last year in so many ways.  Hopefully you can see that from your donations and support, real things do happen and they all make a huge difference.

Good news for the Street kids!

We received a text this morning, from Father Mahendra whose Street children project we support. He informed us that 10 of the Street kids have been accepted by the Government school! This is wonderful news, since no school would accept them before as they are considered feral.

This is such a great opportunity for those 10 kids as it will provide a real chance for them to progress even further than they already have since starting school.

This picture shows the kids when we saw them in July. They had come on so much and had developed social skills and communicative skills which was such a change from our previous visit. Being accepted in the government school will help those children to have the same opportunities as other kids, despite their extremely tough upbringing.

If you want to support the street kids and our other projects, then don't forget to check out our Light Up A Life page.

http://www.friendsofdellaanddon.com/page10.htm

Happy holidays!

Merry Christmas from the school

Today we received some pictures from the village school from their Christmas nativity party.

As you can see from the pictures it was very festive and it looks like they had great fun!

Everyone at the village school wishes us a very happy Christmas. If you want to wish them one too, don't forget to visit our Light up a Life page!

http://www.friendsofdellaanddon.com/page10.htm

Happy Holidays!

Light up a life

Hundreds of lives have been changed as a direct result of your generosity in supporting Friends of Della and Don over the past 7 years.  .  With not a single overhead, every Dollar, Pound or Euro collected goes directly to those who need it... Please click on the link to look at the different projects you have supported, read about them and if you are able, make a small donation, leave a holiday message and help us light up lives!  .    http://www.friendsofdellaanddon.com/page10.htm 

Wherever you are and whatever you are doing – Happy Holidays.

Della and Don

NPG vs Biomed Central 10k

September 28^th was a day of unexpected and unprecedented sweltering heat.  It reached almost 30 Celsius on the Regent Canal, London, where 43 runners gathered together for the 2^nd Annual Nature Publishing Group v Biomed Central 10k competitive run. For the second year running the members of the NPG team (23 in all) had agreed to run in support of Friends of Della and Don. 

The aim was to pay for a contractor to put in drainage around our school in Sri Lanka and defeat the dengue mosquito. The female mosquito breeds in stagnant water and unlike the malaria carrying mosquito bites during the day. Dengue has been responsible for several deaths and many seriously ill children and adults in Sri Lanka and South East Asia during this past year.  

The runners were all heroes – the fastest Nature Publishing Group participant completed the course in 48 minutes. An amazing achievement in such heat. So far, nearly £3,000 has been raised by the runners from their sponsors    Thank you so much for anyone who took part in any way at all.

Loads more pics on flickr.