Guest Blog - Emma & Charlie

Emma (a friend and colleague of Steve) and her daughter, Charlie, are here for the first time and the Village Nursery school has already won a special place in their hearts. This is what Emma wanted to post:

Charlie teaching English Nursery rhymes

Each day this week, my daughter Charlie and I have been to a small nursery school in the fishing village which was devastated 8 years ago, where we have been playing with the children who are really enjoying the new toys we have taken for them. There's been singing and dancing, teaching numbers and colours in English. We've thoroughly enjoyed our time there and have got to know them all well. They are very kind, sweet, normal, three to five year olds despite coming from the most under-privileged backgrounds. They have loved us going to see them and have huge smiles on their faces when we turn up, leading the teachers to ask us to visit the next day, which - of course - we have. They are such warm and loving children: I can’t stress enough how welcome they have made us and how much joy we have had interacting with them.

Four others live in this single room shack

Last night we were walking down the beach and saw where these children lived. They ran out of their homes to us and welcomed us in. I was shocked by what I witnessed, and my heart went out to their whole families. I had no idea the very same children we have got to know, went to live and sleep in these awful places after nursery class ended. 

The "bed" for the family

They seem so uninhabitable at least compared to what we're used to; a whole family shares a bed - specifically a piece of old foam on the floor, and many houses don’t have roofs.  I had a lump in my throat and tears in my eyes when I left, I had no idea these children had to live in such basic conditions, and it’s simply not fair. 

The "bathroom"

Walking back towards our Hotel I couldn’t get the images of these homes and how these families live out of my mind. I couldn’t go back to England and not do anything, knowing these children are living like this. Like most people, if I had seen these homes before getting to know the families that live in them, I would have thought these homes belonged to people that had no respect for themselves. But they are far from that, they are lovely, decent, warm people that have been dealt a bad hand. 

It's an injustice that by virtue of geography and circumstance a child and their family should live in such conditions. We would be outraged if it went on within our own neighbourhoods, and distance is not an excuse to see these warm hearted people and not consider their predicament.

New Boat Launched

Della and Don bought a fishing boat 8 years ago on their first trip back to Sri Lanka after the tsunami; they thought that was going to be that and never imagined in their wildest dreams that they would still benefiting so many today.  

Eight years is a long time in Sri Lanka for small boats especially when there are two monsoon seasons a year and so time was taking its toll and the original boat was beginning to take on water and the engine was costing the fishermen a lot of money to repair they could ill afford.  So Toby and his colleagues at the ALPSP set about raising money for a new boat, engine and GPS equipment towards the end of 2012 raising more than half towards the total needed.   We then launched the end of year appeal and successfully raised the remainder by New Year’s Day 2013.

This is the result:

The fishermen now have a new, reliable and safe boat from which they can fish and provide for their families.  From them, thank you to all who helped us reach our goal.

A Shoe-perb Day!

At the heart of FODAD is the belief that all children should benefit from an education. In Sri Lanka, if you don’t have a uniform or shoes you cannot go to school. So, we try and remove any of the obstacles that might prevent a child from attending by providing shoes and uniforms for everyone.  On Friday we did just that, handing out uniforms and shoes to every pupil at the Village School and 25 pairs of shoes to the children at the the Village Nursery school. We also provided shoe vouchers for all the teachers, too.

Della handing out shoes at the Village Nursery

Another one of the 25 pairs handed out at the Nursery School

Della and Don handing out uniforms

In order to provide an incentive to actually attend, four years ago we also set up an annual prize for attendance and good behaviour in memory of the Sarath de Mel, who was Della and Don’s guide during their trip when the tsunami happened in December 2004. Sarath believed in the importance of a good education and so on Friday his widow and son joined us in handing out prizes to those who had excelled over the past 12 months.

All the winners of the annual prize

One of the prize winners

The day also marked an important day in the school calendar when the new prefects for the forthcoming year are chosen and the prefects’ blazers are handed over to them.  Proud parents also attended and beamed with joy and pride as their sons and daughters donned their blazers.

Prefects taking the oath

It was a long day but one very worthwhile. We reflected later on how much has been done to build the strongest foundations for a child’s education.  By removing the reasons for non attendance and providing incentives to actually go – a daily meal, annual prize, a good environment – we’re sure Sarath would approve.

The SLashes - (Sri Lankan Ashes)

An expectant crowd gathers

A highlight of any trip is the annual local village “tenty tenty” cricket match which takes place on the beach at the Fishing Village.

A new trophy was up for grabs this year – after Lehiru, last year’s winning captain and our tuk-tuk driver, refused to hand it over, so proud was he of his accomplishment. So Della and Don had gone out bought a new trophy which is even more “bling” than the last. The match was hotly contested with two captains each keen to lift the new trophy.  Steve, Harry and Gav joined  Lehiru alongside 8 other villagers and were pitted against Udaya and his side. 

As is usual, there were fine displays of dodgy Sri Lankan bowling and iffy decisions by the umpires but with an accomplished over by Harry and despite Gav’s fielding, Lehiru’s side was  victorious to bring the score to 3-3 in the series – it’s amazing that this event has now been running 6 years – and this was probably the best supported ever.

Della did the honours and handed over the new trophy to Lehiru and his team, wondering if we’ll ever get that one back.  It’s a great afternoon of fun, and helps bring the community together and in such a wonderful setting.

Harry tries a yorker

Della challenging the umpire

Local hard-hitter

It's a Six

Della presents the trophy

The victorious team

A Picture Speaks a Thousand...

They say a picture speaks a thousand words so these pretty much capture the spirit of the Orphans’ day out.  But for any new readers, thanks to the dedicated efforts of some of our supporters we are not only able to provide vocational and academic studies for a girls orphanage but give them with their only trip outside of the orphanage twice a year.

Clearly, on this visit, we had nearly as much fun as the girls themselves!

90 girls - standing room only - for 2.5 hours

Ritual Humiliation

Chicken or Monkey?

Harry Della-Fonte

Lots of laughs

So glad to be out for the day

50 Shades of....

Too tired to write up all the latest but two images stood out when reviewing all the photos...

50 Shades of White Shirts

(from the Village School)

United Colours of FODAD

(from the annual village cricket match)

An amazing transformation....

It’s been 7 months since the last FODAD visit to Sri Lanka.  With everyone now in country, we went along to the Village School to see for ourselves the work which had been done whilst we’ve been away, thanks to the many donations and grants.

As we approached, it was eerily quiet. Normally, there are children scattered around the classrooms and the playground but this time, they were all in class, being exceptionally well behaved and you got a real sense that there was a lot of learning going on.

We went first to the back of the school which houses the primary children and which has been subject to the most building updates over the last 6 months.  Regular readers will know just how dilapidated this part of the school was but the transformation has been amazing. We’re still talking about a very basic school, but the classrooms had new ceilings, cupboards and desks and chairs, as well as a completely new roof and gutters. Three nights ago, there was probably the worst electrical storm that many could ever remember; the school remained dry and water-tight, even through this, which is something we're really proud of!

Then we visited the new computer room.  Again, this is so far removed from what we might think of as a computer science lab, but there were three laptops, one connected to the internet with students doing research online.  It was a great space to see, and very conducive for study.  We pay for a teacher to teach 3 days a week but unfortunately some of his time is spent teaching maths as there is currently no teacher for that subject.  There is some work we need to do to try and speed up the laptops which were donated to us as they're struggling in the heat despite the desk fan mounted to the ceiling!

Walking back out through the rest of the school it struck as just how much had changed over the last 6 months.  We still have reservations about the quality of English being taught and will have to investigate that further but it was a really positive visit and we left feeling real progress had been made.

Vocation,Vocation,Vocation!

When we visit Sri Lanka one of the highlights of the trip is our day out with the girls from the orphanage, which we have supported since 2005.  Since 2008 FODAD has supported vocational studies at the orphanage.  The aim is for the children to be able to leave and earn their own livings.  We employ teachers for dress-making, cookery and home economics classes and the girls are doing very well indeed.    

This afternoon Della cut the ribbon to a new cookery classroom.  We then looked at an exhibition of handiwork before Don helped give out the prizes for the best students and we then  watched a wonderful exhibition of dancing.  The money we spend is a really worthwhile investment. 

Admiring the handiwork

Don giving out prizes 

The girls dancing

Looking at the photo album, made by Toby

Another 65th Birthday!

Hot on the heels of my 65^th Birthday, Don and I attended the 65^th Anniversary of the Independence of Sri Lanka.  For the second year running, our school band had been invited to march in the Civic Ceremony.  We did not understand any of the speeches but we were as proud as any of the parents as we watched our small band march by. 

Due to the public holiday, we have not had a chance to visit our school yet but we are eagerly looking forward to seeing all the changes that have been made since we were last here and will be blogging!

Our school band! 

End of Year campaign launched

On December 26th, it will be 8 years since the Asian Tsunami when Della and Don were on the beach in Sri Lanka, and Della was prevented from drowning by a fisherman.

Since then, with the support of so many people, Della and Don and their friends and family have returned to Sri Lanka over 20 times to help the people they met during that awful time.

After 8 years they are still doing what they can and now have a number of projects all of which some of you have helped support and about which you can read at www.fodad.co.uk

Our original aim at the end of this year was to launch an appeal to buy a new boat for the fishermen and we are very fortunate in that Della’s publishing colleagues at ALPSP have already collected over half the money we need to purchase and equip a fishing boat which will help keep the village self- sufficient.  With your help we can reach the remainder of our £1,500 target.

This year, most of us have either experienced or witnessed how nature, in no time at all  can play havoc with peoples' lives and we understand how  difficult it is to make choices about where to donate money.

If you do help us, please be assured that every single penny we collect will go directly to the people who need it and will benefit from it. We pay all our own costs; have no staff, no middle-men, just us and a fisherman who does everything for us out in Sri Lanka.

Wherever you are, we hope you have a happy and peaceful holiday.

Della & Don