Village School Fete

 June 23^rd saw the annual fete at the Village School in Hampstead, London.  Since 2005 the Village School has been a huge supporter of Fodad.  The parents and staff encouraged by  the Principal, Miss Gay  have generously supported fund-raisers  enabling  Fodad to open a school playground in Ratmalana as well as feed the children at the school  every day for the past 7 years. The fact that the children are fed means that not only are they as healthy as those from better off families but that their parents are encouraged to  send them to school knowing that they will at least have one good, nourishing meal each day. 





The fete at the school is the major fund-raiser for FODAD and luckily it did not rain.  Once again the parents went out of their way setting up stalls selling wonderful cakes and sweets and ensuring that there was  lots of fun and activities for the children, including an inflatable slide, clown performances and workshops, sponge throwing, as well as an amazing blend-your-own smoothie by bike stall.  

Della and Don arrived to find that the Friends of the Village School had printed a beautiful poster which no-one could miss as they came into the school.   Times are hard, and we understand that before this summer’s fund-raisers there was less than £5 in the coffers.  So thank you everyone at the village school – your support has been consistent and absolutely amazing!  Without you we could not possibly have achieved so much.

English is on the up!

During Della and Don's most recent trip to Sri Lanka in February, they noticed that the lack of a good English teacher at the village school was causing a huge problem, since speaking English opens up so many doors for children in Sri Lanka. 


However, they managed to enlist the help of the principal's daughter as an extra teacher for the time being, and hopefully a permanent English teacher will be found soon. She seems to be doing a wonderful job and she's extremely enthusiastic and dedicated to the childrens' education.


Below is an extract from a letter that the teacher wrote, expressing her thanks: 

'The first few weeks i did only speech and songs with the children; but later i had to follow the text book because they had to be prepared for the government exam. I think i have won the love of children, they long for my lessons, and come to fetch me to their class. This has been an encouragement to me.At the exam there were at least a few in every class who had obtained more than 50 marks.At the Wednesday assembly all the children join in an English song. Three children....are been trained to speak in English at the assembly. A translation of what is said in Sinhalese'

In other news, several students from the village school took part in a general knowledge contest and three of them were so successful that they've been selected to take part in the next round. 
And to top it off, there is a new science teacher who now comes to teach at the school 3 times a week, which be hugely beneficial for the children.


These may only sound like small things, but they make a huge difference to the kids at the school and help to create a better and more stable learning environment for them. 

Top Class Results

We received some wonderful news last week that two of the girls who we sponsor have achieved excellent G.C.E (GCSE) results.

One girl got straight As in her 9 subjects and the other got 5 As (distinction pass), 3 Cs (credit pass) and one S (ordinary pass). These are truly amazing results and it means that both girls can now go on to study at GCE Advanced level (A-level).

A special thanks to all of our supporters - it's because of you that these two girls can continue in further education!

                                     

Low flying bats

When we do get a day off, one of the highlights is the annual "tenty tenty" cricket tournament on the beach in Sri Lanka.  What simply started as the fulfilment of a boyhood wish of Steve has now turned into a feverishly fought competition between us and the fishing village.  This year, a new, more impressive trophy had to be fought over as the original went missing!  


After the closest game anyone could remember since we started in 2009, the "tourists" snatched a last over win to make it 3-2 in the series to Udaya's team.

Cricket can be dangerous!

Medical Magic

The Medical Clinic is a project which we've supported since 2005 which provides free advice, prescriptions and drugs to the most needy in the area, regardless of class or religion.  On Friday we went along to see it in action, to meet up with those running it and provide funding for the forthcoming year.  It was a busy day and we learnt that in 2011, 1800 patients had been treated in the last 12 months - a remarkable figure and one which means it costs us less than £1 per patient visit. In terms of impact on the community, this is the one project which has the highest number of beneficiaries and is testament to the organisers and doctors who give up their time for free.  They also told us about the various special awareness clinics that they hold to educate on preventing disease. One held last July (see pic) attracted over 800 visitors alone and more will take place in 2012.

We also met with the 15 families who the organisers have identified as needing special assistance, be it to support the families in covering the costs of educating their children or for specialist drugs.  Five new cases were added.

The Medical Clinic is a jewel in the crown of projects we support - it has such a mass impact across the community, represents remarkable value for money and is very efficiently run.

Mother's Pride

A mother called this morning to say that despite all her attempts, her 3 year old son had refused to take off his new uniform, shoes and back-pack since we handed them out to him and 30 other children on Wednesday morning at the nursery school deep in the jungle.  He resolutely refused to be parted from his newly acquired possessions and she was only able to remove them, shoes and all, after he eventually fell exhausted into bed at 9pm that evening.

The jungle nursery is in a really remote part of the country and the families are especially poor. Many of the new intake had not seen “white skins” before and for some it was all a bit too much to begin with. But they still managed to perform their dances for us before receiving their new uniforms which they immediately put on before their proud parents. 

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...

Lost Boys - Found!

We're really pleased to have eventually found and met up with the two boys from the village who were taken into care and then disappeared after being beaten by their drunken father and then their guardian. (see the previous blog post).


It took a two hour drive but eventually we tracked them down to a childrens' home on the way to Kandy road, some 90 km from the Village.  As we drove down the the road on the approach to the building, we were all silent, fearing the worst. But as we pulled up, first impressions were favourable and we caught a glimpse of Sanjeewa, the eldest of the two brothers.


We so wanted to see the boys but had to go through the formalities of being shown around.  It is a really nice place with just 19 children and was set up by a German couple in 2005. The place was spotless, the rooms were clean, light and modern, and it seems really well equipped - a far cry from the squalid prison we secretly feared. It's run by a married couple who seem very fond of all the children.


Eventually, we got to see Sanjeewa (14) and Sanjeew (11).  At first there was a moment of hesitation as they wondered why these people had come all this way to find them. But we spent an hour with the kids and found out more about the home and their new school.  Both boys seemed really happy with their new life, together.


Before leaving, we made a donation to the home, agreed to set up a bank account for the brothers which only they can access when they reach 18 and pay in 500 Rupees (£3) for each boy every month, and bought both of them new shoes for school and some cricket bats and balls.


As we left both boys were beaming and a few tears were shed from relief and happiness that both boys were still together and happy in their new home.

Orphan fun!

Normally, we take the 100 girls from the orphanage out for the day on each visit to Sri Lanka.  But as the last one was in July, this time the girls decided they wanted to hold their very first sports meet. 

As soon as we walked into the small area in front of the orphanage we could see just how much effort they had gone to with each house creating a different themed base decorated by the girls themselves.  A small running track had been marked out and we were shown to our seats, thankfully under a canopy shielding us from the strong sun.  There were nine events in all (including the lime and spoon and balloon burst races and amazingly the bun eating contest!) followed by races for the staff and visitors and a fancy dress competition.

The girls’ band kicked the event off including a synchronised dance display which was truly impressive.  We fund the bandmaster and it’s clear just how dedicated he is when we witnessed their performances. 

As the programme of events progressed, the hotter it got but the girls’ enthusiasm and cheering showed no sign of diminishing.  We had to judge the best decorated house which was an unenvious task as all the girls had surpassed themselves so it was difficult to choose a winner but at least we ensured that the others were joint runners up.

The fancy dress completion was also a real eye opener with a stellar performance buy the “fortune teller” but less convincing portrayals of “Colonel Qaddafi” and “The English Queen” but it was amazing fun and again, the girls had worked so hard.

This was the first sports day for the girls and we were humbled by being invited as guests of honour to a very special event.  We pay every month towards non-curriculum classes such as art, dress-making and needlework and these skills were very much on display throughout the day.

The day was so enjoyable and we left on a high after presenting all the prize winners with medals and cups because you just felt that each and every girl, no matter their circumstances, we’re enjoying spending time supporting each other – their only family, and being with us – their extended family.

We sincerely hope that there will be another sports meet next year and look forward to supporting that event and all the girls in the future.

Finally, three of  the old girls who we had sponsored to do some further education came back to join in the events and it was great to hear that two had moved on and now work in a hospital in Colombo and another is teaching and has got married.

PS – Della came a dignified 2= in the female visitors race; Don triumphed in the men’s race against Steve and Gav despite crashing to the ground and receiving first aid for scratches after trying to be just a little too competitive!

Funday Times

Today was an early start as we had so much to fit in: presenting 25 children at the Village Nursery School with new shoes and socks, a quick visit to the Medical Clinic for Michelle and Rich who are spending their last 48 hrs of their holiday in Sri Lanka seeing the projects, the Annual Fun Day at the Village School and handing out a further 120 pair of shoes for the students.

At the Village Nursery, we were greeted with garlands of fresh flowers and each of the children lined up – as patiently as 3-4 year olds can!  After their initial shyness, they soon got into the swing of being presented with their own shoes and socks.  Sadly, we know that for some, it may be the only pair they get until next year’s visit.

By 0900 we were on our way for a flying visit to the clinic; a further one is planned for next week but we wanted to show Michelle and Rich the clinic which FODAD funds through our generous supporters.  Quietly, it gets on with providing free medical advice and treatment to locals, with no fuss.  Each year, we get an annual report on the clinic detailing how the money was spent and each time, we’re staggered just how many people benefit from this service.

An hour later and we were back at the Village School for the annual fun day event and presentation of more shoes to all the children.  Although some of the games were different this year – we definitely didn’t want to include the “eat a dry bun on the ground with your hands tied behind your back” completion – the format was similar to previous years with Della, Don, Gav, Steve and on this occasion, Michelle and Rich managing a team of about 25 kids from 5-16.  It has to be said that there had been various degrees of preparation by the managers: Gav came armed with Scooby Doo blowers hats and balloons which he’d bought months earlier off eBay.  Others chose a more casual approach and had party supplies from the local supermarket including a beautiful set of wings for Della’s Queen Butterfly team. The action was preceded by another demonstration by the school band and this time, both the Sri Lankan and English national anthems (cue embarrassing mumbles by the time we got to the 3^rd verse of ours).

And so on to the games…  Steve’s Lanka Lions took an early lead excelling in the lime and spoon race – similar to the egg and spoon but the spoon is lodged between the teeth.  Don’s King of the Ring team put in a spirited performance in the sack race but by the time of the third event – “pass the water by hand in a relay to fill a bottle” – it looked like the Don and Della’s team were going to be competing for last place. However, musical chairs proved to be a hidden talent for Della’s team and the competition was still wide open by the time of the final event: balloon dancing.  Luckily, whatever talent Gav lacks in this department, was more than made up by his team who ended up taking the honours.  By the closest of margins, the Scooby Doos were victorious and all proudly received their medals from Della and Don.

With the excitement of the games over, it was now approaching 2pm and getting really hot so when it came to handing out over 120 pairs of shoes, the planning and preparation proved its worth and nobody had to stand around too long.

The Scooby Doos

Day’s like today are really worthwhile; whilst we constantly try and improve the quality of the education that the children receive, today hopefully also demonstrated to the kids and teachers the value of teamwork and that coming to school can be fun.

Waiting in line for new shoes