My trip to Sri Lanka would not have been possible without the help of many colleagues, friends and relatives who sponsored me before I left the UK. You may remember to prove I was serious about the project I took a dip in the icy Forth Estuary near Edinburgh on New Year's Day.
The best thing about all the support people gave was that even after the expensive flights and injections, and various unexpected costs along the way, I had some sponsor money left to donate to one of our local charities.
While I have been busy working away with the rural women in Weeraketiya, Norny has been working equally hard in Tangalla. Her role is communications advisor and her local partner organization is a long-established charity working to improve the lives of disabled people. The organisation works across several Sri Lankan districts, and cares for 2,600 people with disabilities monthly.
They operate a holistic centre, providing people with physiotherapy, speech therapy, prosthetics and orthotics (false limbs and corrective devices) and many other services. As part of this work they have recently set up a training centre. This centre will allow them to look after the physical needs of their clients while providing them with life skills and livelihoods training. They will cover subjects like IT, handicrafts, English language and business and entrepreneurship.
The training centre is the first one in this whole region that offers accessible residential facilities, including a wheelchair ramp, an accessible toilet, and sleeping quarters for the students. This last part is essential in this area, as many of the clients will have to travel 40 or 50 km by public transport to get to their training, and could therefore struggle to attend a two-day course if they couldn't stay over. So once this facility is up and running, they will get some really great new educational opportunities.
Nearly Ready for the Clients
The charity’s staff have worked hard to complete the building and make it ready for the classes to start, but they have been struggling to find the funds to get the facility prepared with furniture and equipment.
That’s where my fundraising will come in. They have asked me to sponsor eight tables, twenty-six pillows, sixty pillow cases, a newspaper stand and (very important) mosquito nets to keep the bugs off at night. This furniture and equipment will bring them considerably closer to opening up the centre and starting residential courses there later this year.
In the meantime they have to make do with a much less accessible facility. I went there to chat to the teacher, and he introduced me to some of the students this equipment will help.
Suchendra and me in the current computer room.
Suchendra has been coming to the IT training since he finished school. He is in his early 20s but his education and independence has been hampered by his learning disability. His mother has given him so much support through his adolescence, but when his father died in the Tsunami it was a real toll on the family. By attending classes at the Navajeevana centre, he is doing something he really enjoys, and it also gives his mother a break from the full time job caring for him. Suchendra and the other students are really looking forward to using the new facility once it is up and running. So their thanks go out to all my supporters and sponsors around the world!
The outside of the new training centre, with some other UK volunteers digging the garden.
The accessibility ramp.
Inside the new centre.
The students enjoy their computer classes, and loads of other subjects.
Leaving the Island
Now we have arrived in India. It is a real thrill to visit a different country which also has a rich history and culture, intertwined with Sri Lanka's since ancient times. But SL was our home for six months, and we were really involved with the local community there.
I think we can continue to help them even though we've physically moved on, and what we learnt there will stay with us for a long time.
Through this blog I have shown some of the highlights, but there is so much more that I couldn't show. I'd better keep in practice with the camera for my return visit...
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