Red cross youth, Small treat (9th February 2013)

A group of people come in the morning and do a few activities with the kids in the hall. They are representative of Sri Lankan Red Cross Youth. Lots of interesting games are introduced to the kids to foster unity, bonding and cooperation.

Red Cross Youth

Games!

In the evening I went to Pizza Hut and ordered 10 boxes of the large ones to be delivered tomorrow at 2pm to Sarana. I went to the supermarket to buy bottles of water and some snacks for the kids. Then they again sneak in to watch some movies today in my room using my laptop.

I am really sad to see that once some kids are recovered, the other are infected. They are staying and sleeping in close proximity and hence the infection spread faster. It breaks my heart seeing each of them getting their turn falling sick. I hope a speedy recovery for them.

Tomorrow is Chinese New Year and my family goes for a buffet for CNY dinner. I want to join them too. L

Watching Tamil Movie (8th February 2013)

Amara serves me triposha in the morning; the best ones I ever had. This statement might be bias though. She is so motherly; I love her so much. :’)

Today the girls ask me to play a DVD (Tamil movies with Sinhala subtitles) in my laptop. One of the girls buys the DVD and sneaks in to watch it in my room. The DVD is indeed collection of thriller and horror movies. They are really scared the auntie supervising the Girl’s home will find out. In the end they finish watching 2 out of 4 films.

I have started writing letters for 25 girls, and 3 of the aunts and this requires massive dedication. Each letter has different content about what I feel about them and I also express my gratitude for the experience in Sarana. I only have 6 days left in Anuradhapura and I think I have done quite much thus far. My works in Sarana has became a routine: helping them doing their English homework, daily conversation, formal teaching about thrice per week, spending most of the time pampering the little ones, showering them with care and love, sharing secrets, etc.

One thing I realize that one in two days I have been drinking at least a gulp of tap water. The girls serve me a glass of water but not all of them know I can not drink tap water. These days I do not have problems with my bowels hence I think I am immune to drinking tap water now?

Adjectives, Birthday celebration (7th February)

For the past few days every morning, Ganidhu (3 years old boy)’s mother: Amara (she stays in Sarana Children’s home, she can not speak and can not hear) always serves me a generous breakfast and makes sure I won’t starve. She is very caring towards me. She is like a mother to me in Sarana. Her husband is working in other city and he also can neither speak nor hear. God is kind that Ganidhu is perfectly normal just like everyone else. I am very well- feed here; they keep serving me various kinds of food for breakfast, morning tea, lunch, afternoon tea, evening tea and dinner.

Me, Ganidhu and Amara

Korean teacher is coming to Sarana in the evening. He teaches Korean language and speak Sinhala quite well. He celebrates two girls (Shalani and Mayuri) birthday today (January-February). He buys a lot of wafer biscuits, creates a tower and adds some candles on that. I also join them, sing a Happy Birthday song in Korean and we take some pictures as a memento. In the later day I teach them some new vocabs, and help them with their English homework.

The girls and Korean teacher

Blood test result, a visit, cinema (6th February)

Early morning I get my blood test result. It indicates that I have low haemoglobin and high neutrophils count. Whereas the platelets count is normal; this indicates that I am not infected with dengue. Thank God that my itchiness might just be due to food allergy. Neutrophils count above normal range means that I have some bacterial infection. I did not request for a blood culture and thus I do not know which bugs cause the spike in nutrophils. And low Hb level is due to the diet wise here; I rarely eat meat as the dishes provided are mainly carbohydrate-based with little veggies.

Blood test result

In the evening, Thomas (Chinese intern who came with me for a Global Village) visits Sarana Girls’ Home. The kids are excited and some of them recognize him. They say that Thomas is their English teacher in their primary school. I get a chance to share some of the experience with him. His project is basically teaching grade 1-5 kids thrice a week. He has lots of free slots and has travelled to Kandy last week with two other interns from China. This weekend he is going to travel to Galle again for 4 days with the other two Chinese interns. I want to join them but I have only 9 days left here, so I think it is best that I spend more time with the kids.

Thomas and the girls

At night, we watch a Sri Lankan movie in the Mouse (one cinema in Anuradhapura), a treat from Sir to celebrate his birthday (who is like the principal of this children’s home). It is neither like the cinema in Jakarta nor Australia where we sit and watch in a cozy sofa. Instead the cinema seems old and we sit on wooden chairs. Unfortunately there is no English subtitle available and it is a bit hard to catch the meaning at first. However, in the end of the story I can comprehend what the movie is about- sometimes actions speak more than words. It is very touching and most of the girls cry watching the movie. The movie highlights the comparison between a boy from rich and poor family. The poor boy could not afford to go to school and he always sneaks in and hides at the back of the classroom in every lesson, solemnly listening to what teachers are explaining. When the poor boy is invited to the rich boy house, he is flustered and he does not know how to use the toilet; big houses seem foreign to him. But the poor boy never give up on his dreams, with the support from his surroundings (friends, neighbors and family), he eventually win a junior inventor competition. He creates a mouse that is operated by feet and not hands.

In my opinion, this movie has taught valuable lessons: no matter what challenges and hardships that we have been through, never give up and always look forward. Hard work and faith (belief in one self) will never betray us and eventually all these will be paid off someday.

Blood test and Night chat (5th February)

I get my blood extracted today for 300 rupees (~US $ 3) and will get the result tomorrow. I hope everything will turn out fine. At night, I have a chat with two of the girls- Sanduni and Ruwani. Amongst all kids, these two are most interested and excited learning English. I am very pleased with that. We share about lots of stuff- friends, family, future, relationships, cultures, etc and each day I speak with them, our conversation flows better and they recognize quite a number of new English words. They tell me that they feel sad I am going to leave in about 10 days. Moreover, they say that if I stay longer for another 5 or 6 months or more, their English will significantly improve. Sarana Girls’ Home has 3 English teachers coming every week and still most of them do not know the most Basic English. They are not interested in learning because the language is foreign to them; hence they do not have motivation and are reluctant to revise what the teachers taught them. I think this kind of project- having an intern who can not speak their language at all to stay with them is a more effective approach in improving their conversational English skills rather than sitting in a classroom and merely listening to what the teachers taught them.

As a reflection, I think that one of the most helpful methods to teach them and memorise vocabs easily is by introducing English songs. I am delighted that most of them now are able to greet others, remember all days of the week, recognise colours, body parts and some food in English.

National Day and Weird Symptoms (4th February 2013)

I could not sleep at night- feel very itchy around my hand and feet. I realize that small skin-coloured spots are appearing as well. Two days ago I got a headache and mild fever at night but having itchiness as a symptoms makes me think that I might be contracted with debilitating and fatal disease- can be Dengue Fever, Filariasis, etc. I really hope this is just an allergic response (but I do not think that I have food allergy). In the afternoon I go to the doctor and he said that at least 3 days of incubation period is necessary to detect the presence of dengue in our blood stream. The doctor gives me 3 types of tablet for itchiness which are meant to be taken thrice a day. He also advices me to take panadol or paracetamol if I still get a headache. The cost added up to 300 rupees (~ US $ 3), which I think is ridiculously cheap. So I’m coming back to the doctor tomorrow for a blood test. On my way home, I buy a mosquito sprays as there are at least 5-10 mosquitoes in the bathroom every time I take a shower. It is very uncomfortable and I am scared if these vectors carry some nasty microorganisms and parasites.

The kids in Sarana seem to be worry about me. However, a number of them get a severe flu and fever; and once a few kids are recovered, the others show signs of infection. They sleep close to each other in a big room. No surprise if the disease spread swiftly. For the past few days the weather also gets a bit colder. I do wish them a speedy recovery.

Recording (2nd February 2013)

I do some recording and photo shoots at night. They are very lovely and excited as well, posing in various styles!

Tanuja, Piumi, me, Sanduni, Ruwani, Hanzi
Sureka, Shiwerani, Aruni, Tanuja, Aushadi, Wishmi, Ravihari, Dananjena

Happy! :)