This morning we had to unfortunately delay the fish market trip till Tuesday as our Sinhala expert was not present. Instead we got a lie in, while team 3 had to pack ready for their trip to the beach. Later we wandered (0830) into the local town of Hambantota to buy equipment for our projects, fitted sarees (for the girls), sarongs for the boys ( Harri, Reuben and Max from our team) and anything else we could find in the busy bustling streets, some people even bought henna. Sadly the teachers have lost track of the days of the week so we couldn’t exchange money as the banks were all shut on a Sunday! There was a small rave outside of a gift shop with Brooker, Austen, Joe, Harri, Charlie and Reuben and after that we went to the local beach and played in the sand and waves. The group went and joined in with Sri Lankan boys on the beach who were clapping and drumming in the waves. Harri, Charlie and Brooker were met by a massive wave which soaked all of their clothes. This meant that they had to travel back in sarongs and boxers (basically showing themselves to the country) . After arriving back home we started the project work. Everyone did exceptionally well and a lot was achieved in the space of an afternoon (photos are on the Facebook profile page). Reuben, Charlie, Annabel and Amelia made great progress on the vegetable plots (along with some help from the groundskeeper ), others such as Brooker, Harri and Joe were putting their best effort into a path for the kindergarten children, which will lead to an outdoor reading area. Morty had managed to sneak off to the international cricket game after Karu offered him complimentary tickets.) Austen and Izzy dug a huge hole for the hopscotch to be placed, after we had been taught the game by our buddies the day before. (Shoutout to Baba) Others such as Polly, Ellie, Anne and Maddie K helped with painting murals and a large globe, and Grace created a first aid course to teach later to the children, as well as planned and designed the hopscotch. In case Max’s parents are reading, Max was water and hat monitor, keeping us safe in the heat. (He also organised the whole puppet show with Maddie T)
After our project work, Charlie and Harri shot a music video which included a hose, soap and clothes. Grace, Brooker and Lucie went out for a intense workout and run, Brooker never skips leg day. Dinner was fantastic and after we all sat down to a dance show by Grace, Izzy and Charlie.
The teachers shoutout (it’s a new thing, which started yesterday….the winner yesterday was Maddie T for being amazing) went to Austen for his fantastic work today and resilience and perseverance to get the job done,
Thank you all for reading the blog,
Lots of love from Charlie xox