Day 9 - Our Last day of Teaching in Batti

Day 9 -

Our last day of teaching in Batti but it didn't disappoint! We were all greeted kindly by the sun this morning (yay for no rain!) before heading off to our last preschool sessions at Naripul Thoddam, Pattipalai, Little Stars, Ampalanthurai and Kurumavely. As always, they were very successful and it was great to see that we had planned our resources well as we managed to get through the week without any mishaps! Thank you resources managers Liz and Lauren for keeping everyone organised and supplied up. Then to end a lovely day, OSL team members, CPS teachers and team 2 visited Urani Saraswathy Vidyalayam for the most amazing and spectacular Variety Performance. As soon as we stepped off the bus, we heard to banging of the drums coming from the Samba Band that Ross Walker from CPS has been working with for 4 years. It was amazing to see how much work these student had put into the program and they have now gone on to preform in multiple events and competitions.

The show then went on - beautiful cultural dances and songs were preformed, speeches were made and gratitude to the cultural exchange was expressed from the Principles and from Dilanee. And of course, we were all treated to the delights of Sri Lankan hospitality with delicious homemade Sri Lankan cakes, goodies and teas. After the show we all had a disco party and got extremely sweaty showing off some of our brilliant moves. The boys showed us some of their best breaking dancing skill and it put us all to shame! What a brilliant night that no one will forget!

Day8 - Let’s head for Trinco!

Day 8 - Let’s head for Trinco!

Today team 2 and team 1 both took the trip down to Trinco to visit three schools - one preschool, one secondary school and one high school - all came back with varying but positive experiences!

As we climbed the steps to the preschool we could see the warm welcome that awaited us; lots of children, parents and grandparents. We had a shorter session that usual given the long journey from Batti to Trinco and also because the children had prepared songs and dances to show to us. In spite of the limited time the children got really into the ‘I think I can’ theme and really enjoyed the story and hat making. We were then treated to a superb display of English action songs, and beautiful tamil singing and dancing. Some of the children wore traditional dress to perform. We were then offered delicious cake and fresh papaya and bananas, before being taken to the teacher’s house to meet her family and enjoy a refreshing glass of mango juice along with dates and sweets. We were overwhelmed by the generosity shown to us. It really was a wonderful morning.

Lauren

Trincomalee primary school, house visit & Hindu temple

Me, Amali, Rod, Rev Dan, Zeddy and Dharshan went to the Trinco primary school. Rod, Dan and Dharshan headed outside to do all sorts of games with the boys, Zeddie went to do train hats with the grade 2s and some grade 1 stragglers (the majority of grade one were in some mysteriously unknown location). Me and Amali went into the grade 3 classroom with the girls. We started with decorating stars with different kinds of tissue paper and card. The girls got stuck in and spent a lot of time carefulling putting there's together and I was very impressed with the beautiful and intricate designs they'd produced from somewhat limited resources. (They were all a lot better than mine) The teacher's ones especially were stunning. We also made paper chains using Julie's 'Lick n Stick' method which the girls enjoyed, periodically showing off and handing me their finished chains. The finished girls joined the accumulating crowd of children in the circle outside to do a very enthusiastic hokey cokey with Rod, Dan and Dharshan. The excited screams of "OHHHHHH THE HOKEY COKEY" could be heard from the classroom and made the remaining girls and us laugh. With a lot of effort and cello tape, Amali (mostly) and I managed to attach all the decorated stars on a line of string with a few paper chains to the ceiling and it looked amazing! As we embarked from the school we passed lots of smiling and waving children from their classroom windows, showing off their English with lots of Goodbyes and Good Afternoons.

Next we visited the house of… to relax and have a delicious lunch, a chance for some of the team to meet their sponsored children, a spot of Henna by Jasmine and the opportunity to buy some amazingly intricate folded card designs featuring elephants, swans and several types of vases.

Finally we headed to a famous Hindu temple in Trinco. I had my eyes keenly peeled for animals and was rewarded with many deer, several monkeys, some adorable kittens, and a peacock up in a tree, all of which I found very exciting, especially as they were all so close! The massive Hindu statue was very impressive and I felt quite educated as Dharshan explained to us the meaning behind some of the temple's exterior features- not to mention the great sea views. One the way back, me and some of the team stopped off for a coconut. It was amusing to watch the man just hack the top off with a knife and then stick in a straw. The coconut water proved very refreshing.

Day 7 - Corn and Tuk Tuk rides

Day 7 - Our second day of teaching and we've got the swing of things! today there were 4 groups all going to various preschools in Batti. Two groups were also luck enough to experience a good Sri Lankan tuk tuk ride ( through the flooded roads ) to quite remote areas of Batti. Olivia, Katie and Julie where also lucky enough to witness the grand opening of a water supply built by Ocean Stars. Some parents explained that they would have to walk 5k to access water so it was an honour to have experienced this important event that will help so many.

Katie

Today has been just amazing! It was such an honour for Olivia and I to have had the opportunity to open the water supply at the preschool! Our group today was smaller than expected but the children were so full of fun and enthusiastic with the activities - especially the bean bag games. Then after a busy morning we were kindly treated to some delicious fresh corn from a stall on the side of the road by our lovely tuk tuk driver. After a bit of relax in the afternoon, we headed off to the Deaf Link Party. It was definitely a successful evening with over 80 people turning up to join the celebration!

Dan + Zeddy Today I visited mandoor for the preschool sessions. The children warmed up to us and had exciting times with the stories, games, songs and painting of hats. Meeting the sponsor children and their families was also overwhelming. Had a challenge with the rain and had to swap vans on the way to preschool - thanks to a Good Samaritan driver who stopped and helped us with our van and too us to the preschool

Dan and Lauren Wow! The rain is insane. I’ve been based in Batti since May and I have never seen it rain like this. But as usual, I was amazed by the teamwork of everyone in the Sri Lanka team to make out preschool visits happen. Despite having to take these different vehicles, we eventually arrived at Mandoor 1 preschool. Lauren and I got stuck into teaching and the children had a wonderful time. The D&D evening was fantastic- great to see familiar faces. Chug chug, puff puff

Lauren

Mandoor 1 pre school & deaf link:

The morning started off a bit challenging when we found the road to Mandoor flooded. Chitra, on the ball as always, starting making some calls to arrange some tuktuks to take us to the preschools.

However, as we waited, a random man kindly stopped for us. Me and the team got into his minibus and faced the floods. On the other side, I had my first ride in a tuktuk, side by side with Chitra and the preschool teacher.

The preschool went smoothly and we had lots of fun. I particularly enjoyed making the collage with the children and seeing their cheeky personalities being brought out during the hokey cokey.

At the beginning there was an amusingly underwhelming opening of the kitchen as Dan posed for a photo with his little scissors. Although you can see how important this new facility is for the preschool, giving them needed clean space to prepare food for the children's lunches and snacks.

I thoroughly enjoyed the Deaf link evening. I was manning the scratch art with Amali, it was so popular we ran out of cards! Had a fab time being the sauce and poppadom girl when serving the dinner and felt we really worked as a team with our.. engine line styled serving. It was hilarious to see Dan using two plates to grab and drop mountains of noodles from the massive bath of noodles on the ground! As we ate, me and Liz talked to one of the sponsor children and her mother. She told us how she used the sponsor money to pay for private english lessons, and her English was very good at the age of only 11. She also said that she wanted to become a Doctor and was achieving 100 in science and 98 in maths! This conversation really highlighted the importance of what Ocean Stars does and how it changes lives.