The past month has been a
struggle for The Project health wise. Sri Lanka was hit with a nasty island
wide influenza epidemic effecting most of the population. It took a concoction
of medicines and 5 weeks for us to shift it. But we're fortunate we can seek
effective treatment; sadly it's taken the lives of some of the more vulnerable.
We've juggled our health with work and the school
holidays and the struggle has been worth it.
During the August holidays The TEA Project works at a local charity
centre in Kandy; a safe place that cares for vulnerable children. Here children
receive further education, are guaranteed a hot meal and can hang out with
their peers and relax in safe surroundings. The TEA Project provides the
charity with creative and stimulating weekly 'Street-safe' workshops where
children get the chance to explore & express their creative abilities both
individually & collectively through fine art, crafts, dance, music, debate,
creative writing, children's rights awareness and competitions. Most importantly we are there to make sure
they have fun.
The TEA Project works for children from the poorest social backgrounds.
If employed, parents work long hours in the lowest paid manual labour positions
such as street cleaning or if not working then begging. School holidays present
increased hardship rather than excitement. Without supervision or the
distraction of school to occupy their time children assume increased family
responsibilities; cleaning, cooking, washing etc. Modern day Cinderellas.
Others are left in the care of extended family members where abuse is common.
Some prefer the care of the streets and the harmful opportunities that arise
from tourism. So Street-safe is an important service.
We decided to take our kids to the beach by Trincomalee in the north east
for a 5 day mini break of prescribed hammock time and sand action to try and
shift the flu with some sea air. It didn't work unfortunately but we still had
the best family time ever. 5 hours by bus from Kandy gets you to Trinco; relatively
still undeveloped since the end of the war compared to the south it's a pearl
of a place where you can kick back away from the crowds and pollution of the
city. We even gained some new friends to The TEA Project. We met Ela and Lukasz from Dublin one evening and have since received an email letting us know they have ordered 100 pens
for the Sri Lankan children. Thank you guys.
Look out for the
launch of our '30/30 Appeal 2015' in September. With your help we are planning to provide 30 days of
dynamic youth led training & workshops through October and November 2015
that will reach hundreds of Sri
Lankan children through three empowering TEA project initiatives; 'Life/Echo', 'L.I.F.E Training' and 'Joining Hands'.
Keep your eyes on the horizon.
We wish you all the best of health,
Have fun wherever you are.
Catch you in September...
C&R
