Aybowan everyone!!
It's been a while since the last
update. Setting up the project and our new home has been time consuming. But things
are settling down a little so we thought we would take advantage (of some rare & decent Internet
connection) of the opportunity to update you.
We've missed you all.....
Our house is feeling like home; Kyan and Asia-Lilly are enjoying school life and dealing fantastically with the
heat and the constant attention of the locals.
Asia-Lilly is especially happy - Sri Lanka has brightened her life
beyond recognition resulting in Racheal and I being able to fully focus on
work.
We mentioned that this is a time
of real growth and transition for the local charity we are working with. Previously the charity had four centres
spread over the city but they have now secured a new(ish) space where all the centres
co-exist under one roof; providing support for up to 60 + babies, pre-schoolers, kids aged 7 to 12 and 13 to 18 years. The outskirts of Kandy city also provides a
'safe house' where mothers and children seek refuge from domestic violence,
abuse and homelessness.
The speed the charity has
developed since it began in 2007 reflects the needs of parents for a safe place
where their children can be cared for whilst they endure the labours of their
survival. The parents are poor and most
survive by begging, street vending or street cleaning. There is no support system for the families who are of a cast that is neither recognised or heard but who contribute so
much to fuel the machine of the city.
The most defining factors so far that Racheal and I have recognised has been our inability to judge correctly the age of the
children we work with. Children who appear like babies unable to walk, crawl or
feed properly are so undernourished and underdeveloped that they are actually twice
the age they appear. Children aged the
same as Asia-Lilly's (who is three years old) are as light as newborn
babies. Another defining characteristic
that sets them apart is the terrible condition of their skin; scarred legs,
arms and heads with bodily warts, untreated sores and the infected bites of mosquitoes
that result from having to sleep unprotected outdoors. We met a young volunteer from Germany in the
week called Rachel (Rachel 1, and ours
is Racheal 2 and not the older Racheal ok?!!). She helped some parents take home
their four children from the centre, including two gorgeous newborn identical
twins, a two and a six year old. Their 'home' comprised of a 6 by 3 foot piece of cardboard on the floor of an annex to the busy,
noisy and oxygen deficient bus station.
When the children return to the centre in the mornings all they want to
do is SLEEP. The luxury of a soft
mattress, protection of walls, relief from a cooling fan and 1 to 1 care from
staff are everything they crave.
The approaching month of August
is going to be a challenging one for everyone at the Kandy centre. As in the UK the children will be on school
holidays. Kandy is also the home of Sri Lanka's most defining festival called
Esala Perahera that runs for 10-days and with thousands of visitors it attracts
many dangers to the streets. This will
be a time of increased risk for the children we work with and we have been asked
to devise a 20-day programme of activities to positively engage children and
young people and entice them off the streets and back into the safety and security
of the centres. We are also planning a
road trip in August to visit two other projects in the poorer Eastern & Northern towns of Batticolao and Kilonochi. The project in Batti is run by young community leaders
and we feel this may be a great place to start our T.E.A training. The North and East are still very much feeling the
effects of the long civil war.
Racheal has recently begun
teaching English to teenagers. This is very challenging as the behaviour
and boundaries of the young people are typical of children who know how to
survive on the streets. Racheal is also
helping to do some policy work so she splits her time between the head office
and the centre. Together we ran an arts
workshop recently with fifteen 8-12 year olds who created lots of beautifully
designed and laminated hands and feet silhouettes which you may have seen as the new cover photo on our Facebook page. The children were thrilled
to be able to take home a design and the rest will be given as individual gifts to a group of 21 student volunteers who are visiting this month to help with the continuing renovation of the centres. I have begun to inject some colour onto the
walls of the centres; beginning with the babies nursery and in between feeding and
caring for mostly unwell babies (i received a welcome vomit on my 1st day!lol) I have been designing and implementing positive
art ideas for the blank walls. I
have plans to create a safe space that reflects the kids thoughts, feelings and
aspirations. Where they can read, play, receive counselling or just relax and feel safe. The budget is little to none so if any of you feel like sending anything to us in the post it would be gratefully received, no matter how small. Even one pen would go a long way. Stickers, pens, pencils, sketch pads, glitter, glue, scissors, brushes...you know the type of thing:
Our address is 148/6 Mapanawatura Road, Kandy, Sri Lanka if you want to get in touch. Asia-Lilly is in charge of collecting the post; so far we have only had a one water bill and some leaves so if you could send anything it would make her day.
Our present focus is the
important task of developing relationships with the children and young people
and to basically learn and understand where they are coming from and gain their
trust. We are very mindful that before we can begin to develop any TEA
Project children's rights training we must first culturally understand the
children, the barriers and gain their respect.
Please send us a message
if you have any ideas, thoughts or advice you would like to share or just want to say hi; we want you to remain as involved as
possible in everything we do. Even at this early stage we
feel the potential to make a difference and a positive change to the lives of the street children is enormous.
Without you
none of this would be possible and we want you to know and really feel that your contributions & donations are directly having a positive effect. They really are. Well done you.
If it works i've hopefully attached some photos of the journey so far for you to see.
Speak soon and hope all is well in your worlds.
Love as always,
Racheal & Carl