Negombo

Negombo is an old colonial beach town about 10 kilometers north of the International Airport.  This town is known for one of the most important fishing ports on the island.  Fishing is still the main source of the local economy here.  Among the people that live here are the Christian Sri Lanka or Catholic.  The people here are Karavas, Tamil and Sinhalese fishermen who converted to Catholic during the mid-sixteenth century under the influence of Portuguese missionaries.  Surnames such as de Silvas, de Soysas, Mendises and Pereras are of Portuguese. 

The Dutch that moved here and settle in Sri Lanka made the town an important commercial center and built canals and a fort to protect their investments.  Cinnamon and spices got shipped from here to other countries through the different shipping companies.

The Karavas are known for their beautiful wooden boats also known as oruwas. The name “catamarans” came from Tamil “ketti-maran” described the boat with hollowed-out trunk with a large sail attached to the boat.  In this town you would find many colorful wooden fishing boats and fish markets.

Projects Abroad have different placements here such as Teaching and Care.  Today we took one of our volunteer to her placement and host family.  Her name is Eilidh Munro and she will be doing her Teaching Placement here for one month.  She’s from Scotland and has never been to Sri Lanka before, so it was very interesting to watch her taking it all in on her first day with us.

We left the office around 9:00 A.M. and about 45 minutes later we arrived in this cute little sea-side town.  Our Project Manager, Charley drove us around to see where the bus station is and the train station and the main streets where you can find food, internet café and shops.  It was a hot day but the cool breeze that came from the ocean help to cool us some.

We introduced Eilidh to her new roommate and host family and got her all settle in.  Her host family has been caring for our volunteers for many years and they know exactly what our volunteers like.  They are always there with either drinks or snacks when ever our volunteers return home from a hot day at work.

As we wave and said “goodbye” we saw on Eilidh’s face that she’s very happy to finally arrive at her placement and host family.  She has our telephone numbers if she ever needed any assistance.

Chane

Social Manager – Sri Lanka

On The Road Again…

Hello!

My name is Chananan Sutsadang but most people know me as “Chane”.  I’ve worked for Projects Abroad nearly 8 years and it has been fun and a lot of learning too.  I have to say that Projects Abroad has been really good to me by giving me the best job I could ever ask for.

My home base is in Thailand but now I am here in Sri Lanka for 3 to 4 months.  I came to Sri Lanka on June 16 but before that I was in China for 3 months doing what I do now, which is Social Manager and Media work.  I would like to invite you to follow me on Twitter Projects Abroad Sri Lanka and Projects Abroad Sri Lanka The Official Group because I will be posting photos and blogs about Sri Lanka and our different activities we do in the country.  You can also follow me on mytripblog for Sri Lanka as well.

If you should have any questions please feel free to contact me on facebook or at chanesutsadang@projects-abroad.org

I hope to be the connection to you and our work in Sri Lanka.

Best wishes,

Chane

Chananan Sutsadang

Social Manager – Sri Lanka

Try to activate my blog, so I can write to everybody. Preparing myself to go to Sri Lanka at 23 of July in Colombo.

I'm doing very wel, excited, but look forward to go to Sri Lanka

With kind regards

Bettie

Ik weet sinds kort waar ik in Sri Lanka zal verblijven! Het is in het plaatsje Kindilpitiya. Dat zegt je natuurlijk niks, mij ook niet eigenlijk, maar ik weet wel dat het 28 kilometer van Colombo af is. Colombo is de hoofdstad van Sri Lanka en daar is ook het vliegveld. In Kindilpitiya zal ik in een gastgezin verblijven, ze hebben nog twee kleine kindjes, een meisje van 2 en een jongetje van 7 jaar, superleuk dus! Het is ongeveer 0,5 km lopen naar het project waar ik ga werken, dus dat zal ik wel kunnen vinden! Ik ga 's ochtends op een kleuterschool werken met kinderen van 3 tot 5 jaar. Daar moet ik ze een beetje vermaken en ook helpen met de dagelijkse dingen.  Dat zal van 8.00 uur tot 11.30 uur zijn. Hieronder zie je een foto van het schooltje, die foto heb ik op internet gevonden:

Nou, het is een leuke school als ik de foto zie, vooral de kleurtjes zijn lekker vrolijk!

Daarna ga ik in een jongensweeshuis voor jongens van 6 tot 18 jaar helpen, hun zal ik ook een beetje moeten vermaken, dus een beetje praten, spelletjes, knutselen. Dat lijkt me ook superleuk! Daar heb ik alleen nog geen foto's van kunnen vinden, maar dat maakt niet uit, ik wacht rustig af;)

Heee allemaal,

Ik heb net een hoop spullen via de post gekregen, allemaal van elecktrabel. Er zaten 3 voetballen, 3 ballenpomps, 10 mutsen (wat ik daar mee moet weet ik niet, want het is daar altijd 30 graden, ik ga het denk ik gebruiken voor spelletjes enzo;)), 25 keykoards, 100 pennen, 25 pennen met een lampje en 31 kettingen waar je de pen aan kan hangen. Nu moet ik nog een keer spulletjes kopen van het geld dat ik zelf bij elkaar heb gehaald, 100 euro! En nog 250 euro van de bank, daar ga ik proberen een schommel ofzo van te regelen. Ik heb er wel superveel zin in! Maar ik vind het wel spannend worden, vooral als ik daar aankom enzo. Maar het komt vast wel goed!

XXX Lysanne

Okay so this would probably be easier if i actually knew how to 'blog'. I've never blogged before and many people say it's just like a diary - that would be helpful if i'd ever kept a diary. I thought today seemed like a great day to start, the sun is shining, i have just had injection number 4 of 7 for Sri Lanka and i recieved my accomodation and placement information.

I've been getting quite anxious for some time now, well anxious isn't the right word its more apprehensive. I have been thinking about this trip a lot. The more i think the more excited i get. I have never been away volunteering in a foreign country on my own before. I can tell already that this will be a life changing experience.

It's all been quite manic, i decided to volunteer abroad in May and applied to go out to Sri Lanka at the end of July. From then it was all hands on deck...booking appointments for injections, starting to buy the necessities and now I am looking forward to finally getting out there. I'm going to be staying in a village called Nagoda and volunteering in their general hospital.

Well there we have it...my first attempt at a blog. Hopefully my "blogging ability" will improve over time haha.

x