The Medical Seminar

In

Wadduwa

On 30 June 2011 we had our Medical Seminar in a small beach town south of Colombo, Wadduwa. Five volunteers came for this and the topic for this seminar was about the cardiovascular system.  Our medical volunteers chose to do this project just because they are planning to attend medical school or just finding out if they like the field.  The placements that they each go to allows them experiences that they may not normally get in their countries, so it is a good place for them to start.

Our guest speaker was Dr. Sunil S. Fonseka.  He also helps us in all our Medical Camps as well. He belongs to the Sri Lanka Lion’s Club.  He helps us lead the Medical Camps all over Sri Lanka.  We are very happy to have him join our team in helping people that needed the medical attention.

Dr. Fonseka brings with him different interesting topics to share and teach our volunteers.  Our volunteers gets to ask questions and give input from their own experiences they had while at their placements as well.  It is really interesting time for both volunteers and Dr. Fonseka.

We had a very nice lunch prepared for us when the seminar was over.  The view of the beach as the waves comes into the beach was very beautiful.  We all enjoyed our lunch and time together the new volunteers and the older ones.  This allows them extra time to meet each other out side of their work place and home. 

Projects Abroad Sri Lanka tries to arrange Medical Seminar and Medical Camp every month if we can.  The areas that we have not ventured out are the northern part of Sri Lanka, just because it is consider ...

Tsunami Center

On 15 June was Poya Day or Buddhist religious day in Sri Lanka.  Projects Abroad Staff was invited to participate in the day after Poya Day.  The children and teachers at the Tsunami Center had a presentation for us to join and it was very interesting and fun to see. 

I am not familiar with how things are done regarding to the Buddhist ceremony here, so I took in all that I could get to learn more.  I was told that it is similar to Thai Buddhist religion just the language and a few small details in the way they do things. 

Project Manager, Charley participated in the lighting of the wick with our volunteers and teachers and he switch on the lights to begin the ceremony.  The little children beautiful and cute, dressed in their outfit dance and sang for us.  One of the little girls played a short musical song on the key board for us and I thought she was very brave.  The one picture I took of her she didn’t look to friendly but when she got up to dance with her classmates she was all smiles. 

As I watched all the children, I can see how their world seems to be so beautiful and happy.  Their simple life and simple way of doing things keep them happy.  Projects Abroad help to do what we can to make their life a happy life as much as we can with the help of our volunteers.  This is one place I will be collecting a lot of pictures from as I visit them from time to time.

Chane Sutsadang

Social Manager – Sri Lanka

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 ...

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