laert af dem, intet er saa slemt at det ikke er godt for noget. I ojeblikket har jeg vaeret her en lille maaned og har valgt at flytte til Kandy de sidste to maaneder. Det skyldes hverken min vidunderlige hostfamily eller de skonne born i tsunami campen, men bare det, at jeg kan prove mig selv af paa en ny maade. I Kandy vil jeg skulle arbejde med handikappede born og aeldre paa et bornehjem, og det er en helt ny udfordring, som jeg gerne vil prove. Paa den maade er Projects Abroad ogsaa enormt fleksible og endnu en gang er jeg blevet glad for at jeg valgte at rejse med dem. 

Naar jeg ikke er paa mit placement, hygger jeg mig med de andre frivillige. At rejse saadan her giver ogsaa et stort netvaerk paa tvaers af jordkloden, og jeg har faaet venner fra naesten alle kontinenter. Saa vi tager afsted sammen i weekenderne og oplever oen paa en helt anden maade, end som almindelig turister. At vi har laert lidt sinhalesisk gor saa at lokalbefolkningen elsker os, naar vi kaster os ud i at sige hari-hari eller taelle til ti. 

Det har allerede givet mig oplevelser, som jeg aldrig ville have faaet ved bare at rejse rundt. At jeg saa har valgt at rejse alene har blot gjort mine nye venskaber staerkere og gjort mig mere selvstaendig og fri. Sri Lanka skal helt sikkert opleves som frivillig!

- Ditte-Marie Gronlund, Sri Lanka 2013

(Undskyld de manglende danske bogstaver! Det skal nok lige rettes igennem)

Bosco Sevana is in the sleepy seaside town of Bopitiya, around an hour drive north of Colombo, near the international airport. We sent our first volunteer here in January, meaning that it is one of Projects Abroad Sri Lanka's most recent placements.

Bosco Sevana is an orphanage for boys, and young men, who have been effected by a psychologically disturbed past, so the main job for our volunteers working here is to try and help the boys attain a bright future with a career focus.  The orphanage is run by a few Catholic Fathers and Brothers and they assist our volunteers throughout their placement. These guys are a real inspiration to meet and one can learn so much from working with them. They have donated their lives to help these unfortunate boys. They are also a right laugh and like to have a bit of a banter!

It is difficult to say whether Bosco Sevana is a care or teaching placement because to be honest it can be both (or either or, depending on what the volunteer would prefer). The volunteers who work here can be very flexible with what they do. Most of them teach English, or, I.T, during the day and play sports with the boys when it gets a bit cooler. This includes cricket, volleyball and football, which are all played on the beach. Additional activities include cooking for the children, playing games or just simply assisting the Brothers and Fathers with their every day work. All in all, helping the boys attain a bright future after their extremely dark past is an extremely rewarding experience for the volunteers and the boys. Projects Abroad are very proud to be assisting with this.

In this photo album Nol Van Loon (our dutch volunteer) is having a footy match with the Brothers and Fathers (apologies to you Americans but being an English man I ...

Last Sunday our volunteer from Denmark prepared a dinner and film night for the girls at ‘Anula Girl’s Orphanage’ (one of our care/teaching placements in Balapaitiya). The Projects Abroad team was happy to help out with this, so we bought food for the girls and provided a projector for the casting of Shrek. Before the film, our volunteers and the staff at the orphanage prepared meals for the 30 plus girls who live in this orphanage. All of the girls were extremely excited and almost bewildered at this act of generosity. But to our surprise, the girls were well behaved and quiet throughout the film.. I have never seen them like this before.. Usually they are all loud and extremely cheeky. Obviously a very long activity filled week for the volunteers and the girls at the orphanage.

Our next social outreach programme will be held at this orphanage. We will be celebrating the Sinhala/Tamil New Year.

Social Outreach Programme March 2013!

This month’s social outreach programme was spectacularly wonderfully lovely in all sorts of ways! Everytime we have an outreach programme (once every 4 weeks) the Projects Abroad Sri Lanka team arranges our volunteers to do something beneficial for one of our placements, or do something typically Sri Lankan. This month our team of staff and volunteers did both. We painted the gate, fence and the Buddhist temple at a school where Projects Abroad sent our first volunteer mid way through February. After this we went to a hotel for Sri Lankan cooking lessons.

Twenty excited volunteers met at Panadura Clock Tower at 8am (Panadura is one hour south of the capital city, Colombo). After we gathered everyone together we all crammed in a number of tuk tuks and went to the school (a tuk tuk is a three wheeled vehicle that looks a bit like a giant toy. I am sure there are at least one million in Sri Lanka). To our surprise there was a school fete happening on the morning that we were painting. Therefore the school was packed when we entered. Nevertheless we were greeted with the usual Sri Lankan warmth by every student and teacher and it was obvious that twenty foreigners with paintbrushes was a bit overwhelming for some (one kid ran away because he was scared)! Most of the young kids surrounded us and were keen to show off their limited English skills. The questions ‘what is your name?’ ‘how old are you?’ where is your country?’ were asked in a thick Sri Lankan accent.

After a bit of, as we would say in England, ‘faffing about’ we got started. Some of us were painting the fence, some the temple and others the gate. In most of our 35 destinations around the world we have a similar sort ...

Once every four weeks the Projects Abroad team arranges for a doctor to give a lecture to our medical volunteers. As I have mentioned in a previous blog, this is a great chance for the medical volunteers to learn about what they will be witnessing while working at the hospital. During the most recent seminar our medical volunteers learnt about the public health system in Sri Lanka and tropical diseases.  We always arrange these lectures to be held in a hotel, with a swimming pool, next to the beach so after the lecture the volunteers go for a dip or two. Underneath are some pictures. Looking forward to the next one!