Projects Update

1. Kate in Kurunegala

Since my last last blog 6 weeks’ ago Kate Gale has been to Sri Lanka, volunteered in a village school in Kurunegala doing amazing stuff helping to make a difference to the Manapaha pre-school children who she taught in the morning and teenagers in the afternoons. Kate attended the eye clinic where she handed out glasses that we shipped out last year and found that a very uplifting experience to realise how these were making such a difference to lives of poor village people. This is Kate’s third volunteering visit there and whilst she loved helping out there she was saddened by the poverty she witness and especially the under 5 year olds who were very underweight. She also ha da tour of the newly renovated volunteer accommodation. Kate said that the teachers were asking for kitting patterns, pre-school children’s clothes and more glasses.

2. Krystyna’s and Suzana’s Refuge Volunteering

Suzana is my English speaking Romanian friend who is a Psychologist, Psychotherapist and yoga teacher working in Craiova. She’s been wanting volunteer in Sri Lanka since I first met her in 2015 and now she is doing it. She will, with the help of a translator, deliver workshops, yoga and meditation sessions as well as therapeutic activities for the girls living in a shelter on the outskirts of Kandy whist Gill and I are trekking down from Jaffna and then will join us for a few days at the end to trek part of the Pekoe Trail.

Krystyna, like Suzana, has always shown an interest in sharing her skills with the girls in Sri Lanka and was booked to come with me in March 2020 when just 2 weeks’ before we were due to leave we were plunged into lockdown. Only now has she been able to create the space and time to reschedule her trip. Krys is amazing at all things creative including spinning, weaving and sewing and we fundraised a few years ago for 12 heddle looms for the centre. Krys has planned a a week’s worth of activities to do with the girls and is going to teach them the use of colour and how to harmonise colour as a therapeutic activity but also to give them a skill to make and successfully be able to sell their handmade goods.

3. Graham’s Run

A few years ago Graham’s did a sponsored swim to raise funds to by some Braille machines to help some blind women in Sri Lanka. He did so well with his fundraising we managed to but 3 machines which are being used in Galle district, Women’s Development Centre and Kurunegala. Graham is now going out of his comfort zone and going to run a half marathon on 22nd March, coincidentally the day we arrive in Sri Lanka. The funds he raises this time is going to support female entrepreneurs If you’d like to sponsor him here’s his link.

And for the trek . . .

Less than 6 weeks to go before Gill and I set off for the third and final stage of my trek from the south to the northern tip of Sri Lanka which will have been over a 2 year period. However, rather than starting in Trincomolee when I end stage 2 last year and walking to Jaffna I’ve decided to reverse this part and start in Jaffna and walk to Trincomolee and then onto Kandy where two Suzana and Krys will be volunteering in the refuge. One of the places I’m really excited about visiting as I know one who has been there is the Dutch island of Delft which is off the north west coast of Jaffna. This is the blog about Jaffna I wrote 3 years ago when planning it and I wonder how similar the experience will be in reality.

Have you heard of the Dutch colonised island of Delft (1658-1796), also known by its Tamil name of Neduntheevu? I hadn’t. Just 60 square kilometres and with a small Tamil population of around 4000 it is locally known for its shallow waters, papaya and bananas. However, what caught my imagination is its 500 wild ponies, descendants of the Dutch military, that mingle with domestic cattle and there are said to be a few that are tame enough to ride. Yes please!

Further sponsorship – if you’d like to help me to help those, as you can see, in various forms of need in Sri Lanka, whilst being assured every penny will get to those who need it, then please donate by clicking on this link. Don’t forget if you’re a tax payer to declare gift aid when doing so which will increase your donation by 25% at no cost to you. Alternatively, if you know of anyone or any organisation who may have an interest in this cause please share this blog link with them. And, if you’d like to get involved in anyway please get in touch with me at marciasummers@hotmail.com