Home » Sri Lanka » August 24, 2005 Sri Lanka

Ten days to go until I leave this gorgeous, mental country. It's a place where you can drink an avocado, see monks talk to chipmunks, have tomorrow never come, and sometimes lose your mind because everyone is always at least one hour late. I come home on Monday the 5th and start school on Tuesday the 6th. Ummm, yeah, crazy. I waited too long to book my ticket and was starting to worry I wouldn't get home on time. Don't think that would go over too well with South if I did not show up for the first day of school, especially since I have not worked in a year. Well, I have worked, but not at school.

August 24, 2005 Sri Lanka

Lasulo
2006-01-06 19:58:12

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concept here. My school donated $20,000 to Adopt Sri Lanka, a good charity here. They twinned us with a local school that was affected by the tsunami. Most of the money will be used to help the school, but I asked if I could use some to buy a boat for this fisherman. And, happily, the answer was yes. It has still taken a month to sort it all out. Yesterday we got the fishing gear and ordered the boat, and I am going to pick up the engine today. Somarathna keeps saying to Sam that I am an angel sent from heaven. I keep telling him that there are many people who have helped him, not just me.

On Sunday, the boat, named Wasana (Lucky) will be ready to go out to sea for the first time. Somarthna will be hiring back the two men who worked for him, so three families will now have full-time work, and I now have a song in my heart. It was definitely a highlight for both Sam and me as we have tried so hard to help this man. This is an amazing thing for the students at my school to see. Their fundraising helped to make a positive change for three families.

Additionally, after four months of hard work, we opened the computer room at Unawatuna M.V. (the biggest school in Unawatuna). Friends of Unawatuna funded this. The room was a cement cell; we installed windows, metal grates, fans, lights, electricity, tables, paint, flooring, phone lines for the internet, ten computers, two printers, and also hired a full-time teacher for a year. The opening ceremony was a celebratory day and made me cry with joy. All nine hundred students formed a corridor for us to walk to the new computer room.

We cut the ribbon, which was strung across the door and officially opened the computer room. Many parents and all of the teachers crowded into the room, and all wanted to shake my hand to offer profuse thanks for helping their children and for making a better learning environment. ...