5th July 2013

Today I was picked up at 9am and we headed off through Tangalle inland to the school called Palathudwa. This school was again started by RMF in response to a need in a poor area where children were not going to school, as it was too difficult to get them to Tangalle. The school is probably only several miles from Tangalle but there is no transport and if there was I am not sure the parents could afford it. The school building was built by the City of Hamburg! Go figure! It is in the grounds of a Buddhist temple and is for Sinhala children. Apparently the German connection came through the temple. The building is good - a typical SL school design and spacious as there are only 12 children enrolled (only 8 present today). We were greeted with great excitement and all handed bouquets of real flowers this time and bunches of leaves, which apparently is a sign of welcome. Once again school was suspended for our visit, which is frustrating as I would so much rather see the teaching happening. The school was not well resourced like the previous one – in fact it was rather bare and I was wondering if there were ANY resources (reminded me of our first visit to Al Ishraq when there was nothing there). There was the inevitable metal cabinet and I was dying to see what was inside and did manage to position myself for a look when it was opened! There was plenty of paper and books in there and the children’s copy books were produced. The drawings/activities were very prescribed. Each book was identical and there were only about 6 pages filled which is not many given that we are half way through the SL academic year. It is so difficult to get an idea of how much teaching is going on. Anyway I was able to talk to the children and they know how to count and they knew their colours. The children performed a few songs as the teacher sang the music (she does not like having a tape recorder as she likes to teach the words of songs herself and think the children learn better that way). The children then played with some old lego-like blocks they had and I was glad to see there was something to play with. The playground was in a bad state of repair. They told me the children used it – but on more pressing enquiry they admitted they didn’t. It was just too dangerous. The morning finished with sweet tea, plantains and some lovely sweet treats the parents had made. Minerva explained that RMF pays for teacher’s salaries only and the rest parents have to do. In Minhath they had a more affluent group of parents who were able to help out. Tomorrow we leave at 3am for Arugam Bay. Its about a 6 hour drive and we have a meeting with the prospective parents that Thasleem has organized at 9am! I am looking forward to that to get an idea of what the parents think/want and if we can provide it.