Trip to Sri Lanka by a group of young people from the Parish

After months of hard work and preparation on the 30th June a group of eight young people from Witney and London travelled half way across the globe to begin this adventure of a lifetime. And it was a journey of discovery on every level. We were travelling to a culture that none of us had ever experienced, in the hope of making a difference to other peoples' lives conscious that we called to be missionaries and spread the Good News and with the words of the Mission Statement of the Sisters of Providence ringing in our ears to “become Providence especially for the poor and the weak”.

The purpose of our visit was simple: to help those less fortunate than we are and with the generosity of many parishioners and the Catenians we were able to achieve this. We were to help the children and young people affected by the tsunami, the street children and those orphaned or affected by the long civil war in Sri Lanka. As we were to realise, it not only impacted on the children and young people in the places where we worked but it was to be a “life changing” experience for us too.

We were to stay with the Sisters of Providence in Tewatte (the national shrine of Our Lady), near Colombo for three weeks helping in their nursery schools and in the Kid Care orphanage for boys aged 7-12.

Going to Sri Lanka was an experience like no other. We can read and research all we like but the only way to experience another culture is to be fully immersed in the country. In fact our first impressions of the country were quite scarey as we rode in the minibus from the airport to our convent home for three weeks. We were blown away by the humidity, the roaring horns of the cars, buses, and three wheeler taxis. It was worse than any white knuckle ride you could experience! However, we soon got used to the crazy traffic and found ourselves haggling over the price of three wheeler taxis, trying to get the price of a journey for three of us down from 40p to 35p.

However, it was the welcome that we experienced everywhere that made the biggest impression on us. The Sri Lankan people, we soon found out, are extremely hospitable, generous and welcoming. In fact sometimes it proved to be quite overwhelming. We were presented with bouquets of beautiful tropical flowers everywhere we went and children would kiss our feet, as a mark of respect and welcome. This is an important gesture in Sri Lankan culture but it left us feeling uncomfortable!

AND SO TO WORK..

We worked in two nursery schools run by the Sisters of Providence. In both schools we were given responsibility for all the children and the programme of activities for the time we were there. This meant that we had about 200 Buddhist and Catholic children aged 2-5 in both the schools from 8.30 – 11am every morning! It was very daunting initially, but due to the generosity of so many people we had some resources that we could use and the children and their teachers enjoyed what we did. A swift game of Okey cokey left the children in fits of giggles on the floor which was truly a heart warming sight. English is the commercial language of the country so the children begin to learn it form an early age. Although they were too young to speak English with us we had few problems communicating and we became proficient at signs, and gestures as well as picking up a few Singhalese words on the way! The children loved our parachutes and outdoor toys and games as well as the songs and dances that we were able to teach them.

We noticed that the Sri Lankan children have incredible powers of concentration and sat for long periods drawing, writing and doing lots of craft work Their attention to detail in their drawings was in credible and far in advance of children of a similar age in England. We also noticed how much self discipline and respect these young children have not only for their teachers but for one another too.

One thing we learnt was how quickly young children get through the activities. We spent hours devising worksheets and games for them to do, only to see them finished in a few minutes! So we had to spend an awful lot of time preparing lots of activities. Happily song and dance are a big part of Sri Lankan culture so we developed our repertoire of songs and dances which the teachers and children loved. On our last day the children from both schools surprised us with a concert and beautiful gifts and food that we were almost too embarrassed to receive.

In the afternoons we went to Kid Care to spend time with orphaned boys. The orphanage houses 40 boys, both Catholic and Buddhist, aged between 7-12. It is partly financed by the Lions' club and the Sisters of Providence. Kid Care provides a safe, clean, and structured environment in which the boys thrive. In keeping with Sri Lankan hospitality our welcome was warm with cake, drinks and bunches of flowers. We quickly discovered how we were to spend our afternoons...cricket (national passion) and football. The opportunity for the boys to be boys was important. Once again we were inspired by the positivity of al the children and we have a greater appreciation our comfortable lives. Some of us even learnt a thing or two about cricket!!

On the Sunday before we left we were invited to a country parish to a camp fire with some young Catholics. We were expecting to meet a small group but when we arrived the whole parish had arrived. We were treated like royal guests with the usual bouquets of flowers and with beautiful homemade friendship bands. They led us to seats at the front close to the fire! We were then entertained by the young people performing traditional songs and dances which they had been practising for two weeks. By the end of the evening we were all up singing and dancing. They were so excited that we would go so far to meet them. It was so typical of the welcome and generosity that we received everywhere.

Overall our visit to Sri Lanka was an awe inspiring experience. It has not only left us all with an incredible sense of pride that we could communicate with the children but also that we could influence them in a positive way, but it has also left us with a sense of humility that people who do not have our advantages have such a fun and inspiring outlook on life which will stay with us forever. It also gave us the opportunity to find out about the life of the Sisters as we shared their community life. We felt very much at home and we were spoilt! It also gave a much needed opportunity to reflect on our faith at a level that would never be possible at home.
All in all it was the experience of a lifetime!

     

Alex De Caires, Claire Butler, Ciaran Wilson, Damhnaic McDonald, Christine De Boer, David Allen, Matthew Keliris-Thomas, Harry Jordan