This year is my first and final week without walls, I was put in the Housing and Habitat group to Hambantota. The group was lead by Mr Rossberg and Ms Fleming. At Hambantota, we were to teach a group of preschool kids and also to build them a railway track to play on. And then finally, we were going to do a beach clean-up at the Shangri-la. So before going on this trip, there was a lot of planning to do.

There was a lot of planning required in order to make sure that kids won’t bored or distracted at the same time. Mr Rossberg said that the teaching time is one and a half hours. At first, one and a half hours is not much, but when working with small kids who are from ages 3 – 5, they can get distracted pretty quickly so it can be really hard to keep them engaged the whole time. So my team including me, Hamda, Oliver and Arav tried to choose activities that are fun and also time-consuming. Before we went on the trip we were able to come up with 6 activities.

• Spider-web ( Children would pass around a string in a random manner by introducing themselves )
• Number match ( Teach numbers from 1-10 and do a matching activity where the children would match the numbers with objects )
• Basketball ( Children would stand in a line and try to throw the balls from a near-by basket to one that is further away )
• Colouring ( Children will be given printed pictures for colouring. )
• Paper plate crafts ( Children will be designing a paper plate with pictures and drawings. )
• Writing a letter to parents ( Children will be designing and signing off their names in a pre-written thank you letter for their parents. )

DAY 1

We left OSC at 8:00 am hoping that we’ll make it to Hambantota around 12:30 pm. It was about 225 km from OSC to Hambantota and around 10-15 km to the Janoda Foundation which was going to be our lodgings for the first 3 nights. After we got to the Janoda foundation we had lunch and had about half an hour to settle down before we were taken on a tour around the Hambantota area. We visited an old British ruin and a beautiful beach with an amazing view. Then we went to Mattiello Towers; which is a prison that was used in the old days.

Later we went up to Bundala and looked at some wildlife; saw some monkeys, lots of birds, 2 jackals and 3 crocodiles.

One of the crocodiles we saw at Bundala.
Photo credits; Ms Fleming

A flock of birds at Bundala.
Pc credits; Ms Fleming

Once we finished the sight-seeing we headed back to the foundation where we got time to shower and clean up and get ready for dinner. After dinner, we had some time for the lesson planning to make sure that we have everything ready for tomorrow. The groups were divided in a way so that every group had a Sinhala- speaker. As one of our classmates were sick and couldn’t attend the trip we had to re-organize our groups a bit but it was sorted really quick. We had everything prepared ( thanks to Hamda ), so it was quite easy for our group, we just relaxed after our group was approved by Mr Rossberg and Ms Fleming.

DAY 2

The next day we were woken up by Ms Fleming at about 6.30 am and we were supposed to be ready for breakfast by 7.30 am. The scheduled teaching was going to start at 8.30 am. We had breakfast and headed to the garden. The kids were saying their prayers they were all lined up with flowers to welcome us.

The children welcomed us with flowers.
Photo credits; Ms Fleming

A few kids were crying hanging onto their parents but most of them were happy with bright faces. It was a pleasing sight to our eyes. We started the day off with some activities outside, the teachers were singing and dancing around the garden and we joined them and did exactly what they did as somewhat of an ice breaker and so that the kids will warm up to us and would want to work.

The OSC group joined the kids and teachers as they were playing in the garden.
Photo credits; Ms Fleming

Just as planned, we started off with the spider web. We wanted it to be an ice-breaker for the children.

My group doing the spider-web with the children.
Photo credits; Ms Fleming After that we gave them some printed pictures for them to colour. The colouring went well than we expected. They were so excited and concentrated on doing their best.

Hamda helping the kids with the colouring.
Photo credits; Ms Fleming

When they were finished with the colouring we displayed them on a notice board and then we did the basketball game. This activity didn’t last that long as the kids were too excited to play with the balls. They started to get more excited in the balls than in the actual game. Then we let the children play in the playground for about 15 minutes until it was time for their break.

Once the teaching for the day was done we started working on the mini-railway track at the back of the school. The boys started digging the ground to place the blocks of wood in while the girls started painting the blocks.

The OSC group working hard in the sun.
Photo credits; Ms Fleming

After about an hour of work we had lunch and then continued the work right after. The first hour of work before lunch was the hardest. Everyone was trying to get a grip of the work so it was a bit tiring; and the bright sun wasn’t much of a help. But the session after lunch was much easier and we were able to do more work than we expected. I also helped with the digging for some time. Doing this type of work really helps us appreciate the benefits that we have, but experiences like this are valued highly because it teaches you the aspects of labour and poverty.

Labour and poverty are huge issues that not only Sri Lanka but many countries all over the world are facing. Experiences like this help us get a better understanding on how hard people in rural areas work in order to make a day’s worth of pay. Then we had dinner and some time for lesson planning. Once it was approved, we had some free time where we just hung out together before we went to bed.

DAY 3

We were woken up at 6.30 am again and we had to get dressed and ready for breakfast by 7:30 am. As the day before, we walked off to the school to start the teachings. The day started off with rain so we couldn’t engage in any outdoor activities with the children. We started with the paper plate crafts. We gave each student a paper plate and different shapes cut out of coloured paper. I did a sample craft along with them too. The children were very interested in this activity and it was fun to see them engaged in the activity happily.

Me doing a sample paper plate craft along with the kids.
Photo credits; Ms Fleming

After this, we did the number match with them. First of all we revised all the numbers with the children and then asked them to match it with the number of balls. Finally, we gave thank you cards that were prepared by us for them to design. They drew various designs on the cards and signed their names. We asked the teachers to send the cards with the students to their parents. This closed the curtains for our last teaching session with the kids. The children gave us flowers as parting gifts and it was an emotional event. We had so much fun with them and it was a great experience.

Me thanking the teachers for their support during our last day at the Janoda Preschool.
Photo credits; Ms Fleming

Since we finished off most of the work on the previous day we didn’t have much left to do. So a few people worked on completing the mini-railway, some worked on the mural and the rest painted one of the walls in the preschool. Once the work was done we visited a local potter. We witnessed how the traditional potter threw pots by spinning the wheel. It was mesmerizing to see the woman shaping and creating a pot out of a clump of clay. All most all of us threw pots on the wheel as well. Even though it doesn’t seem that hard watching at it; but once you sit on the spot and hold the clay in your hands you feel the difficulty.

Me throwing a pot on the potter’s wheel.
Photo credits; Ms Fleming

It is not easy to shape the pot as the slightest mistake can ruin it. However with the help of the pottery lady I was able to throw a pot out of the clay.

My pot of clay.
Photo credits; Ms Fleming

After we were done at the potter’s, we bid good-bye to the potter and his wife and headed back to the Janoda foundation. It was our last night at the Foundation so we prepared dinner by ourselves. We were divided in groups and each was assigned a task. My group consisted of me and Anish and we and we had to prepare the sauce for pasta. Preparing the sauce was quite easy. All we had to do was chop the garlic and onions, fry them and then add the canned sauces. The sauce came out pretty well and we all enjoyed a delicious dinner.

DAY 4

The next day was all about final touches. After breakfast at 7.30 am per usual we dusted off our beds and cleaned our rooms. Then we cleaned the wooden blocks as they were covered in mud. We also did second coatings on the mural.

The mini-railway track we built.
Photo credits; Ms Fleming

Once everything was done and dusted we were ready to leave to Shangri-la when we had to look for a lost ball. Every one searched for the ball because or else Mr Turner would have been so mad. After about an hour of searching, we found the ball and at last, we were ready for Shangri-la. We thanked Mr Gamage and the staff of the Janoda Foundation and bid good-bye. We reached the hotel at about 11.15 am so we had about 45 minutes to relax and get ready for lunch and the beach cleanup which would be followed after. 

After a delicious lunch, we went to a beach near-by to clean it up. The beach doesn’t look polluted at the first sight, but once you go further you start to see how the fishermen and the locals have put so much trash there; from clothes, bottles, fishnets, food wrappings to the most random things. The beach clean-up wasn’t as much tiring. To be honest I think I enjoyed most of it. It was a really good project because as Mr Pulinda told the locals don’t bother cleaning the beach as much as they do in polluting them.

During the beach cleanup.
Photo credits; Ms Fleming

During the beach cleanup.
Photo credits; Mr Rossberg

After the beach clean-up. Photo credits; Ms Fleming

We were done with the cleaning by 4:30 and we headed back to the hotel and we had downtime till 7:00. So I chilled for a bit in the pool and then had a long hot water shower before heading for dinner. After dinner, we watched tv for some time and then talked about random stuff until I felt sleepy. So I said good night and went to sleep realizing it was the last night of the trip. The next morning we had a bit of a sleep-in. We had breakfast and were ready to go back to Colombo.

This was one of the best trips that I have ever been on. The people were so nice and we were able to bond over many things and it was amazing. We made our own jokes, went nearly five days without our phones and did lots of work which we were very proud of. We had two really good supervisors who were a lot of fun and supportive. I enjoyed this trip very much. It was a whole new experience for me and I loved every bit of it. Everything went well and overall I was glad to be on this trip. This was the perfect way to end my Week Without Walls experience!