Second week at School and settling in

Thanks to all the wonderful people who leave comments on our blog or send emails to us.  We love the contact.

We will try to return all contact but will keep the blogs for our larger gossipy stuff.

memorial service

Last Sunday after church we went to a memorial service for one of the parishioners who died last week.  It was in their home.  There where prayers then a curry lunch.  Sri Lankans save on washing dishes by using fingers and covering plates with plastic wrap to throw away afterwards  (Very clever)  We only found one sambal too hot.  Emma likes plain rice.  It was an honour being invited into such an intimate occasion in a family’s life.  There would have been 150+ people at the memorial packed into the house and overflowing into a courtyard area and we were guest of honour inside on the lounge chairs.  Last week when visiting the home of a friend of the principals, we paid our respect to a family whose mother had just passed away. The body of his mother laid out in the living room, with the normal family activities going around her.

Principal Alex adressing assembly via Skype from USA

 

The school Principal, Alex Thevaranjan, has now returned to his main occupation as a lecturer at a University in New York state. He will return with his wife and daughter in May for 3 months. We hope we will still be here. He is very dynamic and has a vision for the school. Alex is hoping we can help as agents for change and growth in the school and assist him and support the deputy principal, Ambika, in his absence.

 Last Monday, the 14^th, we were taken by van to the northern tip of Sri Lanka called Pt. Pedro. 

Ocean front at Pt Pedro still showing the scars

It was an eye opener to say the least. This was an area that can’t take a break. It was the second biggest city in Jaffna province.  In 2004 it was hit it the Tsunami that did so much damage in Asia. Many 1000’s of people lost their lives and huge numbers left homeless. The scars are still very real 9 years down the track.  With this disaster on top of the war (which people here seem to refer to as “the trouble”).  We also saw wonderful signs of human compassion and charity in action. The group who are the main supports of this school, a German charity called Humedica, have been doing incredible things.

The girls at Pt P

Locals in Pt Pedro

Humedica gives amazing support

After the wave, Humedica purchased 1200 fishing boats to replace many that the wave destroyed. Fishing is their main source of income. 

They so little but happily shared with us

One of the 170 homes Humedica built

Some of the boats Humedica supplied

 We also visited a medical centre and a family in one of the 170 dwellings Humedica constructed very quickly following the disaster. In the area that we visited the houses was effectively wiped away, footings and floor slabs are visible all around.  These people had little, but we were so warmly welcomed and given a sweet rice pudding to eat. Very tasty and sweet with lots of spices and even mung beans.

On the way back we visited a home which also acted as a church. Nowhere for the parishioners to sit, just a large tarp on the floor with “United Nations relief fund” in large writing on it. Again we were all greeted as honoured guests. They love the girl’s hair and fair skin. I was asked to lead a prayer session. Not one of my gifts I’m afraid. But I seem to be asked to do this more and more. Jacinta is much better and more comfortable with this style of thing than me.

Lots of trucks keep arriving at the school to collect building materials. Again, a case of Humedica to the rescue. After the recent rains and flooding (stopped just before we arrived) there was a lot of damage to homes and infrastructure. Humedica purchased large amounts of timber and roofing supplies and the school acts as a distribution centre overseen by Pastor Sam as the Humedica representative. 

60% of my Chemisrty class

It has been a busy week at school. Jacinta has taken on the role of teacher observation and feedback. We see a huge range of skills but what is great is the willingness to accept feedback and act on it. We have developed proformas to help with the feedback and observation process. Jacinta is also spending lots of time developing resources for me and teacher training. I am involved mainly in teaching senior classes, and staff development and admin issues. This Friday we are running a whole day professional development. Every week day I will be running conversational English lessons for all staff to assist in confidence building. All lessons except Tamil and Sinhalese are taught in English. We seem to be hailed as the experts on everything. It will come as a sad shock when they understand how wrong they are.

Jacinta found a wonderful quote on one of the classroom walls that I feel I can related to.. “God does not call the qualified, he qualifies those called”. We could certainly use a few intensive crash courses at the moment to get our GPA up. Thank goodness for the internet and Google.

Take care, everyone.

Teachers, enjoy the last few days of holidays.