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Ceylon Christian Care |
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News |
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Mar 8th, 2008 Report from Annie van Werven and Hilda Roeland
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Dear friends,
After a long but good trip we approached Sri Lanka and saw coastline with the nice palm trees. A new experience in Sri Lanka, working at the center for handicapped children, had just begun. When arrived at the airport, we started to look for Rev. Saunthi which we found rather quickly. Soon we were in the busy traffic which is very different from what we were used to in Holland. Seeing all this, you blink a couple of times with your eyes, what a chaos. Unbelievable, what a big differences with Holland. On the way to the projects at the east coast, we were able to see a lot from the beautiful nature and countryside of Sri Lanka, but also the poor villages. We pass several check-points where military people are checking all the people. Yes, this ‘belongs’ also to Sri Lanka. Apart from this, we didn’t have the feeling to be in a country of war.
Being on the projects, it was first pretty quiet. This didn’t take for long. From all directions children came to us and welcomed us very friendly saying: “Good evening, sister”. Beautiful to see all these nice faces looking at us expectantly. Very soon they were over it and took us with them. We felt home very quickly. It’s really great to be here between all these children! It was also very nice to meet the staff.
The next day, when we walked into the direction of the center for handicapped children, we heard some children screaming: “Good morning teacher”. Many of them that were able to talk told us their name (which we soon forgot again; so difficult). We experienced a lot of impressions and think how favored we are in Holland with so much aid (assistance) and knowledge in all kinds of areas! At this moment there are about 14 handicapped children in the center, of which three children with the syndrome of down. Furthermore, as far as we know, no diagnosis has been made (yet) about the other children. |
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The staff together with some of the disabled children |
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We are now at the project for about three weeks and we have experienced a lot. We really enjoy to be with the children from Herman’s Girls Home and Samuel Boys Home, after we finish our daily work at the handicapped center. They also very much enjoy to get attention. It happens many times that they already early morning ask when we will come again. Furthermore they are very happy to see the slideshow on the computer of all the photos we shoot. It is sometimes very hard to make a photo or video because all children want to be in the picture.
Last week, the children had a sports day. Days before, they already many times asked us to join them. Of course we joined… we went in an overcrowded van to the school and enjoyed the day! The children also taught us a lot of Tamil words. You should see their faces when we say something wrong! It is also very impressive to see the so called prayer-time. When the bell starts to sound, all children keep silent and stand still. They really show respect. In a row they walk to the church where they read the bible, sing songs and do prayers.
After dinner all children want to shake hands and wish us good night and say: “Good night sister. God bless you. See you tomorrow. Slaap lekker (Dutch for sleep well).” After you hear this for about 30 times you will be sure you sleep well.
In the meantime, Bert van Voorden has been here to visit us for about 4 days. It was very nice to meet an ‘old’ friend. It was emotionally to see all children early morning outside to say bye to him when he left again (probably for a long time again). It will be very hard to leave them behind for a long time. After a prayer it was time to leave. We joined him to extend our visa in Colombo, but were very happy to go back again to the projects. |
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When we arrived, all the children where put together in one group. We now divided them in three groups. This helps us in approaching the children at their own level. We now first concentrate on one group where we focus on making a well-ordered day program. It should be clear for the children what will happen on that day. This will give them a feeling of safety. This day program is adjusted to the level of the group so that after repeating this several times, the children know what they can expect during the day. We also explained to the staff why this is so important for the children. Also they have to get used to these things. We realized how difficult it can be to start more or less from scratch, while we are used to so much that we assumed to be very normal. Simultaneously with making a day program, we tried to get some order in the group. By putting a photo on the table, most of the children now understand where to sit. The young staff was mainly focused on the ‘better’ children and helped them a bit with reading and drawing, but didn’t have much attention for the children that didn’t meet this level. We realize that the children even had to learn how to use and play with toys. Also it was difficult to get one of the girls on the playground. She was looking at the other children playing in the sandpit and finally after a few days she ran on the playground after a ball. To see the children being happy makes it wonderful. In the morning they drag us inside to start all kind of activities with them. We further realized that the staff didn’t use the translated bible for children (H. van Dam) for this project. This has been changed and the children now have the privilege to hear about the Word of God every day!
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Listening to stories from the children bible |
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We again realized how important it was that Rev. Sounthi joined us and that he was wearing his cassock. Because of that we could pass the checkpoints quickly and got our visa extended easily. Where others had to wait in a queue for more than two hours, we had our visa within 10 minutes! We were very happy to get a visa for another two months instead of one month.
We really hope and pray we will have a good and meaningful time together!
Best regards, Annie en Hilda
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Together with Bert van Voorden and the children |