Friday 6th May 2022

Not a lot happened to report on yesterday, as all schools were closed through a national lockdown. Out of 15 school days so far in Sri Lanka, I have lost 5 through protests against the government, 2 through national holidays and 1 through travelling, so I have only been 'working' on 7 days out of the 15. In my case, it doesn't really matter, but imagine the widespread chaos this has caused across Sri Lanka!

I was still able to go into the school building to do some work, as a few of the staff were in for various reasons. I had a good catch-up meeting for the Rotary International Project with Tim Pare, Visventhan Sutharshan, Jesmin Arumugam and Tim Westbrook, where we agreed on how to spend the outstanding funds left over at the end of the project, so at least I achieved something worthwhile today!

You do get to appreciate even the smallest of successes out here. The fact that I got through a whole online meeting without a power cut was something to celebrate! I find myself lowering my expectations in order to avoid getting very frustrated with the constant disruption out here. I am not the most patient of people, so it has been good for me to have to deal with high levels of uncertainty on a daily basis!

I saw three more monkeys together this morning, but only captured two of them on camera! I also met my next-door neighbour, a young lady called Kamshapriya, all the way from Trincomalee, who is boarding next door in order to complete the one-year Diploma Programme at the Tea Leaf Vision School in Maskeliya, such is the strength of the reputation that the school has built up over the years!

N.B. The remaining photos today show the beautiful flowers all around me here.










Comments

  1. CharlesMay 7, 2022 at 12:32 AM

    It is reassuring to know how closely we are connected with what you are doing, Keith. Tim Westbrook had already reported on the meeting you attended yesterday with him the UK and your colleagues in Sri Lanka, before I got to read about it in your blog!

    ReplyDelete

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