Tuesday 17th May 2022

This was another of my favourite days so far, as I escaped from Ananda's for the first time for a while, and visited two more Government Schools with Gobi. His journey here in the tuk-tuk that he hired took a long time, partly because of the very poor condition of the roads following the monsoon rains, but also because he had to queue for a very long time to fill the tuk-tuk up with petrol.

We visited Gouravilla T.V. School first, where Mrs. Jayakumarie is the Principal, a lady who taught Gobi as a child. There were four teachers from this school on the second 6-month programme, but the only one in school today was Ms. Dharshikadevi, who had conversation sessions with Julie Hayward and Val Mason, so it was particularly good to have a chat with her and get a photograph of her.

The second school we visited was Gouravilla T.M.V. School, which also had a connection for Gobi, as it was his school from Grades 1 to 11, although it is now just a Secondary School for Grades 6 to 11. There were two teachers from this school on the second 6-month programme, Mrs. Dhanushiya (with Liz Westbrook), and Mrs. Meenaloghini (with me!), so it was lovely for me to meet her in person.

On the way back, we popped in for a bite to eat with Gobi's mother at his family home, which was lovely. Unfortunately, on the way back from there to Maskeliya we picked up a nasty puncture, and luckily Vino was on hand at the school to help Gobi change it. I am surprised given the appalling conditions of the roads that tuk-tuk drivers don't experience such punctures more frequently!