Friday 13th January 2023

The persistent power cuts across Sri Lanka have ended up dictating my work pattern here, although from my point of view it is, of course, no hardship to be forced to work at The Grand Hotel, which is what I did again today. I spent a long time today completing the editing work on the Kindernothilfe (KNH) 'Interesting Stories' that Yad had asked me to do, as it will enable her to then complete the KNH Project Annual Report on Tea Leaf Trust's work with KNH.

I love the KNH concept, as it is a relatively simple one that has huge impact. I edited a particularly moving story today, where one of the women's Self-Help Groups, had responded to the suicide of a young man, by arranging to provide a meal at the funeral house for guests attending his funeral. His death had a terrible impact on that community, but the response from the Self-Help Group was warmly received by the community too.

Tragically, there are high incidences of alcoholism, domestic abuse, and suicide in this area, and although the key aspect of Tea Leaf Trust's work is to develop students' English, it also runs a parallel 'Success and Ethics' programme that addresses the need to develop these students' self-esteem, particularly promoting the empowerment of young women, which has an equal, if not greater impact than the development of their English.

Tonight was 'Movie Night' and I went with Yad, her husband Jana, and Daya, to watch a Tamil movie, which was rather entertaining. I was the only white guy in the whole cinema, but I felt hugely privileged as there were English subtitles for me! It was quite an experience - quite different from a UK cinema, with far more audience participation e.g., massive cheers when their favourite stars first appeared on screen or did something very heroic!

Today's photos are of this evening's cinema experience (the first one is an old one showing the cinema entrance during the day, and the final one is a rather fuzzy selfie taken by Daya!).