Keith in Sri Lanka

It was a very relaxed day today, as the Tea Leaf Vision schools were closed for the third day running due to the continued unrest in the country. I was presented with string hoppers at breakfast time (picture enclosed), and Rajan, my host (must get a photo of him for you before I go) gave me an extra big bowl of dahl to go with the string hoppers. It certainly beats cereal and toast any day! Absolutely delicious! As I could not go into school today, it gave me more time to catch up on some paperwork, and I also tackled the mess in the suitcase that I left behind two years ago, which turned out to be a lot more positive than I thought, as everything in the suitcase was redeemable with a bit of a clean. I now have some 'smarter' clothes and shoes to wear to school once they are allowed to reopen again. I had a lovely catch-up with home today, when I connected with a Facebook Messenger call with the family, many of whom are in Bury, Manchester with Val and her mother. It does seem...

When I woke up this morning my finger was feeling so much better. It had been very painful, so this really made my day, and I was relieved that I had visited the doctor last night. Disappointingly, the Tea Leaf Vision schools continued to be closed again today, as the political unrest in Sri Lanka is growing. I have included a photograph in Nuwara Eliya of police on horseback on patrol at major junctions. I worked from home in the morning, then went into Nuwara Eliya and got some flowers for JP and Loga, who have been looking after the suitcase I left here in December 2019, thinking that I would return much sooner. JP was not there when I got there, but I did meet his daughter Sushma. Although the contents of my suitcase are rather mouldy, I think much of it is retrievable with a bit of work! I took my suitcase back to where I am staying, but I couldn't face tackling the contents, so I went to The Grand Hotel instead to do a bit of work in what I got used to referring as my 'of...

The political situation in Sri Lanka is deteriorating daily, and the civil unrest growing, with demonstrations and riots across the country, so it was not felt safe to open the Tea Leaf Vision schools today. I arranged to meet Donald and Ladushan at GROW to give them some help, but on my way there in a tuk-tuk, I received a call from Donald to tell me that their business had been forced to close too.  As I returned through Nuwara Eliya, there was a large procession of people demonstrating against the Rajapaksa government, angered by shortages of basic goods and fuel, spiralling inflation which has hiked up the costs of essential goods enormously, and daily power cuts. These are extremely troubling times for Sri Lanka, and I can only see the situation getting worse. In contrast to the misery of the current political situation, I took a photo of some gorgeous flowers that are everywhere here, as a simple reminder of triumph in adversity. I spent a long time with Yad, the Director of ...

I was picked up at 08:00 by Ramesh in the school tuk-tuk (that's what tourists call them, but they are generally referred to as 3-wheelers by the locals). He was picking up my good friend Tharika too, as she joined me for a meeting at TLV School Nanuoya. We were going to take photographs after our meeting, but we were having such a good catch-up that I completely forgot about the photos! I spent more time interviewing students today, with a 21-year-old lad named Gowtham really inspiring me. He takes 3 hours to get to school using 3 buses and costing 450LKR a day (serious money for this community). He believes this 6 hours of travel is worth it, as the English Diploma he is working towards with Tea Leaf Vision will help him achieve his ambition of becoming a gym coach. Wow! I ran a staff training session after school on leadership. Oh what joy! I have not taught like that for ages, and it reminded me why I love the teaching profession so much and spent my whole career in it. If I ca...

I had the briefest of lie-ins, before treating myself to a traditional Sri Lankan breakfast of a spicy omelette served with a lovely lentil dahl flavoured with coriander and tiny curry leaves, plus sambal and roti, accompanied by some traditional fresh fruits. The addition of a big pot of coffee made this a truly wonderful start to the day. Reggie picked me up in his tuk-tuk to take me on the short 7km drive to Nanuoya, which is where the Nuwara Eliya Tea Leaf Vision School has now moved to. It is a tiny, rather cramped building, where my good friend Dayaneethibabu (Daya) is now the Principal, and it was so good to see him again, and Ramesh and Nuzi, who I also got to know well on my first trip in 2019. Unfortunately, Yadharshini, the Director of Tea Leaf Vison was not there to meet me as planned, so I had a group phone call with Sutharshan, Jesmin and Tharika from the Management Team to go through a Draft Programme for this three-month visit. I then had a Mentor Meeting with Daya, and...

This is the start of a new adventure in Sri Lanka! The Sri Lankan Airways plane eventually took off an hour late at 22:30 on Saturday evening, and 10 hours later arrived in Colombo - around 13:00 on Easter Sunday. It wasn't a bad flight really, but I struggled to sleep through the night, and touching down on Sri Lankan soil for the second time in my life was a welcome relief. As I walked out of the airport, I was hit by the hot humid air, and found an old friend Reggie waiting there to greet me with a smile. What a great welcome, even though I felt exhausted, and a 6-hour car journey to Nuwara Eliya lay ahead of me. Reggie was great company, but I did find myself dozing off from time to time, as I struggled to stay awake. It was a long but beautiful journey climbing from the tropical humidity of Colombo to the much fresher, more temperate climate of the Hill Country. Bringing back wonderful memories of my first visit in 2019, the sights, sounds and smells once again overwhelmed me....

Thursday 5th December 2019 I have reached the point where I am writing the final entry in my Blog, having now returned to Bath. It seems strange, as it feels like I have been on such a long journey, but, at the same time, it has passed very quickly. I am mainly writing to thank you all for your support, as I know many of you supported my Fundraisers and also followed me on this Blog. In terms of the Fundraisers, I had one on Facebook, that raised £300 and, when this one ran out of time, I renewed it and it raised another £40. My main Fundraiser in the end was through the Tea Leaf Trust site, and that raised £853 so, in total, I raised £1,193, which I was pleased with. I want to send a huge thank you to everyone who helped me to raise this money for the work of Tea Leaf Vision. I also want to thank all of you who have faithfully followed my blog over the past 3 months. I am aware of how many people have checked out my Blog each day, but I have no idea who they are, so I will hav...