They gave us 1000 euro.
We spent 100 euro on transport. Thanks to Ravi ( one of my friends and driver) I don’t pay too much. I pay him the local rate of ……Rupees per km. That saves us a lot of money.
Every year and still necessary we hold back around 300 euro for Saravena boys home. If there is no food left they can phone Gamani and tell him what they need. He will buy and take it to them.
Last year we started to replace the by worm eaten cupboards and we continued this year. Another 5 cupboards were replaced. (250 euro)
This year was the first year that the boys smiled at me. I was happy, they finally trust me, and they know we will come back so they can trust us. Those boys are sent here by court and are very traumatised.
Singithi home is a home we visit every year. This home is the same as the above home but for younger boys and girls. We think those children need deserve some love and extra attention. They trust me now and call me auntie Natasja. We gave them a ball, plus a car for the boys and a doll for the girls. The 5 older girls who can stay here, got shampoo and soap. They got chocolate fingers as well. Yummy!!!! (20 euro)
That same week I visited the Singithi nursery school. Here you will find the nursery children from Singithi plus other children from outside. In this way they earn some money for the home. When the children went outside I found out that the children wore flip-flops way too big. When I asked why I heard they had no shoes.
So I bought sandals for those kids. Look at the photo for their smiles. Their first pair of shoes (13 euro)
The matron of Singithi told us that their iron stopped working and if it was at all possible to get a new one. Of course we could do this (20 euro).
Dharmasoka school is a primary/secondary school we helped over the last 5 years and our help has come to the end. After asking the head teacher for the last time what was needed we decided on shoes. About 30 children had no or shabby shoes but we could only afford 15 pair of shoes. The teachers chose the children from the poorest backgrounds and who needed to walk the furthest.
Last year we helped to built a computer room in a very poor school amidst the paddy fields and this year we helped with another 100 euro to finish the room. What I like about Sri Lankan people is that they make do with the money they get.. The oldest boys helped to carry the materials over the sandy path to school. The iron bars in the window were made or better sawn of a old chair. As a thank you one of the teachers bought from the remaining money -5 euro- a bat and tennis balls for the boys so they could play cricket for the first time in their life.
Other items we bought were:
* schoolbooks and educational games 20 euro
* chocolate fingers for 2 schools (60 children) 15 euro
* shampoo, soap and toothpaste 20 euro
* watch for the matron of Succes 6 euro