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Ceylon Christian Care |
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News |
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May 16th, 2009 Visit Report of Volunteers Annie and Hilda from the Netherlands |
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But also at this fine period came an end. We have been one month on the projects in Periyaneelavanai and that month passed by to fast. And so it was time again to say goodbye. That was not easy. After shaking many hands we were finally sitting in the minivan. The van started driving slowly due to all children that were standing around the vehicle. After a final wave of our hands we were on our way back. On the way to Colombo we made a stop in Batticaloa and had a farewell meal with Rev Jeyanesan. He told us about the sad and difficult situation of his country. He told about a girl in the girls home in Batticaloa. Her father, mother, brothers and sisters were in the war zone in the north of the country. Last month Rev Jeyanesan visited that area and spoke with her family. Last week they received the message that the whole family was killed. The distress and misery for this little girl of 6 years is enormous. If we compare this with our situation we can question ourselves if we value our blessings enough? We arrived safely back in the Netherlands. It means for us that we miss the joy of the lovely black faces and attention asking voices of the children and the cozy atmosphere on the projects. We miss it. One thing is clear, we will not forget the periods we have been on Sri Lanka. The faithful care of Rev Sounti, his mother, the staff and the children are very special to us. We feel the great affection we have for them and this makes it difficult for us to leave them behind. We wish the board of CCC and all people involved in the work of the foundation the blessings and wisdom of the Lord. This blessing is needed in all things we do, also when we help our distant neighbors.
Kind regards, Annie and Hilda |
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Playing Memory |
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Disables lady in het hut |
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Dear friends,
For months we have been looking forward to travel again to our second homeland: Sri Lanka! Although it was almost one year ago when left from last visit we felt home again when we arrived on the projects. Then, … a swarm of brown skinned children comes running unto us. We lack hands, eyes and ears to greet everyone. What a wonderful start and we think “is it really a year since we have been here?” We felt ourselves immediately at home! The staff too provided us an unforgettable welcome. And there again, our 1st prayer time. We were sitting in the midst of the staff and the children. They looked at us smiling and with twinkling eyes. Then they start singing at the top of their voice they sung “A-ja oempressennum”. This is the song they taught us during our visit last year. They have not forgotten that!
The disabled children day care center We were curious about the situation at the project for the disables children. From our regular contacts with the staff we knew that two new staff members were introduced to the project. How would it be? Delightful we went to our children. Hey, there Djebanath runs unto us and hangs around our neck. A spontaneous welcome! We noted that some of them recognized us. We were happy to see that the staff had kept the structure we had taught to them. This is important because the disabled children need to have clarity and quietness. For one boy the treatment had such an positive impact that he left the project and visits now a regular school. It is fascinating that this is possible! Two new children have come to the project. This year we started paying attention to have activities with these children. This is important for their personal development. However, last visit we did not had the time needed for this. By offering the right activities to these children you can come into contact with them and they feel that they get attention. Attention is what these children most times lack. During this visit we paid special attention to the multiple-complex disabled children. We explained to the staff why motivating activities are important and how you can observe which activity is suitable for a child. One child can be reached with music while another one likes visual activities. We also explained how to present these activities to the children, to watch how long they are interested in the activity and how to differ the kinds of activities to the children by day. Within another group we tried to move from learning-activities into playing-activities. They will learn the same but more in a playing manner. For example: If you play domino or memory than you look also with them at the images they get to see. |
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We talked to the mother of Keethanan. He has several handicaps. We discussed with her his interest for the activities. Finally she said: When you go back to the Netherlands, please take him with you. At that time we had no words. Does he not count for his family? Does she not see how happy he is? The days after we were several times thinking about this request. Three Saturdays each month the staff receives training how to manage and teach disabled children. We joined in these classes. In one of these trainings the topic was “how do you tell a story”. The people were divided into groups and each group had to work out the issues that are important to a story. In addition they had to discuss the importance of story telling for a disabled child. We found the training very useful. We were happy to see that the staff practices what they had learned in their dealing with these children. At the end of our visit we had a meeting with the staff of the disabled children’s day care center and Rev. Sounthi. In this meeting we explained and discussed the points which need attention when working with these children.
Nagapuram We visited the village of Nagapuram. In this village the Ceylon Christian Care foundation started a new community development project. We visited two of the disabled people in this village. We also tried to visit two others but they were not at their home. First we visited a girl that was dumb. She was able to read and write and to do some easy work at home. After this we visited and old lady. She looked undernourished. She was mumbling and sat in the sand in her hut. The whole day on the same place because she was not able to walk. This was for us a sad meeting. While going through this village Sasi the project manager showed us how the people earn there income. We were looking silent how two old ladies, sitting in a squat position, the whole day were busy to dry by turning around small fishes in the sun. A lot of work for a very low earning. |
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Annie (l) and Hilda (r) with Elizabeth Theodora and her mother |
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Boys and Girls It is a pleasure not to wake up each morning from the noise of an alarm clock but from clear and cheerful sound of children’s voices around our window. So we here every morning “Good morning sister”! In the garden we hear the snoozing sound of the grass cutter. Yes, the children are already busy again. You can see the result of all the work they do in the garden. Each time we are amazed how beautiful the compound is. We have seen several new faces. We also missed some. The older boys, with who we had last year nice contacts, are not on the project. They are waiting at home for the results of the exams. To our surprise two of them visited the project to see us. One evening when we walked to the guesthouse and passed the boys home we looked through the open door inside the home and at the same time the boys called and pulled us inside. This is not the first time this happens to us. This gave soon indignant reactions from the girls of the girls home. When we came next time in the girls home they repeatedly told us “This is Girls Home, no Boys Home”. With other words, you made a mistake! One evening when we were in the boys home we heard singing from the sleapingroom. We were curious about this and looked inside the room. Two boys were laying together in one bed and were singing together in the middle of all the other boys who were sleeping. It sounded beautiful. And what a beautiful view to see all the sleeping boys. Especially Presanth was nice sleeping, hands on his belly, his legs outside the bed and soft puffs came out of his mouth. Beautiful! The boys and girls were very happy with the games we brought with us. It was nice how they were playing each evening. Everywhere you saw small groups of children playing. For the Sunday we brought the game “Kwistet” with us. The children were concentrated busy to search the answers in their Bibles. They also used the children’s Bible of H. van Dam. We were very happy to be in this way busy with the children and the Bible. Different languages but one Word! During the Sundays School we saw this one time very clear. The children had to look for different verses from the Bible. At a certain moment one was reading some verses from Genesis 11. This is telling about building the tower in Babel. In the first verse is mentioned that the whole world had one language and one speech. This gave a lot of reaction from the children! “no Dutch, no English, only Tamil”, what would that be easy! After the Sunday School was finished and we are talking together Rev. Daniel and his wife with their baby Sophia came to us. The Rev. asked us if we could help him to find a good baptism name for his daughter. We were surprised about this question however we were willing to think about this. Sophia will get the baptism name “Elizabeth Theodora”. |
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We have many stories to tell, like about our caretaker Thayalini. She liked to make a nice cup of tea for us. When making the tea she comes to the finding that it is not tea coming out of the tin but “hagelslag” (a kind of chocolate vermicelli). So we received a cup with hot water and “hagelslag” on top of it. Do we have to drink hot chocolate with this temperature? Or about our night in a hut hanging between the trees. We went a day out with some of the children and Rev Sounti. He told us that we would sleep in a hotel with rooms made out of wood. We had no idea what it would mean. However, this we had never expected and experienced, sleeping in a hut hanging between the trees with an unobstructed view on the ocean. We have enjoyed it! |
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Sleeping in a hut hanging between trees |
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Drying fish in the sun |
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Playing with stamps |