I'm sitting in the lounge of my house after what has probably been the most amazing experience of my life. I've met so many amazing people absolutely committed to living the Christian message giving everything to help those with literally nothing, seen how communities devastated by the Tsunami in 2004 are still struggling to get back on their feet 7 years on and how the Salvation Army is helping them in a variety of lives, how a home for women in Colombo helps to restore broken lives, along with many other things which I will get around to putting on here.
I've been keeping a journel of my experiences in Sri Lanka, and have taken about 500 photos so will be picking the very best to show you and to try and get across what I've seen as I myself go back through my time. It has to be said that the Salvation Army is doing a fantastic work in Sri Lanka, and I'm so proud to be part of this Church and organisation. For this blog post I'll give a brief overview of what our JOURNEY team did over the 10 days, where we visited a range of projects which the SA International Development (UK) department helps to fund. I'll then be writing up my journal on here so you can see in more detail my experiences, thoughts and feelings.
I remember being quite apprehensive at first before meeting up with our JOURNEY team, however this was quickly dispelled after we got to know one another during our briefing. The team comprised of Sam, our group leader and a worker from SAID, Helen, a primary school teacher, Sarah, a former primary teacher and now an IT trainer, Doreen, a social worker, Michelle, a student about to start a PGCE like myself, and of course me! We flew from Heathrow on Sunday 31st July, and 14 hours later touched down in Colombo where we were met by Captain Sharon Dannock and our driver, Nahat. We stayed at the Training College for the night, and the next day drove down to Hikkaduwa, one of the areas of the Sri Lankan coast severely affected by the Tsunami.
We visited the village in which the Army had built over 100 houses on donated land after the Tsumani (the one featured in the video on my first blog post), where we saw how 7 years on the Army is still committed to rebuilding lives and communities. Residents of the houses were employed by the SA to build the roads around their village, something which is an excellent idea as it provides the community with both work and the opportunity to work together to directly improve their situation. We met and talked to several families who told us what they had experienced during the Tsunami, and their lives since. These are stories for a later post, but the SA really has helped restore the lives of these people.
Whilst in Hikkaduwa we also visited a women's group and a children's group ran by the SA, which they used as a tool to build community spirit to get everyone to work together. The important thing about these groups is that the community themselves (rather than the Salvation Army) are the ones who give the group the impetus, and as time goes on the Army withdraws its input for the community to increase theirs.
After 4 days in Hikkaduwa, we drove back to Colombo on the Friday. On the way we visited a turtle sanctuary, where the owner bought turtle eggs which got caught in fisherman's nets, hatched them then released them to the sea. Again, more detail later on!
On Saturday 6th August we had our tourist day, visiting the elephant orphanage at the town of Pinawalla. Elephant herders daily drove the massive number of elephants through the town to the river to water, something which is quite a sight!
Within the orphanage, we were able to get very close to the feeding elephants, who had what looked like a forest laid out in front of them to eat! There was one large male elephant there who was blind, a result of being shot by hunters for ivory, and another female who had lost the lower part of one leg due to a landmine. The herders took care of these along with the other elephants in order to protect the species.
On the Sunday we joined in worship with Colombo Central Corps, where the service was held jointly in Sinhalese and in English. It was an awesome feeling to be worshipping God with a song being sang simultaneously in two languages! In the evening the Sri Lankan Territory held their Social Services Sunday at Colombo Central, and the place was filled with probably 300 or more people, with a large number not being Christians but being beneficiaries of the army's social work. I am delighted that they let me play with their band, and I now consider myself an international trombone player!
On Monday 8th and Tuesday 9th we spent our time at 'The Haven', a home for abused women in Colombo. Most were probably aged between 18 and 30. This centre looks after about 100 women, some who live there with their kids. We ran a craft activity morning, as well as joining in some of the activities being run at the centre. I really got the feeling that our being there and spending time with them was a simple act of love, yet it meant so much to them. They were delighted to see us, and got us joining in with their singing, dancing and playing games despite the language barrier – they found us singing songs in English hilarious!
On the Tuesday night we had a small party at THQ to thank those who had been so generous with their time towards us, before having our last meal together at a restaurant by the sea. We talked over our trip highlights and challenges, before heading to bed in preparation for our early start the next morning.
God truly blessed us all through the trip, and we have so much to think about and learn from. To finish this post, I've chosen words from Matthew 28v20b: "And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age." This is something that we definitely experienced as we ventured into the unknown.
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