Sri Lanka Visited

This was the first time I had made a trip to volunteer for IVHQ and I chose Sri Lanka a tropical island country in the Indian Ocean next to India. I arrived in Colombo and was soon met by a smiling driver who collected two other volunteers as we drove through the tropical heartland to Kandy the cultural capital of Sri Lanka. We were soon met there by our friendly host and shown our rooms and dinner was served. The next day was orientation day where everything was fully explained and the requirements that we should meet were outplayed. The next day we had a cultural tour of Kandy. First we went to an Ayurvedic Clinic and were shown around the garden all the lovely specimens of plants where the herbal concoctions came from. Then given a chance to purchase local Ayurvedic medicines.we then were driven to a local tea producing factory and given a tour of how tea is produced.The next day it was explained to us that there were volunteers required in the coastal town of Hikkaduwa and four of us volunteer to do our time there so we drove four to Hikkaduwa where our volunteering started. I had a lovely large room with a very comfortable bed and of course ceiling fan for those warm nights. The next day we crossed the railway line and started our three week journey with 4 and 6 year olds. Every morning we would roll up and spent the morning with the children. First there was always traditional songs the children would sing and then the National Anthem and then my colleague and I would perform some dance actions to songs and the children would follow. Then the class would start and most days we would spend the mornings making craft items from recycled materials like bottles, ice cream sticks and CDS . There were lessons in numbers and basic English as well. Towards the end of the time it was Paya Day or Full Moon Day in Sri Lanka and we had an afternoon session of singing and dancing and story telling followed by a dinner of Barbecued corn potatoes and rice. We had a wonderful torchlight session where the children waved their torches in the darkness and at the end each child was given a gift in a small brown paper bag and finally fireworks ended the night. The next day was a rest day so I caught a Tuk Tuk to the town of Galle just 30 min away and had a lovely time at the Fort which was built in the 1500s by Portuguese and Dutch and I met quite a few locals as well before heading back. So everyday was full of morning classes followed by a wonderful lunch and then a free afternoon where I spent mostly in the pool at a hotel overlooking the beach which faced the sun setting over the Indian Ocean. After my swim I stopped off for a wonderful coffee made by an elderly couple at the local store and we would chat for an hour or so. Then it was the evening meal again cooked by our lovely husband and wife team. So the days melted into weeks and we had two beautiful trips away organised by our team leader. One weekend was to Yala a National Park with all the wild animals and then to Marissa a seaside town. The next weekend I went by Tuk Tuk to a coastal town to swim with the turtles that come close to the beach. A truly wonderful experience and I stayed overnight and the ocean swim in the late evening was truly therapeutic. At the end of my three weeks it was organised for me to stay four days at Ella high up in the mountains with gorgeous views and a nice day trip to two Buddhist temples one a very ancient one with a carving in the cliff and the other temple on a very high mountain newly built with golden statues of a sitting Buddha surrounding the inside of the temple. Truly beautiful. So that was my stay in Sri Lanka and I would strongly recommend it to anyone interested as you are well looked after and catered for . It is a great way to experience another culture.