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Sri Lanka Journal |
Clown's DiarySaturday 26 MarchThey wanted me to work with them that afternoon as well, however I'd made a commitment to work with I.O.M. that afternoon, so sadly had to decline. At 1 p.m. I again attempted to meet with Father Paul from THE BUTTERFLY PEACE GARDEN, this time with success. I explained about Children's World International, the purpose of this Mini-Tour and the forthcoming Autumn Tour, and told him how impressed I was with the Peace Garden. He listened quietly, then asked some questions and finished up by saying that he likes what we intend to do and will email our head office in the U.K. If they can organise groups of children for CWI to work with, I think that THE BUTTERFLY PEACE GARDEN would be the perfect environment and the perfect people to work with at times, as our aims are very similar. I left there feeling very good about the meeting. I then spent the afternoon successfully emailing head office before returning to my hotel to meet up with IOM. I was disappointed to discover that the first lady I had met at IOM was not there. She'd had an eye infection a few days earlier, and the dust from our last parachute games sessions had irritated it. We went to a mainly Muslim camp and half way through the games we had to stop for prayers. Although CWI are a non-religious charity, we always respect other peoples' cultural and religious beliefs. To this end I recommend that in future we ascertain times of worship, and work one side or the other of them, as stopping half-way through is not an ideal situation for our work. Neither is it creating the sober mood amongst the children that some religious bodies feel is necessary for proper, respectful prayers to take place. After working alongside IOM at this camp, I returned to my hotel, packed my bags ready to leave, ate a last meal (so to speak) and then headed off to the station to catch the train back to Trincomalee. I enjoyed my time in Batticaloa. I found most people and most N.G.O.'s both happy and eager to use Children's World International's services. I believe that CWI could work there for several months and still not reach all the affected children. However, due to the inter-NGO rivalries that I became aware of when I first entered the town, I also recomend that we work through more than one established NGO, as they might feel uncomfortable about demanding we stop our activities so that they can start theirs if they expect us to work on their project the next day. Politics - don't you just love them! I arrived at the station in good time and thought all was going well untill I boarded the train. Only then did I discover that the "sleeper" that I had booked was not a lying-down sleeper, but rather a lightly padded, heavily ripped seat with a back that could be adjusted by about half a degree. Also, because of the fact that it was one of 30 or more such seats in an open compartment, I could not risk sleeping lest I awake with no bags. ("Dear Bella, Your computer, parachute and all the play equipment has been stolen. I cannot work, so am spending my last week diving and getting a suntan", would not go down too well with my employer!) I stayed awake for the 4 hours of the first train jouney, the 4 hours of waiting for my connecting train, and the 3 and a half hours on the second train - eventually arriving at Trincomalee at 8.00 a.m. on the morning of Easter Sunday. 
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CWI Tsunami Tour