Boys Orphanage

I visited Mattegoda boys orphanage for my first and only visit. The atmosphere is a lot different at this orphange than at the girls one. They are a lot more playful and active and it is more difficult to get them to focus on learning. They are a lot worse at English than the girls are and also more apprehensive to learn. They would much rather fight and play games. However, they are a lot more kind and helpful to the teachers and even though I only worked there for one day I found the experience particularly rewarding.

The boys being cheeky

They loved colouring and so we intergrated this into learning English by getting them to draw there favourite type of vehicle and writing and say a short message in English about the vehicle. They drew fighter planes, tanks, racing cars, buses, jeeps and hot air balloons.

Goodbye Party at home

Our homestay organised a party for us to say goodbye. The volunteers and I cooked them some English food and they organised a party for us with music and our favourite Sri Lankan foods. We had a fish curry and some Indian style pancakes/poppadoms with a weird name I can't remember. We cooked them Spaghetti Bolognese and only when we were half way through did I remember they don't eat beef, because cows are sacred and "useful" to them. All I ever see cows do is walk along the roads getting in peoples way and eating rubbish from rubbish pits! So we cooked them spaghetti with tomato sauce and vegetables. They said it was yummy but when we asked if they wanted any more they said they were full but still ate more of their own fish curry! Now they understand how we felt when we tried their foods for the first time and had to pretend to like it. As the time went on we emphasised how amazing the foods were that we actually did like and they began to only give us the food we enjoyed the most.

Spaghetti Bolognese prepared by the volunteers in my homestay

We showed the family English dancing and showed them the Kandyan dancing we have learnt in the time living in Sri Lanka.

Kandyan Dancing

Saying goodbye to Mattegoda girls orphanage

I visited Mattegoda girls for the last time today and it was really hard saying goodbye. They invited other volunteers and I to go on a swimming trip with them but we couldn't go because we were having our last day party at Rukmale orphanage and Camilla school on the same day as the trip. Therefore, we went the day before to say goodbye.

They were exceptionally affectionate and wouldn't let go of us. It was difficult moving anywhere with 6 girls hanging onto you! One girl gave me her bracelet that she wanted me to have and I was particularly amazed at this gesture, because they have nothing and it was probably her only piece of jewelery! I was very grateful but I couldn't accept it and tried to give it back to her. For the next half an hour she ran away from me whenever I saw her and hid from me, because she didn't want me to give it to her back! I left it on the table when I left so hopefully she will find it.

We took a lot of photos of the girls and then let them use the camera. Normally, it is a big mistake taking a photo of a lesson because if the girls see then they refuse to give the camera back,  taking pictures of themselves and when I eventually do get the camera back they do not cooperate for the rest of the lesson, saying "camera, camera, please miss".

Many of the girls cryed when we left because they didn't want us to leave and kept asking when will we visit again and if I will write them letters. They tried to delay us leaving as much as possible by giving us tea, sandwiches, making us write notes to them, and more photos! They were hugging us tightly while crying and not letting us go. It was great to think we have made such an impact on their lives but it upsets me knowing that they will be crying over us and when we are gone there will nobody else going to visit them everyday and playing and singing and making them happy.

I hope that the children hold fond memories of me and I hope I have motivated them to work hard, especially with their English, as it is very important for these orphans when they leave to know English so they can find a job. I am planning on keeping contact with them, by writing letters, which should further improve their English and hopefully by staying in contact they will feel less abandoned.

Kandy, Danbulla and Sigiriya

The largest buddhist festival, called Esala Perehara, lasts for two weeks, with parades down the streets, lasting  a few hours everyday. I went for the last friday and saturday nights and it was incredible. I have never seen anything quite like it in my life. There were thousands of people dressed up performing different acts, such as fire throwing, plate balancing and incredible dancing, as well as about 30 elephants, all dressed up in marvelous outfits, parading down the streets.

Elephants parading with the famous 'tooth relic'

On the first night I went there were monsoon showers, and even though we borrowed two umbrellas from the guesthouse we were staying in, we were drenched byt the time we came home.

It was very very wet!

We ran around and followed the festival down the streets and managed to get some amazing photos close up to the parade.

Close up of the festival!

When the festival was over, we were walking down an alley and just bumped into one of the performing elephants having a rest and eating. It was a complete shock but was amazing to be able to touch it. Although I was pretty scared at first, as I had read that elephants can kill humans easily by standing on them!

On saturday, I went to pinnawela and millenium elephant orphanages and had an elephant shower and rode o top of it. At millenium orphange the elephants were kept in really horrible conditions and you could tell from their swaying and repetitive movements they had actually turned crazy from living in such a small environment and being controlled by humans.

Elephant shower!

On the way back from the elephant orphanges I went to a spice garden and found out about a lot of ayuverdu medicines. I managed to get a free head massage. I had a headche and said I was interested in buying this 'headache oil' you have to massage onto your head, so they massaged it into my head for me for about twenty minutes, and yes my headche actually went away (probably just due to the massage, as I dont really believe in non-medical miracle cures!)


On Sunday, I travelled to Danbulla and saw the golden temple and the temple caves. They were very interesting and the caves were really peaceful. On the walk up to the caves, there were loads of monkeys and little puppies. I made the mistake of giving a chocolate finger to one of the monkeys and the others saw and came running over, so we did a run for it!

Budda displayed in the temple caves

Later in the day we travelled to Sigiriya, but they had no cash points so unfortunately we couldn't pay entry! However, we walked around the lake and came across many different animals. I filmed a group of dogs and monkeys fighting. Fortunately I left just before two other volunteers got stuck in a tree of bees! At the end of the nature trail we came across a temple and met a monk, who talked to us about the temple.

On monday we visited another temple and had an introductory meditation class from the high priest of the temple. We had to walk around in a circle, very slowly, and concentrate on our stepping and breathing, without letting our minds think about anything else. We chatted and drank tea with the monks.

The weekend was amazing, I learnt a lot about Buddhism and find it a very interesting and humble religion. It was also the first weekend I wasn't ill which is a great relief, as i thought my body would never adapt to the differences in food and lifestyle.

Unawatuna Beach

Unawantuna is a costal village in Galle. It is famous for its beautiful beaches and corals.

Many independent travellers and backpackers visit Unawantuna beach, including a lot of Germans and Australians.

I went for a ride in a glass bottom boat and went snorkelling in the waters above the famous corals, but I only managed to see three fish!

Sitting on a glass bottomed boat

Snorkelling as the sun sets

I cut my foot on a coral and it was bleeding a lot, and as I was told there were sharks in the bay, I panicked and thought I was going to get eaten by a shark. So, I got back on the boat as soon as possible to avoid the inevitable shark attack.

We took a visit to Hikkaduwa, which is about half an hour away. As we were wating at the bus stop, the buses never stopped for us. Their was a tuk-tuk driver trying to get us to have a lift from him, but we wanted to travel on the bus to save money and for a better experience of Sri Lankan culture. After half anhour of all the buses near;ly stopping, then shooting off at the last minute we became very suspisious. Then, we saw that the tuk-tuk driver was shooing all the buses away, because he thought then we would give in and get a tuk-tuk with him! So we told him we would never get a tuk-tuk with him even if it was free and when the next buses came we jumped in front of him to block him from shooing the buses away. We eventually got a bus and the journey was along the beautiful coast line.

Hiding the tuk-tuk driver, as we wait for a bus!

We had to get off the bus in  a hurry because one of the volunteers was so desperate for the toilet she couldn't wait and we were in the middle of nowhere! We wondered around trying to find somwehere and everyone was staring at us, as if they had never seen white people! Thankfully, a kind lady let us use her outside toilet, and we carryed on our journey.

When we readed Hikkaduwa a storm was brewing and it was almost like  ghost town. We walked around trying to find a guest house to stay in but things kept creeping us out! There was a frog in one of the rooms, which a volunteer is really scared off, and then another volunteer fell down the stairs. We decided it was too creepy to stay, so we jumped on the first tuk-tuk back to Unawantuna!

Back on Unawantuna beach in the storm

There are hundreds of abandoned dogs in Sri Lanka, especially on the beach, so we made some dog friends, and they slept under our sunbeds!

The second weekend I visited Unawantuna, we went to Colombo Fort train station and got a train to Galle. At Colombo there was a massive market and managed to barter from 8000 rupees to 1500 rupees for a bag. They try and rip off all the tourists. There were dodgy people hanging around following us and I knew they were watching for the ideal time to pick pocket us so i put my bag on my front and stared at them, to let him know that I knew what he was thinking. They soon went away!


The train station is absoloutly crazy1 We got 3rd class tickets (1st class was recommended for tourists, so were slumming it a bit). We noticed that as the train arrives at the platform people jump on as it is moving for the only chance to get a seat. People even stand in the train tracks so they can jump on from the other side! I didn't want to be cramped and uncomfortable for the four hour journey, so as the train came to the paltform I took a running jump and rolled onto the train. I manged to save seats for people, and even though it was so busy I was quite comfortable, and enjoyed the beach views on the journey. As we got nearer our destination the train became very spacious and we sat in the doors and admired the amazing beach views. We even saw a load of slums, which was very interesting!

Sitting in the train door, admiring the views.

The guest houses are quite cheap, about 800 rupees (about 4.80) for a double room. Here is a picture of us outside our guest house, waiting for a monsoon shower to end.

The Jungle

This was our first weekend outing and was a way to get to know all the other volunteers so we could help and support each other during the the challenging projects we had.We stayed in massive tents, sleeping 8 people.  There were many 'team building' activities on Saturday (starting at 6am!), including falling off a high platform and being caught by the rest of the team, jumping into a lake from a 20 or 30 feet platform and zip wiring across a lake.

Unfortuantely I was really ill and had to go to the doctors in the morning because I had a fever and major stomach cramps, which I  think was caused by drinking the local water. At the doctors, he didn't speak very good English and then gave me 6 different pills to take and gave me no description as to what the were. Apparently it is common in Sri Lanka for doctors to give out loads of medication to people without really knowing whats wrong with them. They think the more the better!

The dozens of pills given to me

I felt dosed up all day on too many medications, but I managed to get myself up and jump off the 30 foot platform into the lake. I felt like I was still asleep when I did it, but it definately woke me up!

In the evening, everyone was drinking the local alcohol of sri lanka, called arrak, and we had a barbeque with the Sri Lankan red cross society. I couldn't drink because I was still ill from my stomach infection. However,  I had a great evening dancing and watching performances from the Sri Lankan.

A dramatic performance by a group of Sri lankans

They asked us to perform something to them, but we had nothing prepared, so we just stood up and sang 'my heart will go on'. It was awkward because not many off us could sing or knew all the words, but I think they enjoyed it.

Dancing with the locals

I had a dance-off with one of the locals, which was so much fun. I found it hard keeping up with his energy because Sri Lankan dancing is really fast, but I think I was a pretty good competitor. I wanted to introduce the Sri Lankans to some British songs, especially some genres they probably have never heard before, such as techno or drum and bass. We danced for them and they tryed to copy our dancing.

On Sunday, I was still felling ill but I didn't want to miss out on anything else so I went on the trek up a really high mountain in the rainforest. It was amazing and the views were so good.

We did some climbing with harnesses and swam in some beautiful waterfalls.

Here I am underneath a waterfall

 There must have been a forest fire at some point, because on the climb down the other side of the mountain, a large part of the forest was largely empty and my hands were black from touching the trees.

Although I was ill and couldn't take part in many of the activities, I had an amazing experience.

Teaching at Orphanages

I teach English to three different orphanages in the afternoons. As I teach them when they are home from school I try to make the classes as fun as possible.

Rukemale orphange is a girls orphange with children ranging from 4 to 19. We teach them in three different classes, so their English abilities within a class are more even. We play a variety of English activity games with the younger children and mainly have conversations and chat in English with the older children.

Here are a few of the younger children at Rukemale orphanage

After our first teaching session the matron of the orphanage said we were great teachers and the children loved us. The children call me Rose, because apparently I look like Rose from titanic! They call another volunteer Angelina Jolie! One eighteen year old girl came for a chat with us at the end and was really enthusiatic about us being there and couldn't wait for us to help her with her english essaes and CV and letter writing. She hopes that with extra English help from us she will be able to leave the orphange and get a good job.

Some of the older kids took me for a walk of their grounds, which is about 2 acres and full of fruit trees. There are monkeys that swing from their trees at 5pm every day, which I'm very excited about seeing! They also have there very own cow! However, it  isn't that shocking anymore because in Sri Lanka there are cows everywhere! I have about ten pictures of cows in funny places, such as on the side of the road, or walking along the pavements! Apparently the cows are sacred, so can wonder around and do whatever they like.

Cows relaxing on the side of the road

At Mattegoda orphanage I teach at the children are all in one big class of 40 people, so it was very difficult at the start to get every ones attention.It was also difficult to play an activity that all the children would enjoy. We played games with the children who wanted to join in, while some of the older ones just watched and laughed at us amongst themselves. So, in the last half an hour of the lesson we said goodbye to the little ones and went to a classroom to chat to the older ones. They were very shy at first and didn't want to talk to us, but after a lot of talk about celebrities, films and boyfriends they began to like me and they were soon chatting away in English and asking me lots of questions. I promised to bring them magazine pictures of famous English celebrities next time I visited them.