feelin hot hot hot!!

Sri Lanka...I’m very warm blooded, and can often find Scotland too hot; I’m really not a fan of cities full stop, let alone busy cities; and I seem to have a strange ability to pick up dirt that’s anywhere near me and spend the rest of the day feeling disgusting. As we stepped out of the hostel on our first day into busy Colombo in Sri Lanka the extreme heat hit us straight away, the air was filled with dust and our ears were ringing with the constant tooting from the overcrowded road full of cars and tuktuks that looked like they were aiming for you most of the time. People were shouting at each other and tuktuk taxi drivers stopped at us every 2 minutes to try to convince us to pay them lots of money to take us 5 minutes around the corner. As I looked around me and took a deep breath in, filling my lungs with warm dust and spices I knew there and then I was going to absolutely love it! Everything is just so extreme, the heat, the noise, the busyness, but also the kindness and friendliness. Butterflies began dancing excitedly in my stomach as we walked to the Scripture Union Offices to find out what work we would be doing with them during our stay. They had never had volunteers from overseas before and so this was new to them as well.
On arrival we met an amazing woman, Julia, who immediately welcomed us warmly with a kiss on the cheek. We spent the next few hours in the office with Julia and the treasurer Sean discussing projects we could help with and planning our time. It was so incredible as these people who have been working so hard to make contact with, and get involved with these different project were more than happy to trust us completely in running them for the week! After my many prayers for more responsibility and chance for impact we were being handed it on a plate! I was buzzing leaving the office, with ideas for games and activities flying through my mind at lightning speed.
Over the next few days Laura and I spent nights planning group activities and lessons that would be suitable for children of many different age groups and backgrounds. Days were spent doing prep work and laughing on the buses as we clung on for dear life (they seem to be able to fit half a village in a bus in Sri Lanka, most of whom are standing and then the driver likes to add a little excitement by seeming to make the bus jump along the road – kind of like snoop dog) on our way to leading our prepared lessons. We worked with many different groups over the week: a group of teenage girls at a type of boarding school, boys of many ages also at a hostel school, church groups and scripture union outings. I think though for both of us it was Saturday that really shone out.
We woke early to travel on one of the buses of death to a different area in Colombo where we met 6 orphan girls at their lovely home before we headed for the beach with them. Oh my life, these girls were BEAUTIFUL! The 3 older girls were so caring of each other and the younger ones, and the younger girls were just so full of energy and excited to be playing and meeting new people. We spent the morning screaming and laughing in the sea (fully dressed, as we hadn’t quite planned the mayhem), making sand castles and building friendships. I think I was a shark, a life guard, a drowning woman and a climbing pole all in the space of about 3 hours. We came away from dropping the girls home completely soaked, with sand everywhere you could imagine, a little sun burnt, sleepy and late for our next group...but it was SOO worth it!
After a very quick shower we ran along to our next group working with a programme run by the local Methodist church to keep children from all religious backgrounds off the streets. They were such a hyper bunch, flocking us from start to finish, doing our hair, taking photos with my camera, dancing with us, chasing us...and that was out with the games and programme we had for them.
Before we understood the group dynamics Laura and I had planned on singing the children’s song Hallelujah in groups, with each group taking a different part and competing for the loudest, but after the first song our ears were ringing and throats aching from the screaming so we quickly had to move on!
Was so brilliant to work with kids that are so enthusiastic about everything we had for them. Was sad to later find out that in fact 2 of the gorgeous children were members of the homeless family that lived beside the Scripture Union office, but from then on we got lots of excited waves and cries of “aunty, aunty!” when we passed them which was really sweet.
On Sunday we attended the Methodist service in the morning which was good and then were talking at the youth group afterwards. We never could have expected to get as much from it as we did though! The message was being given by one of the youth who had never prepared a message before, and it was incredible! He was discussing the cross and what this really means. A really nice thought he shared was about when Jesus is washing Peter’s feet (John 13) and how the cross is like the bath in this analogy, it has completely cleansed us of sin, but us being human we will sin again and again, but so long as we have our hearts checked and come back to God with it then we just need the dirt washed off our dirty parts (i.e. our feet) and Jesus is happy to do this for us. I think this is a lovely thought.
We spent the afternoon at a children’s group playing games, singing songs and having a shot on their swings! Manori, a gorgeous girl from Scripture Union, travels for about 1 hour or more every week to make sure these kids get some Bible time and games, her passion was so obvious and a huge encouragement. The night was finished off with the local dish “hoppers” which is kind of like a really thin pancake that you eat with curry.
Monday morning began for us at 5am as my dreaded alarm informed us that it was time to get up and meet Julia and her husband at the train station for our day trip to “Kandy”. I was excited to see some of the scenery of Sri Lanka, but my breath was taken away on the train journey up the mountain to Kandy. I was basically climbing out the window trying to get better photos as I just couldn’t capture that kind of beauty. We spent most of the day enjoying being lazy in the sunny Botanic Gardens chatting and reflecting on the past week.

Sri Lanka was such an incredible experience, we are sad to leave it behind. The noise, the dust and the heat slowly became a background blur amidst the intense pulsing heartbeat of the people of Sri Lanka. We were so blessed to have worked with Scripture Union as they are doing some really great things, and more than that the people are incredible. Laura made up a facebook page for them (as I provided essential support from a seat near by) so if you get an invite to their page, I would recommend accepting it. The photos alone are an encouragement to anyone wanting to improve the lives of others.
So as we leave Sri Lanka behind and head to new adventures in India we have a tear in our eye, a warm and fuzzy feeling of good memories and many new relationships that I hope will continue to grow. As I look back I’ll remember the dust, the heat, the spicy food and the shouting in the streets; but I will remember them as part of the environment that produced some of the most incredible people and beautiful children I’ve ever met. The heat is warmth in their culture, the spicy food a memory of the great hospitality, the shouts are friendly and nearly always chased by a smile and the dust...well that’s just life!