July 19th 2010 update

Hi
Its so good to be here, to spend time with the team, visit the projects and meet the young people we see every year.

We have visited the school and spent time with Ms Silva, planning for the group from Eston Park who arrive tomorrow (Tuesday) and start running activities there on Weds. 19 pupils and 3 staff who have not been before. The pupils here are very excited – I’ve had little groups running up to me in the street, asking when the visitors are coming.

We’ve spent several afternoons at the Asha Centre, running the after-school club. These sessions have been particularly energetic because our friends David and Mary Davies from London have been leading them, with their 3 young sons – Nathan 10, Jonah 8 and Daniel 4. David is the brother of Steve Carrick-Davies, a trustee, who was out here with us last year with his family. David has got hold of a guitar and the children from Athidiya have loved all the singing and the games – and the novelty of the small boys. David has also painted the rooms – all looking fresh and clean now – and we’ve been doing bits of artwork during the sessions for display.

The land for our new community centre has been cleared, and we’ve just received the first set of drawings for the building from the architect. Its great to see all our discussions visualized – no doubt there will be many further refinements.

Our family group this year includes our friend Shani, 16, Pauline’s daughter (Steve’s oldest friend) – as well as Katherine of course. Shyla and Katherine have taken Shani to Colombo today, for the essential visit to Odel, Paradise Road and Barefoot – once the Eston Park group arrive tomorrow, the days will be full and there’ll be no time for shopping.

Steve, Omar and I are going to visit RCCI, the special needs school we support - to celebrate with them the fantastic news that their kitchen project is the FIRST project to secure its funding through See The Difference - a new video-based fundraising site, launched a few weeks ago. Here's the link to the site and the video:

http://us1.campaign-archive.com/?u=4e8059de68fe10375c37bf6ed&id=e18d1a63c4&e=9d1ab32b64

More soon
Radhika & Steve