Last day

 Pupils at Koralawella school

Two of our hotel trainees

I had a packed day planned for the last day.  A visit to Koralawella School first thing – this is the school where Shyla has volunteered on her own for  the  last couple of years,  making the most of her long summers before the rest of us arrive.   Asha provides a breakfast club, initiated because the teachers told us a few pupils in this very poor community were fainting during the day.  They don’t faint any more.  Our friend Elizabeth is Headteacher at a primary school in East London, and is keen to establish a link with this school.  Last Summer Shyla worked with the  Koralawella pupils to write about themselves and their families for the UK pupils, and I had a lovely collection of responses from London to take back.  It’s all a bit slow and old school without internet access (no electricity at the school), but we’ll get there.

And then I went to meet the potential hair & beauty trainees, to take them to the training venue to meet the course leaders.  Unfortunately, none showed up!  The local team were very disappointed, and a bit embarrassed I think, but to be honest, it was quite a big ask to think they’d head off to Colombo , to an unknown venue to find out about rather scary course.  I should have read the signs when one of the young women I'd invited a few days earlier asked me what she needed to wear - of course I told her what she was wearing that day would be just right, but perhaps it was all rather intimidating The main reason given for the no-show was that they and their families were concerned about the  journey to Colombo – all of 4 or 5 miles.  But we face this in  East London all the time – young people boroughs like Newham and  Tower Hamlets are reluctant to seek work in central London.   

So I went off on my own to the Salon and explained to Cheryl, who runs the programme.  She responded really positively and said the magic words “Why don’t we start the course off in your new centre then?”   We know that local is best, but I had understood that it was a requirement it had to be delivered in the established centre in Colombo, with all the equipment etc.   She’s going to start off with activities that  don’t require sinks,  and we’d need to get some simple portable mirror-stands.   Once the trainees are hooked and relationships established, she’ll move them to the Colombo salon.  A very positive outcome.  That afternoon, back in Athidiya, a young woman sought me out because she had heard about the course and was very keen to pursue a career in hairdressing – she’d done a short course already, but it had not led to employment.  She is well known to our team, and she will help with recruiting the  first cohort. 

I also met the team leading the hotel management course.  We discussed a celebration event at our new centre in May, to mark the completion of the first cohort’s training.  They are going to invite parents and others from the local patch to celebrate the achievement of the group who completed the programme, all of whom will by then have secure employment in high quality hotels and restaurants.  We hope this will help us to recruit the second cohort.

I’m back in the  UK now, looking forward to returning in July with the whole family and 18 young people and their teachers from Eston Park School in Middlesbrough.

Yesterday I visited Sri Punyakami School, the one closest to Athidiya. We’ve been working with that school for six years now, and have brought teams of volunteers to work here for the past 4. 18 pupils from Eston Park are coming over in July. The school was jubilant when I got there because they had received their O level results this week, and had a great set of results – with two pupils achieving 9 passes, including Singhala, Maths and English. There’s a new banner up with the star pupils’ pictures and results displayed for all to see. Unfortunately, the numbers sitting the exam continue to be very low – only 9 this year. Most leave by the end of Year 11.

I also met Hiruni, a young woman who’s been attending Sister’s after school for several years and had the Asha funding for extra classes. She proudly told me she passed 9 O levels including 3 As and 3 Bs. Now she’s going to do A levels – the first in her family to do so.

Sam, Ellen and Louise, the teachers from the Murton Primary school in Durham have been at St Mary’s School in Dehiwala –a school where about a third of the pupils are from our patch in Athidiya. They’ve been amazed at the warmth and hospitality here. The pupils at St Mary’s have loved meeting them and the local teachers have enjoyed watching the different approach of the British teachers. Sam, Ellen and Louise’s enthusiasm is contagious – they’ve been a real pleasure to be with, and we are hoping to build a strong partnership between their school and Asha.

When at the Sri Punyakami school, I showed Ms Silva the Head the pictures of her ex-students at work in the hotels. She was so pleased to see them in their new role. I also told her about the possibility of the Hair & Beauty course, and she told me she was confident that a number of her ex-pupils would be interested. She spent that afternoon and the next morning going door-to-door around Athidiya, inviting interested young women to come to a meeting with me this morning. I met four young women at the school today – they were finding out for their friends too, who could not come this morning. They ranged from 17-20, none had done well in their O levels, and when I asked them what they were doing now, they said they were all “at home”. They had filled in application forms for a few jobs, but nothing came of it. The 20 year old had done a sewing course, but that too had not led to work. One of them had worked in a “hair dye place” in Athidiya for two months but had left because it was “a bad place”. The physical conditions in these small local places are often very poor, so I don’t doubt her. I told them about the course and made a big issue of the level of commitment required – its a four month programme and they have to travel to Colombo . Its only about 4 miles away, a 40 minutes bus journey, but as often in these communities, its a world away. We’ll meet their travel costs but I know that’s only part of the challenge, the biggest issue is leaving the safety of their close community. I gave them all the information, told them to discuss it with their families and if they are still interested, I’d to meet them and any of their interested friends on Monday, to take them across to the training centre to meet the course leader and see the place. Fingers crossed! I leave on Tuesday morning.