The fabulous Asha Well

Yesterday Lesley, Angeline and I spent the day with another amazing nun – Sister Placida. Among the many projects she runs is something she named New Beginnings. She had been working in the Colombo slums which sound worse even than Atthidiya in the old days – people living in tiny shacks with just a shelf where the women and children slept and all their goods underneath. The men slept in the road. They had no cooking facilities so they bought food in plastic bags – no real family life at all. When asked why they lived like this, she says they always said they had no choice. She insisted that there is always a choice and started to take small groups out into the villages, to show them that there is plenty of space in other parts of the country and that a different life would be possible. She established a group of families who were willing to explore this idea further, and worked with them for many months, helping them to create a sense of community and a different set of values. She raised the money to buy some land in a village and in 2007 9 families made the move away from their life in Colombo. For the first 6 months they all lived in the only property on that piece of land, while they helped local builders to build each family a house. One of the reasons the village is underpopulated is lack of water – and the families found that they had 3 natural springs on the land. They approached Asha Trust for funding to build a well – which we did a couple of years ago. All the villagers benefit from the water – the families had said from the outset that the whole village would drink from this even to the last drop.
Talking to the families was truly extraordinary. It was clear that their lives had been truly transformed. One mother told me that when she brought her first baby home, in Colombo, she arrived from the hospital to find their mud up to her hips, following one of the regular floods. Her second baby was born in the village, and she said words could not express how happy she is in their new home. Another woman said that before she entered her new home, she ran around the outside several times, unable to believe that all this was for her family. They have found work, and they are all growing vegetables, fruit t rees and even coconut on their plots. They had no idea about food growing – and Sister has stories about how amazed they were when finding that a seed could grow into a plant which would then produce so much.
Sister has done this with two groups in two different villages now – 19 families in total, and has another 8 families ready to move as soon as she has raised the money to build their houses.
I feel so privileged to know these amazing women . Sister Placida’s entrepreneurship and courage is truly inspirational.
Radhika

Eliza on her first day at the school

Today was my first day working with the project in the school. I was a little nervous, as Shyla and I had Yrs 9, 10, and 11! (and I’m only just about to start year 9 in September!) But I have to say that they are a really bright bunch of kids, who could confidently speak some English. They were very small classes, minimum 4 and maximum 8.
We were concentrating on fruit and numbers in the classes today, and playing games like “I went to the market and I bought...” We also did role play, Shyla and I being the fruit-sellers and the children the customers. They each had a pile of fake money, and had to order fruit asking for the price. They understood most of it really well, and seemed to find it great fun.
After the three lessons of the morning we went home, and freshened up before we went to the community centre, to visit Sister Concepta, and children that were performing in the show that they have been practicing for to show us. There was a misunderstanding with the date of the show, and now it’s on Friday instead, and so we went to visit the builders that were developing the new community centre, using the money that we had raised in England.
We also went to visit Athidiya, when my family and I came two years ago we were seeing the new houses on the other side of the river being built for the families that lived in the slums, and it was really heart lifting to see all of them so settled in their new homes, and recognising some if the children who went to the school.
I really enjoyed today working in the school and visiting Athidiya, and I’m really looking forward and excited to start the day tomorrow! 

Eliza, 13

Update from the school

Working at the school this week has been highly enjoyable, as ever – the children are so pleased to see us, enthusiastic and energetic and a bit hard to manage at times. I have been popping into classes threatening them that if they don’t listen to the team, we’ll go to other classes tomorrow... Their faces drop so dramatically that I feel really guilty – especially as we have no intention of carrying out the threat. Angeline and Jane have been showing the rest of us up by doing gorgeous work on Elmer (the multi-coloured elephant). We’ve also been doing Handa’s Surprise (lots of discussions about fruit and animals) and of course the Hungry Caterpillar – always a hit. With the Secondary pupils we’ve been discussing time, families and food.
Some things at the school have definitely improved. A number of classrooms have attractive displays – a rarity in previous years – and the science teacher is enjoying the equipment Eston Park School provided.
Yesterday the Head asked me to “advise” one of the Year 8 girls. Her attendance has been poor and the Head has visited the home several times to encourage this bright girl to come to school. Somehow, she thinks that if I speak to her, things will improve. So I did as I was asked. It turns out Aksha lives with her grandmother – and she does not come to school when her grandmother does not have enough money for food. On those days Aksha sells fish to bring in some money. The Head pleaded with her to let her know when this happens, as she will provide the food that day – but to be honest I am not sure this is a long-term solution. Asha Trust provides a meal at the school for pupils, but we don’t offer it to grandmothers!

We’ve also been to the Asha Centre in the afternoons. On the first day, there were 42 children in that tiny space – no bigger than a small front room – and we were all amazed at how well they worked despite the extraordinarily cramped conditions. The children at the Centre are from the same community as the pupils at the school, but they have the advantage of coming to the afterschool club and Saturday school, and getting all the input from Sister and the team. They have learned to share, to take turns, to co-operate – things the school pupils find quite hard. And of course they have daily English / Singhalese / Maths help. Many still struggle, but the difference between the two groups is stark , despite the Centre children living in the most challenging housing in the area. Its great that once the new community centre is complete, Sister and the team will be able to work with even more of these children.

Radhika

Emily, 14, on her first impressions

This is the very first time I have ever got involved in charity work overseas or in England .I have met the lovely team who put so much time and effort in to helping the Sri Lankan community. I have always been encouraged to share and give at home since an early age but I didn’t realise why that is so important until now. In Britain some education is really taken for granted. I have so far been to the local school and met lots of children. I have found so many similarities between the UK children and Sri Lankan children despite the severe poverty. We went to the centre sister runs and we were all welcomed with songs in English. I found it very encouraging and it made me understand why the English language is quite important. At the school it was very different but the children were helpful and most of them learnt a lot of English conversation. We visited the land and it was only then I noticed most of the poverty. The housing was better than before but it was so basic. The river was filled with pollution, rubbish and was non drinkable. This is a major issue. The land was the foundations for a new building for the disabled in the community. I just find it so inspiring to see so many lives changed by the work done here in Sri Lanka but also hope the world does see these conditions through open eyes.

BUilding Update

A number of you have asked about the latest on the building of the community centre. For those who don't know Asha Trust has been raising money in order to build a fit for purpose community centre in the heart of Athidiya, Presently the local team opperate from a small one room ''centre'' which is the downstairs of a small house. In order to grow the work and have a greater impact the team have been dreaming of a new centre.
We bought the land about a year ago now and since then have been battling with various bits of officialdom.
However , we think we are about there now. During our trip I spent half a day arranging a letter from a lawyer which we hope is the last document we need,
Our every so positive architect , Chinthaka, has now submitted all documents to the loacl council for approval. So all being well we hope the build will start in May!!
At this point the building will be usable and we can take our time resourcing it and developing the programmes and activities .This is all very exciting !
A big thanks to everyone that has join us in enabling this to happen.
We still need to raise about 10K to complete the building as planned and still fundriseing
We are planning a 50 Mile cycle ride on 7th May along the river lea. We ran it last year and it was such a great day. If interested please contact me on info@ashatrust.co.uk.
Steve

another exciting adventure

We met Ms Silva, the principal of Sri Punyakami. As we entered the school compund, we saw a tired looking building, barely equipped classrooms and an environment with very little appeal for learning, creativity and innovation.
As we started talking to Ms Silva about her school and pupils, it was apparent to us that this principal not only faced the challenge of running an under resourced and poor performing school but battled with many social problems mainly poverty, preventing pupils to purchase basic school related items such as shoes, books and bags. Without the help of Asha Trust, a large majority of children will still come to school on an empty stomach and leave hungry at the end of the school day. Access to food is a basic human right and good nutritious food is far beyond the reach of many children who attend this school.
As well as social problems, Ms Silva also faced emotional problems with her teenagers. She had a teenage girl who eloped with an older man, an attempted suicide, many single parent families as well as children with no parents or children who were either looked after by the granparents, relatives, neighbours or a known person. When she related some of the stories to us, it felt like a storyline straight out of Eastenders but it's amplified a hundred times more. Many of these children are stuck in a cycle of poverty, poor education,no qualifications, drug addiction, teenage pregnancy with a future outlook of very low paid jobs (working as servants for many women) or jail sentence. It may sound like a complete exaggeration but with 95% of children facing the above problems, it is the reality they face.
This lead to a discussion around self esteem, especially for girls. Ms Silva told us that with a heavy curriculum to deliver, this subject was not even considered. Although our main purpose was to run nutrition based workshops, we also agreed to run some very basic self esteem workshops for the 14-16 year olds.
After organising time tables for our nutrition and self esteem programmes, we then headed back for a nice cup of Ceylon tea. Our heads reeling with all the information and prep work we needed to do before Monday dawned upon us.

Work at Athidiya – March/April 2011

We arrived on the morning of Friday the 25^th March in Sri Lanka, the hype of Sri Lanka vs England for the ICC World Cup 2011 was heavy in the air. We were greeted by huge cut out posters of international cricket players at the airport and throughout the city of Colombo, the capital of Sri Lanka. Cricket seems almost a religion here and one of the important aspects which glues the whole nation together.

As we approached the exit of the airport we were instantly hit by the weather – hot and humid. It was time to get accustomed to the heat fairly quickly we started to discard our jackets and scarves. T-Shirt weather here we come!

After dropping our luggage and a quick freshen up at the hotel, we were invited for breakfast to Anukshie’s house (one of the ASHA Foundation trustee). We were given kiribath for breakfast. Kiribath is milk rice which is usually served during any festival or celebrations in Sri Lanka, it was very warming to hear that our visit was seen as a celebration.

We then visited Athidiya, where the nutrition workshops were going to take place in the next two weeks. Athidiya is an area of social deprivation, to say the least. Athidiya consists of many families affected by Tsunami and refugees from the war. Both the countries largest ethnic communities, the Singhalese and Tamils live side by side in these communities.

We met with Sister Concepta an inspirational woman, who has dedicated her life to serving the people from this community. We were affectionately welcomed by Sister Concepta and more than 30 smiling children from ages 5-16 in the current centre run by Sister Concepta and her two members of staff, Rosemary and Mrs V. After the short introductions and mass handshakes with all the children we got down to business.

We learnt that the children who attend the centre all come from Athidiya. Sister and her staff run tuition classes from Monday to Friday and a life education session on Saturday. The life education sessions can consists of a variety of topics from drama to card making, motivation and health.

We knew we needed first hand information about the community and their needs. It was crucial for us to establish this so we are able to deliver workshops which are relevant and useful to them.

When Sister Concepta started relating the information, the reality of the situation did not even come close to the preconceived ideas we had about a deprived community. In an afternoon spent with Sister Concepta, we began to realise that our nutrition sessions will need to be adapted to basic messages, not because of the lack of understanding but because of sheer poverty.

The background knowledge Sister provided us was most valuable and we got to hear how their daily struggles mask many other health and/or social problems in these communities. The poverty experienced in these communities are below basic human rights and needs.

We had a walk around the area with Sister, she showed us their houses and their living conditions. Until recently, many of the families were still living in shanties (small temporary buildings made out of polythene).

The government were generous enough to provide these families with the necessary brick and mortar but were told to get on and build their own homes. A non governmental organisation provided the community some support in building their homes. Their houses consist of a single room and a kitchen, no windows or a bathroom only their front and back door for light and ventilation. They have a communal showering area, toilet and taps for water. Their houses are barely equipped, many slept on the floor. In one of the houses we passed by, there we three generations (13 people) living under one roof (I told myself never to complain about my house again!).

We also asked one of the women what she had cooked for lunch, she showed us her kitchen with three pots, a gas stove and cylinder. She had prepared rice, dhal, some spinach and sprats (small dried fish, cheaply available). This menu is not dissimilar to the rest of families in the community.

During our walk Sister also relayed how many families due to tsunami and the war have lost family members and what surprised us most was to hear how there was a huge drug addiction, teenage pregnancy and single parent families in the area. Many families affected by these problems are stuck in a vicious cycle unable to lift themselves out of their current situation. There are no state benefits, community development programmes or community health service for these families. In my mind they seem to almost be forgotten by the rest of the society.

By the end of our first day and with no sleep for more than 24 hours, Kiran and I were overwhelmed by everything we heard and thought this was definitely going to be more than just a nutrition education sessions.

Saturday 26

We were invited to the life education session at Sister’s centre. There were about 25-30 children from ages 5 to 16. The room almost full, however the children were all seated quietly and keen to listen to what we were going to say. We did not prepare a powerpoint presentation, hence our session was very practical and interactive. Sister Concepta translated what we delivered in Singhalese. Although there were a few Tamil children, all of them were fluent in Singhalese. In our session, we got children to draw foods they ate everyday, we then asked them which food groups the foods belong to and explained the importance of the food groups and how their functions in our body. It was a challenging session because of the various age groups, we provided simple messages and the older children joined in to give answers as they already had some knowledge. The session was a interactive all they way, we asked questions and tried to engage all the children.

After the session, all the children who attend Saturday session receive a nutritious supplement prepared by Sister and her staff. The nutritious supplement is called ‘Samaposha’. Samaposha contains, mung beans, soya beans, corn and rice. The dried powder is mixed with sugar and grated coconut to and made into tennis balls size and each child receive two of these balls. Children from Athidiya are mostly undernourished due to the and the lack of food and income their homes. These nutritious balls provide some the of essential vitamins and minerals which otherwise are not received from their daily diet. It’s lucky if a child consumes at least 1 portion of their 5 A DAY.

We brought a big box of celebrations which we gave out to all the children and Sister Concepta said that this was ‘luxury’ for these children. Many of them saved their nutritious balls and chocolates to share with other siblings at home, even the five year olds. It was truly amazing to see their willingness to share what little they have with the rest of their family. I’m not sure if I had such a strong instinct for sharing at the age of five.

We then headed to the school to meet the principal of the local school, Sri Punyakami School......

Tune in for another exciting adventure.....

Buvana & Kiran