The trainees receive their certificates in food and beverage service!

There was an atmosphere of excitement when I arrived at the centre in Athidiya last Thursday.   

People were busy bringing chairs to the centre, making garlands and preparing the traditional oil lamp that would be lit at the start of the ceremony. The trainees had all arrived smartly dressed and we waited with anticipation for the arrival of Harpo and his team and the mayor of Dehiwala/Mount Lavinia who had been invited as the special guest for the ceremony. 

 

Harpo and his team arrived with a refrigerated lorry full of food and drink.  Three waiters set up a trestle table outside and provided all present with fresh papaya juice – what a treat!

The mayor then arrived and after brief introductions the ceremony started.  Harpo and the mayor made short speeches and the trainees were presented individually with their certificates by the mayor. Sister Concepta rounded off the ceremony with a thanks  to all involved.

Renuka, one of the trainees, had a made a beautiful cake so we had photos around this.  We then got the chance to taste the cake (delicious!) and also eat the food that Harpo and his team had kindly provided.

Unfortunately, not many of the trainees’ parents were able to attend.  It appears that one of the reasons why not many were able to come was that they felt that they didn’t have appropriate clothes to wear for the occasion.  Things like this really make one realise what a difficult life many people living in the area lead and why it is so important for these people to continue to be supported.   I did manage to speak to a couple of the trainees’ mothers who were able to be present and they told me with huge beams on their faces how proud they were of their sons!

It was a lovely afternoon for all involved, the trainees looked so pleased with their certificates and I was honoured to be part of the celebration!

Katherine

Latest update from Sri Lanka

Hi, this is Katherine.  After volunteering for Asha last summer and supporting with their disability project, I am now back in Sri Lanka indefinitely and at present helping in the co-ordination of some of the work Asha do out here for 3 days a week.  It has been an exciting few weeks finding out about the work that Asha does and planning future developments!

The first cohort of hospitality trainees are coming to the end of their 3 month training and sat the written test last week.  I am pleased to announce that they all passed and are all very excited about the awards ceremony that is taking place in the Asha centre in Athidiya on Thursday of this week.  It will be a great opportunity to celebrate the trainees’ achievements and encourage further young people to take part in future training.  Each trainee has been asked to invite 2 friends who they think might be interested in the training in the future.

All the trainees who have completed the course have been offered work.  In fact some of them have multiple job offers!  We had a feedback session last week where the students met with myself, Sister Concepta and Anoja (one of the team from the hotel school).  We had some very positive feedback from the students as well as some ideas of how the training could be improved in the future.  For example, the use of spoken English has been a problem for many of the students and as a result the training providers are going to include English classes as part  of the training programme next time.  

On Saturday, I went to see the disability session that takes place twice a month in the centre.  As usual, the teachers started off with a mixed singing and dancing session with the children/young adults.  Then, the teachers did a painting activity with the children/young people with disabilities.  There were 2 new faces at the session, Poojani, who is 4 and has Down’s Syndrome and Priyanka, who is 29 and has a learning disability due to a fall on her head when she was a toddler.  I was able to meet with Poojani, Priyanka and their families in order to look at what support Asha can offer.  Both Poojani and Priyanka have huge potential and hopefully specialist support at the centre will help their development.  

Attendance at the disability session is sometimes low and my plan is to meet with some of the children and their families and see how we can encourage them to come along every time to the session.  In the future, we want to expand the sessions to weekdays so that those who have no access to school at present are still able to learn and develop.

So I am looking forward to another eventful week with the Asha team, I’ll keep you posted on what happens!

Katherine

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.