We have been here a full week now and we can’t believe how much we’ve seen, done and learned. Friday, after a morning of work, the Tangalle Primary School had a ribbon cutting ceremony which drew some media. Dave and Rhett addressed the crowd by underlining the reason why we are here and how we really appreciate the welcoming reception. We were treated like VIPs and the children of the school danced and sang for us. I was touched by the enthusiastic thank you speech from some the children, they must have rehearsed because it was all in English. It was pretty special.
We were then taken to the Ketakellawatta Center to attend their ceremony. One of our Tangalle worker friends, Sanil, has 2 daughters who participated in the dance ceremony. The eldest is a dancer who also teaches dancing. It is amazing to see how the community is tight-knit. Again, we were treated as very special guests and we felt the warm reception.
I forgot to mention that the men in our group wore sarongs and the women wore saris. It was pretty funny to see the bunch of us try to wrap these things around us in preparation for the festivities. The teachers at the school took the women aside and fixed us up. I swear I could hear a few giggles coming from the crowd when we stepped out of our vans as when we arrived at the school….
Today, was a rest day for us since it’s Saturday (even though most of the workers work 7 days per week). Most of us went to Galle to see this little quaint town within a fortress. It was our first chance to do some shopping for ourselves and our friends & families. As John R said, Galle didn’t know what hit them today!
It’s not even 11pm and we have pretty much retired for the evening.
Carolyn
DWC Participant
Sri Lanka 2010
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