Student Diary: Volunteering in Sri Lanka

Student Volunteers Leaving NTU For Sri Lanka!

Some of the student volunteers set off to Sri Lanka this week! Here's a diary entry written by a few of the girls on the trip...

Travelling

The group met at Heathrow Airport, ready for an adventure. Our first flight was six and a half hours to Dubai. For one member of our team, it was their first time leaving the UK... ever!

After a plethora of movies, entertainment and (surprisingly) good airplane food, we made it to Dubai International Airport. It's the busiest international hub in the world and that was still the case at 8am!

The Student Volunteers in Dubai Airport.

The second flight was from Dubai to Colombo and most of us were fast asleep for the duration but managed to wake up in order to munch on some lunch at midday (which is 7.30am in UK time).

We landed in Colombo at 5.30pm to 30 degree heat and a 3 hour coach journey in the dark and heavy rainfall. We arrived at the accommodation and then went straight out to dinner where we experienced our first Sri Lankan cuisine... It was amazing!

Project Hope Pre-School

After a twenty minute tuk tuk ride through rural villages, we arrived at Project Hope pre-school and were greeted by sixteen singing 4-5 year olds. The first lesson was taught in Sinhalese and we helped the children create a mosaic aubergine using ripped up coloured paper. Next was bird making with different coloured paper. 

Riding in a Tuk Tuk!

After a lunch break, it was our turn to teach the English class. We went through numbers up to ten and taught them some new nursery rhymes with lots of actions (including Heads, Shoulders, Knees and Toes). We ended with Twinkle Twinkle Little Star which they knew all the words too and wanted to carry on singing.

Once our class was finished, the children thanked us by bowing and touching their toes which is a sign of gratuity in Sri Lanka. It was such an enjoyable first day. We were thrown in at the deep end but it all worked out well and both us and the children had fun!

- Written by: Gina, Kemi and Latesha