Finding my Feet

Day 11 - Tuesday 21st June 2.05pm

Bobbing away on the minibus, behind an open backed truck full of vegetable sacks and two men casually sitting on top, through the endless lush greenery and constant horn bibbing. Life in Sri Lanka just seems so normal and homely to me now!

How have I only been away for ten days? I am now in full swing of coordinator role, leading a group of Leeds Uni students on our Real Sri Lanka Experience trip with Ashika (project coordinator), and are just approaching Sigiriya, Lions Rock Palace - don't want to know how many steps we are about to climb in this heat!

For the rest of last week, it mostly consisted of settling in, learning about the projects and discussing our roles this summer. On Wednesday I got the chance to visit the volunteers at the Elephant project - giving Manike a good scrub in the river with coconut shells! It's an amazing opportunity to get up close to these beautfil animals and the project acts as a spa retreat from their working lives, with necessary medication and rest.

I also spent an afternoon at the Tsunami School teaching project, where about 40 children of varying ages and abilities come for additional English lessons. I sat with three little cuties, trying to teach me Sinhala as I helped them with their English alphabet.

And finally, after many days wilting in the heat, I had a spare two hour break to head to the beach! Callie and I got a tuk tuk to Hikkaduwa and lapped up the sun and sea, knowing we wouldn't have another break until the Summer madness dimmed - full steam ahead now until August!

On our first Friday night was the big boss's party for Philip, starring cocktail makers, volunteers, Ashika's bankers and our local policemen! The hall was set up like a wedding party, complete with a Sri Lankan buffet, cheesy music and a decorated photo shoot set. It was so much fun! Everyone had a great time dancing and celebrating, for some volunteers it was their last evening too. For Ashika and I it was the start of a veryyyy long night, as we had to travel straight to the airport at midnight for our twelve hour queue of pickups. I'm not sure who was more exhausted, us or the arrivals after a 12 hour flight!

And that's where the Real Experience trip begins...

This morning we visited a spice and herb plantation, learning about how particular plants, fruits and flowers are grown and their uses - food, medicine, beauty and all sorts. From coffee and pepper to cocoa and aloe, the plants are used in so many different ways to extract flavours, oils and natural goodness. Then the best part... A free facial, head back and shoulder massage, what more could you want?

So far on the Real Experience we have visited Pinnawela elephant orphanage - watching them roam eat and bathe in the river; Kandy - the capital of the last ruling Kingdom, with the famous Kandian dance show, the Temple of the Tooth with Lord Buddha's sacred tooth relic (kept in a gold casket), a lesson on Buddhism and life as a monk at Bahirawa Kanda hilltop temple under the giant meditating Buddha statue, and most bizarrely of all; eating spicey chicken spaghetti bolognese, with a live pianist, in Pizza Hut. Welcome to Asia.

7.02pm

On our way to our next destination Polonnaruwa in the dark, casually passing a wild elephant walking towards us on the road! That's the first time I've seen them wild not being close to the safari parks, it is very surreal!

Feeling elated now after our climb up Sigiriya, 200ft high and 1,200 steps, through the Kings palace... Sorry we've just passed another young male elephant! This is so exciting...

So anyway, a very sweaty hike past the Summer Palace, gardens and fountains, the eighth wonder of the world, up the steep narrow steps of the rock, following the 1,600 year old Mirror Wall and passing ancient cave paintings of the Kings 500 concubines. Then through the Lions Rock mouth straight up to the Winter Palace ruins, imagining the King seated on his stone thrown watching his dancers. For miles and miles around all you could see up to the mountains in the horizon was jungle, broken by small lakes and a white Buddhist statue standing proud in the distance. It was most definitely worth the workout! I think today has been my favourite so far :)

Day 12 - Wednesday 22nd June 8:36pm

I think this afternoon has topped yesterday.

We started off today with a cycle tour of Polonnaruwa, the second ancient kingdom of Sri Lanka. I thoroughly enjoyed cycling between the ruins (not sure if everyone would agree with me...); learning about the kingdom, visiting the 93-million-brick dagoba and sweating my bodyweight in water in the intense heat. So lunch with a pool was a highly welcomed luxury!

Then the rest of our day was the icing and cherry and chocolate sauce of it all - the sunset jeep safari. This started originally as just a trip to a huge local lake, where the sunset view is really beautiful. On the way the roads are through a traditional jungle village, so we could get a snapshot of real life in rural Sri Lanka. It seemed to be bathing time for most families - all retreating to the river with their clothes and bar of soap for the community bath! They were all very happy to laugh and wave as we passed, I think we'd be a tad more embarrassed back at home! We had some balloons, sweets and pencils ready for anyone who wanted to come say hi, so there were lots of ecstatic kids running towards us with arms flailing. They offered us to try the local fruits too - wood apple and jackfruit, and showed us how they grow peanuts as we passed the fields (did you know they grow underground?). Standing in the jeep, taking in the sights sounds and smells of Real Sri Lanka, and then relaxing as the sun disappeared behind the lake has been my favourite experience so far.

And so the Next Adventure begins...

Day 1 - Saturday 11th June 9.35pm


I'm here, this is it!




It's been a mixture of emotions over the past 24 hours. My final day snowballed into more and more of a rush and panic with packing, leaving two hours later than hoped, but the traffic was kind and we were at the airport restaurant with loads of time still to spare. It was nice to have a relaxed send off without being in a complete flurry, as the goodbyes wouldn't have felt real otherwise!

I think the most difficult thing to deal with is all the unknown - I don't know how long I will be away for, what I will be doing, if I will find my feet doing something I love... Let's see how the adventure unfolds.


Anyway enough of the yabber, I'm in Sri Lanka! Ashika is the project manager for PMGY in Sri Lanka, so when he met me at the airport I immediately felt welcomed and at home. It felt guiltily satisfying when new volunteers arrived too and I didn't feel their same nerves, instead trying to reassure them and answer any questions. We spent the next few hours arranging logistics for the volunteers then met my new big boss Philip, who runs PMGY back in the UK. Then the long (and slightly odd) drive to Ambalangoda, taking maybe three hours, occupied by my drivers favourite film 'Letters to Juliet' on the sat nav screen... Well it kept me occupied and awake!


When we arrived at Ashika's house I was welcomed with a fresh flower necklace from Ashika's mother Thamari, a Kanthi-style dinner of chicken, noodles and THE best potatoes in the world! At the moment it's only me and the family in the house, which feels just like being back at my Sri Lankan family home in Wadduwa. I took advantage of a refreshing shower and chat to the family (trying to remember my limited Sinhala repertoire) before heading into my mosquito net, fan billowing, water bottle at the ready. Let's see how tonight goes and what tomorrow brings!

Day 4 - Tuesday 14th June 11.59pm



Laying under my princess mosquito net, helicopter blades failing to cool me down, wet flannel on my belly, and head buzzing with the three months ahead.

 So today we discussed our role as coordinators with Philip and Ashika (after feeling like a naughty school kid not up and ready when they came knocking at 11am...). They've also just been visiting the Maldives (as you do) to check out the weekend trip and potentials of a new PMGY project taking place there, which is exciting news! Our meeting continued at Hiro's with a chocolate and mango sundae (as you do), with the elevated experience of my first tuk tuk ride in over two years. It was good to finally get my head around everything and to know what we would be involved with over the 3 months. Ashika dropped a slight bomb on me saying I will be doing the Real Experience trip with him, THIS SATURDAY. This actual weekend, like in three days! I literally have no idea even what I will be doing... And there's 34 students from Leeds coming. I'm sure it will be fun, I get to see the whole country again, I just need to find out the itinerary! And what to take. Ahhh packing, again?!?

I've spent the majority of my time so far with Callie at my side, who is the other Summer Coordinator. We've had a good laugh together already so it's going to be weird being away on the Real Experience trip when she's looking after the volunteers here, what are we gonna do without each other?!

I really do feel settled into life here and at the house with everyone. It panics me ever so slightly thinking about all the things I'll have to juggle successfully, but I'll do my best! I can't wait to visit my family and Mirissa too, but unfortunately won't have time for a few weeks. Or even time to visit the beach, ayoooo!

I have begun visiting our volunteering projects too, so yesterday I spent the afternoon with the cheeky girls at the local orphanage, which is a really lovely welcoming home. The girls wanted spelling tests and English practice before all playing together on the rickety swings and see-saws. They loved my tikkak sinhala too! Always a hit with the locals...

This evening we visited the turtle hatchery project, where they protect the endangered species by nurturing the eggs away from environmental dangers and caring for injured turtles. We released some of the healthy newborn babies into the wild whilst the sun set in the horizon - it was a pretty amazing thing to experience!


Everything else so far has been a blur really, but STILL NO SUN. I mean, there has been sunshine, but we've not been able to enjoy it at all!! This is hard coming from a very dreary England. Maybe I should really start waking up earlier...



Tomorrow we are waking up at 7.30am (that's bloody early), forcing myself to wash my hair in the cold shower, then visiting the elephant project, continuing our meetings, and the rest of the day? Who knows! We'll see what's in store.

(Hopefully a tad ray of sunshine...)

Phuc Tue Centre

 
I have now been at my project in Vietnam for eight weeks, which means the end of my placement year is  suddenly on the horizon!

My project is a centre for mentally and physically impaired children, which encompasses a whole spectrum of disabilities. There are around 100 children enrolled at the centre, as far as I am aware between the ages of 5 and 24. There are eight teachers and the pupils are split into four classrooms. The centre's mission is to provide opportunities for the children to receive education and to feel included within their local community.

Although many people believe that Vietnam is developing at a fast pace, there is still a lot of training and support that is desperately needed in some centres like this. A lot of factors make this project very challenging, and I certainly felt like I was thrown in at the deep end! This has been the first time I've had to work alone too, so I've had to be more independent and use my initiative to formulate any new ideas. Along with the heat, humidity, long days, commute, culture differences, language barrier, environment, distractions, lack of cleanliness and resources, I have learned a lot more than I ever imagined. I admit I struggled for the first week or two, it was all quite overwhelming and I began to think what was there that I could do here to benefit the centre or develop my own skills? But marching on through the tough start allowed me to plan my time more effectively and be productive. 

One of my projects at the centre has been to run physical therapy sessions every morning. A previous volunteer set up the programme from her experience in occupational therapy. Ten pupils with a range of physical and intellectual disabilities were assessed and had a personal intervention programme set up for them.
 
The therapy room in essentially one of the store rooms, so there is very limited space and few resources. It is adjoined to the youngest class, who like to noisily creak the door constantly and wander in and out and throw things over the outside wall. Not particularly ideal! So the additional distractions don't help the already challenging behaviour and lack of concentration. You can imagine my delight when we invested in a padlock for the door!

Nevertheless trying to think of purposeful activities and engage the children, whilst speaking very minimal Vietnamese, has been the biggest challenge to overcome. With each day of running the physical therapy sessions the experience has taught me a lot and encouraged me to use my initiative and have patience.

Within the intervention programme there are therapy goals for each child, mainly concerning gross motor skills, fine motor skills, drooling prevention, attention and participation. For instance one of the boys with cerebral palsy needs to improve his left upper limb strength and coordination. After a simple massage from his shoulder to fingers his hand opens up more and during activities like a fishing game he will now try to use his left hand to hold the rod and hook the fish. It took a while for him to do this though, as he refused to acknowledge his left hand previously. Hence seeing progress like that is incredibly rewarding and motivates me to keep on persevering through the hardest days!

Last week was the end of the school term too, so at the last assembly I donated a new resource box full of games and activities that can be used to improve the physical therapy sessions. During the summer term some students still attend the centre, so I will still be able to use them in my last few weeks hopefully!

 

Each day there is a three hour break, where the children eat lunch and have a nap in true Asian style. In the afternoons I have spent time in each of the classrooms, and now focus on the class for autism and hyperactivity disorders.

Following observations made in class and interacting with the pupils I came up with some ideas for my afternoons, primarily to bring in some structure to give the daily sessions a purpose. Initially my idea was to work one-to-one with the pupils creating a personal profile poster. However I also decided to incorporate English lessons into the plan, to teach some vocabulary for their posters. 

I was a bit apprehensive at first to do the English lessons, as I was by myself and have no experience teaching children with disabilities. I spent a few days lesson planning some simple topics and how I would deliver them. Feeling a bit more prepared, I tried my best and  started with 'Who am I'. I was extremely impressed that all my pupils sat quietly and still! Despite any disorders or learning disabilities they managed to complete every task of reading and writing, including their name, age, country and family. I felt very proud, especially when they were asking for more lessons every day after! I have done more interactive exercises with them since to practice, which has been a great chance to work with them individually. I have really enjoyed it and definitely feel this is something I would like to continue again in the future. I'm sure gonna miss these kids!
 


With this class I have also been part of their scheduled activities on Mondays and Fridays. Every Monday some Vietnamese volunteers come in to hold a creative therapy session with around eight of the pupils. We've done finger painting, clay modelling, self portraits and drawing things to do with summer. It's great to see the children using their imagination and giving them something to focus on. Also on Fridays I have visited another centre in the city with some of the pupils to have cooking classes. We've made all sorts of traditional Vietnamese cakes! I have really enjoyed being part of their trips and feel really attached to my class. My teachers are lovely too, I've been invited around for dinner quite a few times!



With only a couple more weeks to go I'm starting to feel very sad that I have to leave. But I know that this experience has opened up some new ideas and opportunities for me, which I look forward to exploring after my studies.

This is Our World

To pass some of my free time here in Vietnam this weekend I began watching some documentaries online, starting with White Slums in South Africa, then Prostitution in Tanzania, then onto the Albino Witchcraft Murders in Tanzania too. Not light viewing I must add! But some of the most fascinating, shocking and inspiring programmes I have seen. I don't often think to watch documentaries in my spare time, but now I have loads of others lined up already! I've also been reading about some of Africa's indigenous tribes and sustainable living, including the Hadzabe tribe. This is the last remaining hunter-gatherer tribe in Africa and one team had the opportunity to work alongside them on my placement in Tanzania with Raleigh ICS.

I feel like I am being taught about a whole new world that is easy to be ignorant of, which in turn is motivating me to learn more about it. I know I can't change the world, but my experiences this year have taught me to challenge myself and to get out there and do something.

Reversed racism in South Africa is creating a new underclass of white Afrikaners, living in slums and poverty. It's a controversial and sensitive topic after apartheid ceased only twenty years ago, and the media only focusing on black Africans living in poverty. I think Reggie Yates presents this really well too by exploring both sides of the story and if revenge is fair.

I found the documentaries on Tanzania particularly gripping because of my brief insight into the country, so it was interesting to learn more about the hidden problems that exist there. The poverty cycle leads many women to prostitution, whether from being tricked or a means to find food to survive. Sadly one woman in the documentary felt she had to sell herself to fuel her addiction to drugs, as there was little else she was living for. It's impossible to even begin to imagine what these people's lives are like and the only options available to them. As well with the Albino's in Africa, every day they fear being hunted, killed or dismembered. This is due to a superstition that witchdoctors uphold, claiming that bringing them an albino's limb will give you good luck and prosperity. I encountered similar beliefs when I was in Tanzania, mainly related to HIV/AIDS. It is difficult to campaign against discrimination in communities that have a deep-rooted belief system based on curses and witchcraft. In 2008 there was an increase of brutal murders of people with albinism, and still today many people suffer. Most have been forced to leave their communities, are unable to access education or have to live in camps separated from the outside world. All the while having to cope with the symptoms of deteriorated vision and sensitivity to the sun. This documentary follows a guy who has dedicated his life to campaigning against the discrimination of Albino's in Tanzania - and it is pretty gripping.

I don't want this to be all dark or preachy, just to ignite a little flame to get others thinking about the world out there!

One of the main objectives of my placement year is to explore the possibilities and consider my options for after I have eventually graduated. It has certainly opened my eyes to a lot of things - there are cultures, issues, beliefs, sufferings, rituals and discriminations that had never even entered my mind before. However I feel impelled to not just sit here and watch, but perhaps get out there and help those that are fighting for their life, whether from AIDS or a disability or being hunted for their skin colour.

Again, I know I can't change the world, but I think being aware is a good start.

Here's the links to documentaries I mentioned earlier, I encourage you to sit down one afternoon and watch!

Reggie Yates' Extreme South Africa: The White Slums

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qWOq4iBSW-4

The Horrifying Truth About Tanzania's Den Of Prostitutes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UODCeqpVEEE

The Albino Witchcraft Murders:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qTawybZ4BIw

Lecture over :)
..x

Good Morning Vietnam!

My third and final placement is about to begin, I can't believe how far I have come already! I am looking forward to starting now and seeing how this experience contrasts from the other two. I am very glad I chose a diversity of projects, I don't think I could have stuck with one unpaid placement for a year, especially if not in an exciting exotic country!

I allowed myself a couple of days to settle in to Hanoi before coming to the volunteer house. I also treated myself to an affordable hotel as the first time in a room by myself, and even got a cheeky free upgrade! It has been good to absorb the new culture without rushing, with help from some friendly locals along the way. On my first day I met up with Izzy from Sri Lanka to explore the city with a couple of students, who showed us to the Temple of Literature, Botanical Gardens, Ho Chi Minh Mausoleum and Museums. Even more exciting that they took us around on their motorbikes! The streets of Hanoi are literally heaving with bikes, you can't escape them! To cross the road you simply close your eyes and walk...

I was also lucky enough to have a free food tour with Izzy, run by some students setting up a mini tourism business as part of a university project. It was fab! We rode around on the back of their scooters to some of the top spots for traditional Vietnamese food. First a street vendor, with plastic tables and stools spreading around the street corners between the bikes on the pavements. They explained how to go about ordering street food, what dishes to get, how to eat it without looking like a numpty and not being ripped off with a tourist price tag. We had phở trộn with a cabbage salad to share - it was amazing! Phở trộn is basically noodles, chicken, green veg and herbs, served with a side of chicken broth with ginger and spring onion. Ok so I may not make it sound that appetising, but honestly it was delicious!

We also tried a traditional sweet dessert called chè, which is popular as a summer refreshment. It's a sweet drink with lots of sugar, ice, jelly, coconut and lotus seeds. Finally we were taken through silk shops, down an alley and through an old Chinese house to a cafe overlooking Hoàn Kiếm Lake. Six floors up the view was spectacular! Here they offered the famous Hanoi egg coffee - like a latte but with frothy egg on top. I am not a fan of coffee but it was acutually quite nice! I've since tried the egg and green bean drink too, again it's surprisingly good!

 
The food here has been described as rice is your wife and noodles are your girlfriend - you eat rice at home everyday but if you fancy something different you go out and enjoy noodles! Luckily I love rice and noodles, so I am enjoying the food a lot. It is all really fresh and I'm loving all the green vegetables!

 

  After a few days of wondering around Hanoi it was time to head to the volunteer house, which is just outside the city centre. On the ground floor is the CSDS office - Centre for Sustainable Development Studies - which is the NGO I will be working with. As with most Vietnamese buildings it is tall, long and narrow, six floors up with two rooms on each floor. The first two rooms are the kitchen and lounge, then each subsequent floor has two bedrooms and a roof terrace at the top. Unfortunately we have to sleep on creaky bunk beds, but I was over the moon when I saw air conditioning and hot water - absolute luxury compared to Sri Lanka! We have two lockers each as well so I finally don't have to live out of my rucksack.

When I arrived there were eight volunteers and two long term workers living here, but over the next two weeks I will eventually be the only volunteer remaining until a new batch arrive. Two of the volunteers have been working at my project in the Phuc Tue centre for children with mental and physical disabilities. They have been establishing physical therapy sessions for a select group of children to assist their motor development and encourage interaction and engagement. I will be observing them until they leave and then hopefully carry on the sessions, with the aim to bring in more ideas for future volunteers too.

  In a couple of weeks I will update you on what I have been doing at my project and how I am adjusting to life in Vietnam!
..x