10th March

I woke up early, feeling in a better mood - not having to sleep in a room full of cockroaches helped! Our new room, thankfully, seems to be cockroach-free.

Pannichenkeny

The first venue was an IOM Transitional Shelter Site in Pannichenkeny. This was about a 70 minute drive from Batti - but, although we left really early, we didn'’t arrive until 9.20 am, as we had hassle at two military road-blocks. We still managed to present a 90-minute show, which the children again really enjoyed.

Although the shows are incredibly tiring, due to the immense and constant heat, they are also the easiest part of the project in a way - the group games and the travel are the most tiring. We were expecting 300 chidren but the pre-school group didn’t show up, so the total was nearer 200, all of whom had a great time.

Vincent Girls School

After another 90-minute drive back to Batti, and we were able to have a 20-minute break at the hotel before we set off to the Vincent Girls’ National School in Batti Town. We did a full 2-hour programme here, which was thoughoughly enjoyed.

To split Charlie'’s show, we got the girls up and dancing in a similar format to the one we used with Teardrop Relief/Impakt on the South coast on the day the double decker bus first appeared back in November! It went really well - but again a VERY sweaty experience! We think there were about 300 girls were taking part!

All in all, a very good day - made easier by the fact that as we got back to the hotel by 3.45 pm and had some time to relax. Tomorrow's first show is in Batti Town, at the Butterfly Peace Garden so we don't have too an early start.

Internet problem

You may have noticed that these diary entries are not appearing daily or regularly on the web - this is because there appears to be just the one internet cafe in Batti Town - and it doesn’t work! Oh well, who’'s reading it anyway?

(NOTE FROM BELLA IN THE GLASTONBURY OFFICE - I KNOW HOW PADDY FEELS. OFTEN WHEN WRITING UP THE CWI TOUR DIARIES IN SRI LANKA OR THAILAND, AND STRUGGLING WITH INTERNET CONNECTIONS THAT DIDN'T SEEM TO WORK, I USED TO WONDER, "IS THERE ANYONE OUT THERE READING THIS?" WE HOPE THERE ARE LOTS OF YOU READING THE DIARY! IT SEEMS TO ME IMORTANT THAT WE KEEP A GOOD RECORD OF ALL THE WORK WE DO, AND THIS SEEMS AS GOOD A WAY AS ANY OF KEEPING IT. THANKS FOR DOING THE DIARY, PADDY!)

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