11th March

Our last day in Batticaloa! Part of me is feeling greatly relieved - its been a tough time here - far harder than our time in Trinco - and it's been made worse because of dodgy communication, both by internet and by phones - it's been hard to keep in contact with our families in England, and we miss them!

Butterfly Peace Garden

Our first session today was at the Butterfly Peace Garden. This is a beautiful place where children come to learn, play and relax. We had an audience of about 175 children - and one enormous pelican! Great until the bugger bit me!

There was electricity at the Peace Garden, so we were able to run a full 2 hour program - Charlie's show mixed with large-scale games and dancing. The children also entertained us with 2 songs of their own - great stuff! The children are treated particularly well here - they were given bread and honey paste at the start of the session, and when Paddy and I were offered tea half-way through the session, so were the children.

This was the first time we had a chance to finish the programme with our version of “"Don't Worry - Be Happy”!", which we recorded the music for just before we left England. It went down really well, with the children helping us out with the ‘"Doo, Do, Do, Do, Do, Do, Doo"’ chorus bit - ace!

Resettlement Centre Thiraimatiu

Our afternoon session was held at a Re-Settlement Site at Thiraimatiu. John, our translator today, said the families at his site were particularly poor and needy. Poor and needy they may have been, but they were also some of the nicest children we have worked with so far! They were SO happy to see us - my hand was constantly being grabbed and held as we were setting up, and they all took part in the show with the greatest enthusiasm!

We had no electricity, so we couldn't do the group games - so, to make the session last a bit longer, we did some trust excersises - which finished with me letting myself fall from a table, to be caught by the children - which went down a storm! For me, personally, this has been the most rewarding session so far, and has made the end of our time in Batti feel really positive.

Sunstroke?

Having said that, the time in the sun is taking its toll on Charlie, who, as I write this, appears to be suffering from sun stroke. Thank goodness he has time to rest this evening and tomorrow (there are no shows tomorrow as we will be travelling on South, down to Ampara!)