13th March

The Tsunami legacy

Our first working day in Ampara. I haven't mentioned it for a while, but this tour is all about working with tsunami- affected children - maybe it's because I'm getting de-sensitised to the damage it caused. Ampara, though, was particularly badly affected. Just driving to the two venues today showed the terrible power of the wave! The roads are particularly badly damaged here, which makes for uncomfortable journeys. One sight, in particular, brought it all into perspective - as we were passing a funeral procession, a little further up the road we passed the cemetery to which they were heading. The graves were sticking out of the ground at all angles - it looked as though someone had taken the ground and given it a shake! What must the locals think, seeing the graves of their loved ones askew and all over the place! I thought about taking a picture - but it seemed too disrespectful. But it was a poignant reminder of why we are here!

Translation mix-up

Our first session was at an I.O.M. transitional shelter in Thampatti. 350 children crammed into a community center built by I.O.M. to watch the show. The first half went as well as ever, but due to a translating mix-up, when I said Charlie was taking a short break, half the children thought it was the end of the show. When I put on some music to start some games, about half the audience danced home! We tried to retrieve them but to no avail! Consequently the second half of Charlie's show was performed to about 100 children! I have decided not to use the word "break" ever again!

A smaller audience

The second session was at a welfare center on another I.O.M. transitional site, this time in Akkaripattu. This was a smaller site with only about 40 children, but the total audience was larger as older teenagers and adults came to see what was going on - I think there was about 150 people in total. I think these smaller, more intimate, sessions are just as important as our bigger ones - and it's good to see the adults enjoying the show as much as the children - it all adds to the "good feelings" Children's World International aims to provide! We were able to do both halves of Charlie’s show as well as some dancing games, which was a relief after this morning! Charlie's magic act at the end of the show is proving very popular, but the children try to insist that he shows them how it's done. I get Razeen, our translator, to explain that while everyone loves good magic - no-one likes a cheap trick!! I hope they got the message!

Sensible timetable

A good opening day here, made better by the fact that one session is early morning and the second session is late afternoon. This way neither session is in the very hottest part of the day. Even though there are fairly long travel times between venues, we still have a chance to rest and re-hydrate between shows. This is down to Razeen'’s sensible schedule, for which we thank him.

Hello to our friends

While I remember, Charlie and I would like to say "Hello" to all our friends, adults and children, at Baytree Special School in Weston-Super-Mare and Threeways Special School (particularly our Summerfield friends) in Bath, as they said they were going to follow our diary regularly from school! We hear it's very cold there at the moment, chaps - it's incredibly hot here, and we'’ve forgotten the meaning of the word cold!!!