21 March 2006

Today is our final Teardrop/Impakt show in this current Children's World International Sri Lankan Tour - and we find out that we’re going to be going out on the Teardrop Relief Bus! We were very sad when the Bus was "out of sorts" at the start of our visit and yesterday, and we are both really pleased to see it on the road again and be travelling on it. We are told that we will be working in a village near Galle - this is about 110km from Colombo - a good 4-hour trip (including stoppages) each way.

The journey down to Galle was very nostalgic, as it was the same journey that we made on our first visit in November. Sitting on the top of the bus, waving to people who were staring and grinning at it, while all the while burning under the intense sun!

The show itself was at a Tsunami village, which had the first new permanent housing that I have seen during our visit here. The houses looked great and it was all very encouraging. The show was watched by about 200 children and adults. As it was our final show in this CWI Tour, we wanted to make sure it went well - and indeed it did! Charlie's clowning was really well received by both the children and adults alike. In between the shows the children were able to make badges, hats, have their faces painted, as well as having a turn on the bouncy castle. Milk and biscuits were once again handed out (having first made sure the children had washed their hands), and again was handled extremely well by Shane!

Shane decided to end the day by using the ball gun we had donated to fire loads of balls from the top of the bus to the children. This was a very riotous end to the day - but a great laugh too! The Teardrop/Impakt team were able to ensure that every child left with at least one ball.

It was an excellent end to our time here in Sri Lanka - and very fitting that we should finish it on the Bus!

The show didn'’t start until 3pm and we finished at about 6.15pm. This meant that we were not going to return to Colombo until about 11pm. We braced ourselves for what was going to be a very long trip to Colombo, followed by a short sleep, before heading to the airport at 6am.

The Bus finally reached the bus depot in Moratuwa at about 10.30am and we unloaded our luggage into a waiting taxi. We were feeling pretty exhausted. The taxi headed off and all was well. Suddenly, a cat crossed the road in front of the car that was in front of us, which braked and stopped. Unfortunately, our taxi driver didn't have time to react, and we ploughed into the back corner of the car! Luckily, no-one was hurt but there was a lot of damage to both vehicles. This meant that the police had to be called, as well as another taxi. After another 30mins wait we were finally on our way again. We got back to our house in Mount Lavinia at around midnight - just enough time to shower, pack, and get just 4 hours sleep, before we start our journey home.

An epic day to round off an epic trip!

And thats it, dear diary! Except to thank our loved ones and our children for allowing us the time away from home to do this job - we’ are very much looking forward to seeing them again!

Our thanks go to Dr. Marion Staunton at I.O.M. for setting up the shows in the East, which really boosted our numbers.

Our thanks also go to the I.O.M. staff in Trinco, Batti, and Ampara. Chandra, Nimalarajah, and Razeen were all incredibly supportive and very keen to help us in anyway they could.

Finally many thanks to the volunteers and staff at the Teardrop/Impakt project for allowing us to join them on their programme - with a special thanks to our main man, Shane. There was simply nothing this man would not do for us, and we’re going to miss him! Good luck Shane, and keep in touch. We would like to see you here in England!

I (Paddy) personally wish to thank Charlie Miller of Children's World International, for his work here. His clowning shows were the mainstay of our Workshops, and his performances were constantly outstanding - even in the unrelenting heat! Cheers mate!

AND BELLA, ON BEHALF OF CHILDREN'S WORLD INTERNATIONAL WOULD LIKE TO THANK PADDY AND CHARLIE FOR A JOB REALLY WELL DONE. MANY THANKS ALSO TO TEARDROP RELIEF/IMPAKT AID AND IOM, AND VERY SPECIAL THANKS TO ALL CHILDREN'S WORLD INTERNATIONAL'S FUNDERS WHO MADE THIS TRIP POSSIBLE. I HOPE THAT SOME OF YOU HAVE READ THIS DIARY AND THE OTHER DIARIES AND KNOW HOW WELL YOUR MONEY IS BEING SPENT! DO HAVE A GOOD LOOK AT THE PHOTOS (MANY OF WHICH CAN BE ENLARGED WHEN YOU CLICK ON THEM) - THOSE SMILES ARE THERE BECAUSE YOU ENABLED US TO CARRY OUT THIS WORK - THANK YOU SO VERY MUCH!!!!