7th March

3 two-hour sessions in this heat? No way!

We had a worrying call from Marion this morning - apparently there have been some misunderstandings about the arrangments for sessions in Batticalloa (where we drive South to tomorrow). At the moment the people in Batti seem to think that Charlie and I will be doing a 2 hour program at 9am on Thursday 9 March, followed by a 2 hour program at 12.30, followed by a 2 hour program at 3.30!!! I voiced our concerns that this is really too full a programme in this intense heat - Marion understood and said she would try to get the programme reorganised! Let's hope she's successful. We obviously want to reach as many children as possible during the Tour, but 3 x 2 hour sessions (and all the travel between our hotel, the different venues and back to our hotel) in this heat would be completely exhausting and we need to keep fit and healthy for the remainder of the Tour.

Impromptu but immensely enjoyed.

Chandra came at 9.30 and took us to a school (whose name I forgot to write down, I'm afraid - I'll check with IOM) where there were 550 students. We entertained all 550 of them for just over an hour with a shortened version of Charlie's show and some group games. This was an impromptu event, but the children enjoyed it immensly!

Chandra then took us to a beach, where a temple had been decimated by the tsunami. It was a very strange feeling to see the beauty of the sea and the results of its ferocity in one place at the same time! I was beginning to feel a little depressed by the devastation, when I turned around and almost bumped into a monkey - I was a little startled! When I looked around more closely, I realised there were monkeys everywhere - and they weren'’t afraid of us. A local fisherman told us that villagers would often bring fruit for them to eat, so the monkeys were were used to being close to humans. A really magical few minutes!

Shy children

Then it was time to move on, and we were taken to a small village (whose name I'm afraid I again forgot to write down, but I will check with IOM) to run a smaller event. The children here seemed shy and nervous, and almost ran away when I pulled the parachute out. There were only about 15 young children at this point, so I encouraged them to sit on the parachute and did a quiet getting to know you session, before a simple version of the chanting and copying exercise. By the time Charlie emerged for the Charlie Chuckles show, more children had slowly arrived, and they were gaining in confidence, and by the time we finished the session there were more than 50 children, as well as a few parents and village elders. It was an interesting afternoon, and while the children obviously enjoyed the session a great deal, they were really quite jumpy and nervous.

We were shattered.

Doing even two sessions a day is deceptively tiring in this heat - by the time we got back to the hotel at 4.00 pm, we were both shattered! I'm quite anxious about Batti (where we head tomorrow) and the idea of there being 3 sessions in one day there. Hopefully Marion has managed to re-organise the timetable. Fingers crossed!