Week 19 - Goodbyes

This week started up in Jaffna, not in my usual living situation of Irupalai, with Reena, Kormatha and Balayia, but in a hotel with my parents ready to explore the area, visit Irupalai and the projects The Dust Project have been working on. The week was started with a few lazy mornings, visiting local sites in the town of Jaffna, including churches, a library, gardens and temples. We visited the largest Hindu Temple in the whole of Sri Lanka, which is situated a mere 10 minutes from where I am staying, but have never had a chance to get inside. It was interesting to see all of the ‘gods’ and statues in the temple, the paintings on the wall and the large water pit inside. We even managed to experience one of the ‘holy’ ceremonies, which consisted of people walking around with incense sticks and standing in front of the statues for 5 seconds and then moving onto the next one. I was surprised at how colourful the inside of the temple was, as well as the large pillars covered in mirrors. Unfortunately, it is no permitted to take photographs or film inside the temple.

My parents experienced a ‘Mangos’ dinner as well this week; the BEST place to eat in the whole of Jaffna. Vegetarian, but 100% worth the sacrifice of no meat!

One of my personal highlights of this week was bringing my parents to Paalam International School here in Jaffna. I was so pleased they could see the school in action, join assembly and introducing them to their sponsor child: Janet. My parents bought sweets for the kids, which of course went down a TOTAL treat, and they then had the opportunity to observe lessons and speak to some of the children. My parents wanted to do something to bless Janet’s family, who I have witnessed in the past struggling daily to scrape together enough money for food and provisions. We organised a food parcel and took it to them when we visited their house. This family was built a house in 2015 by The Dust Project. Janet’s younger sister, Michaela, who has just turned 3, has never had to experience living in a tin shack, or not having a roof over her head.

Friday marked a day of “goodbyes”, where I took my parents to Jaffna Station so they could catch the train down to Colombo for their flight on Saturday. It was a rather emotional goodbye, not because I dislike life here in Jaffna, but because I hate any forms of goodbyes. It had been such a fun two weeks with them, and it gave me an opportunity to explore Sri Lanka a little more.

The weekend was a relaxed one, where I had the chance to catch up on missed sleep from my travels and adventures, as well as an opportunity to check out the classroom situation, spend some much needed time going through my jobs for school, and get used to hand-washing clothes again!

Getting back into the swing of school has been easy, and I’ve thoroughly enjoyed it. I’ve loved being back around my favourite kids, seeing their smiling faces and being at the front of the classroom teaching. We’re likely to have two new children joining the school in a couple of days’ time, so any of my free time I’ve had has been ensuring we have all the relevant paperwork, books etc. for them so the transition into the school is smooth.

In other news, my renewal for my Residency Visa has begun, so prayers it is a quick and easy process would be much appreciated – it’s for another six months, so I can stay here until October! (who knows what will happen after that, anything’s possible!).