ABDF

We’ve had a great last couple of weeks here at ABDF. We have progress to report on three fronts, all of which bode well for the future.

First, I’d like to announce that ADF has its first volunteer teacher! As you know, the Ministry of Nation Building and Estate Infrastructure Development requested our assistance in bringing native English speaking teachers into Estate Tamil schools in the Hatton area. You can read about the project here.

Will these be Anna's students next year>

We are thrilled that Anna Britton has decided to teach at the school in Kotagala. Anna has years of experience as a social welfare worker in the UK, working primarily with children, and recently taught English in a school deep in rural Nepal. Anna is currently in Sri Lanka traveling and has already been to Kotagala to talk with administrators, teachers, and the principal, as well as with our partners at the Ministry. She is very excited about her assignment, and will return to London next week to begin getting her UK life in order, financially as well as logistically. She will return to Sri Lanka in time to start off the new school year in January and will stay for a minimum two terms (about 6 months) and, if she can manage it financially, for the full school year.

Obviously, it’s a huge commitment for someone to take six months or more off from work, and pay their own way. It speaks volumes about Anna’s love of Sri Lanka and how much she enjoys teaching kids, not to mention her commitment to improving the lives of the Estate Tamil community, that she is eager to do this work. ABDF applauds Anna, wishes her the best while in the UK, and looks forward to her return at the end of the year. Thank you, Anna! Yer a gawdess!

Abi, genius First Grader

It has been a month since my last letter to, for which I must apologize. But really, it wasn’t (entirely) my fault; for two of those weeks I had little internet time, and for the other two, well, it’s been real busy.

I first spent two weeks out of Batticaloa; a week and a half in Colombo, and four days in the Hill Country. The last week or so I’ve been in Batti, dealing with work issues. As most of you are probably more interested in our work, rather than my tales of travel, I’ll start with that first, although it’s in backwards chronological order.

Upon my return to Batticaloa (see below) I first had to spend a day cleaning and washing, but the next day was spent running around in town, mostly catching up on project payments that were due while I was gone. So, for example, I had to pay the tuition for Abi, the tsunami-affected First Grader we support. Fortunately the folks at her school know me well, so the late payment was not a problem. The devil in the details, or so it is said, and it’s these little but important things that get backed-up so easily.

In my last letter, I talked exclusively about projects; current, considered, and applied for. I also talked a bit about how we go about choosing those we choose, and the trials and tribulations involved. In this letter I’m going to keep project talk to a minimum as, well, there isn’t much new to discuss. Instead I’ll catch you up on other interesting things going on right now.

A storm approaches

In terms of projects, I’m waiting for this batch of current work to finish up. To a large extent this has to do with funding. I want to make sure we finish what we’ve committed to, before committing ourselves to more. We have a good reputation for following through on our promises, unlike many of the agencies here, and I want to maintain that. So until we get more money in the account, new projects are on hold. I also need to take care of some business outside of Batti, mostly in Colombo, and I think it could take a week or two. That means, of course, that I won’t be here to keep an eye on things.

But enough about projects.