Just catching up on blog writing while the rest of the team
are away visiting Jaffna. The journey to Sri Lanka was eventful in itself as
between my friend Baba, her 3 children Akshaya, Dinu and Hannah and myself had 20 pieces of luggage. There were more
trollies than people who could push as well as the push chair with baby that
just wheeling the trollies to the checking in gate was a feat in itself. Seeing
Maureen and Baba trying to push two trolleys each which went veering off in all
directions had me in fits of laughter and the journey had only just begun. The
check in lady was so fed up with us as a group checking in so many bags that in
the end she let baba check in her two bags of 27Kilos each without any extra
payments. Meandering our way at Dubai airport from Terminal A to C which was
about ½ hour walk was exhausting. We finally arrived in Colombo via Dubai and
Malee at 6.00pm on Wednesday 19th October. Seeing the look on Baba’s
brother’s face as he spotted us in the distance and the smile that broke out
when he saw her after 9 years is a moment I will never forget. Our Ocean Stars
family apart from Dad were home and another significant event in our story. The
rest of the team were met by Sudha our Ocean Stars driver with beautiful
garlands and given a traditional welcome to Sri Lanka. I am back home too in
Sri Lanka and my heart is strangely warmed.
Our first stop was a curry dinner at Mango Mango and we
arrived at Avissawella at our hotel at about 10.00 pm. I wanted to go straight
to bed but had to go through a long discussion as to whether I would prefer to
try out their cabana which had recently been renovated. As we were staying just
one night and leaving at 8.00 am I really did not think it was worth the
effort.
I will let Maureen write about our visit to Yatiyanthota.
It felt kind of special for me to visit this town that has very close links
with my family and had always been talked about during my childhood.
Dan, Maureen and I have met up with Sandra, Reanne and
Howard and the team has grown to 6.
Today our first full day in Kilinochchi I have met some
very special people. I met a remarkable 5 year old girl who needs urgent
surgery in India but because her family cannot afford the cost of her treatment
has to grow up knowing that one day she could be disabled. Her smile lit up her
face and she was in charge of handing out the cups of milk to 45 children in
her preschool during break time. The confident gentle way in she gave out these
metal cups without handles and therefore not an easy task for a 5 year old was
another one of those Ocean Stars moments for me.
I am now going to have a quiet few moments before the rest
of the team arrive back from Jaffna with hopefully an ice cream for me!
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