Paper Jewellery at the Volunteers Village

Niroshani -she is 23 years old

Surangika -she is 22 years old

Niroshani and Surangika are two deaf girls who, after learning in the NSS, started working in the Volunteers Village. About a year ago they began making jewellery out of paper, by rolling up small paper stripes into a tight little pearl.  

They sell the jewellery in a shop, where all the profits will aid the running costs of the project and will be spent directly on the children again. At first we couldn't imagine how paper jewellery looked like, but then we were positively surprised by it's beauty. As you can see on the picture they also make picture frames and  desk tools out of magazines. We instantly bought half of the shop...

Office work

Today we mainly worked in the office and tried to find ideas for the donations. The sewing teachers children kept us company:

A day at the NSS

On Wednesday, we were at the Neth Savan Sarana hostel, to paint pictures with the children.

All the boys sleep together in one big dormitory

Painting with the children

Supporters

Kumar Sangakkara, Captain of the Sri Lankan Cricket Team...

...and the Sri Lankan R&B and hip-hop singer IRAJ...

....are both patrons of Children's Hope!

Sports festival at the Neth Savan Sarana School

Today at the sport festival:


                                                  The two teams

The fans :) 

The Volleyball game

For the blind children they invent many games, to give them the opportunity to participate...
The picture above shows a game where the blind kids have to follow a sound (percussions)  in order to  reach the finishing line. 

In this game the blind children have to race against each other. Hard to spot in this picture, is the green cord, which leads the kids through the race. This game has the purpose to support the children and to further their ability in running.   

Here is a game EVERYONE can play! 

Together most of the children performed a dance...

and so did the blind children.

At the presentation of awards we had the privilege, to hand over the certificates.  

The final parade

Diary

After a long trip from Germany, we arrived safely in Sri Lanka. We were picked up at the airport and drove for about four hours until we finally made it to the Volunteers Village. The place exceeded all our expectations. Not only the house was great, but also the lovely people we were warmly welcomed by. Our room was on the top floor. It was a pretty, simple and clean room, with a big en suite bathroom. The finishing touch was definitely the view from our room.

Since then we have worked and lived here for one week and we are still very fond of this organisation!!!

We have already worked in the Karapitiya Hospital, playing with the children, and also painting one of the units for the premature baby's, which took us three days. Also we helped renovating and reconstructing the English classroom.  We had one cooking-day, where we helped cooking Sri Lankan food for the St. Thomas School and today we went to the Neth Savan Sarana School (adjacent to the Hostel). They had their sports festival where we provided the children with juice, biscuits and fish-bread....

The three main projects

Children's Hope is running three main projects at the moment.


Volunteers Village: 


Volunteers Village is one of the main projects of Children's Hope. 
Main activities are taking place at the Volunteers Village:

• English classes for both children and adults
• Surfing at the beach which is adjacent to the Volunteer Village
• Cooking classes
• Sewing classes
• ICT-courses
• Taekwando lessons
• Badminton
• Cricket
• Table Tennis
• Parenting skills seminars
• Handicrafts and jewellery
• Wedding venue hire
• Fried rice selling
• Catering service

The Volunteer Village house is a colonial manor, which used to be a hotel until it was taken over by Children's Hope and founded in December 2010. 

 The View from our room...

   
    The Kitchen

 The beach across the street!

The roof terrace 

   

Dining area

    

                                              The back garden of the villa


        
Next to the main villa, there is also a small house were the English classes are taking place.

In the garden the Taekwando lessons are held. There is also a vegetable garden, which provides not only fresh vegetables for the kitchen, but also for selling, which contributes to the income of the project. 

Neth Savan Sarana Hostel:


The Neth Savan Sarana Hostel is a hostel for blind and deaf, but also for special needs children. 

In the past it had become very run down and there were two children sharing a bed and only dirty outdoor showers and toilet facilities. A new two story hostel was built by Children's Hope in 2006, to house 30 boys, and 30 girls, with indoor showers and toilet facilities, new beds and bedding, complete with 2 under-bed storage drawers. Also a new dining room, kitchen and outdoor activity room were built along with the refurbishment of the library and office.

Children's Hope pay the salaries for the warden and two assistant wardens plus the monthly electricity bill and offer food for the children. Donations from volunteers provide clothing and slippers, handicraft materials and games.

An educational program helps blind children use white walking sticks, learn Braille language (a system of writing and printing for blind and visually impaired children), recognize everyday objects and learn English. Those with hearing problems are taught sign language, English and are given opportunities to use the small library and many games and handicrafts in the outdoor activities area. All children take part in group outings during the year, for example the Temple, Zoo or cinema. 

Children Wards at the Karapitiya Hospital:


Children's Hope redesigned and repainted Ward No 2 and the premature baby unit at Karapitiya Hospital near Galle. They have also funded, repainted and equipped an activity room for children, tidied the garden, repainted and repaired the playground equipment. Clip boards, bed toppers construction and painting of secure store room for drugs and dining room, construction, furnishing and painting of a parents rest room and isolation room were successfully completed. 
Only 50 % of Ward No 36 has now been painted, but the remainder of this work is awaiting new funding along with further construction in Ward No 36 and the purchase of desperately needed new equipment and facilities for both wards.