Monday 23rd Nov 2009 - Well I can't find a faster pc anywhere, so have decided to sit through extreme heat in yet another Internet Cafe, as I so much wanted to update my blog…..

I arrived at my "homestay" in Yakkala (pronounced yuck kulla) on Tuesday 10 November at 19.30. Yakkala is about 30km from Colombo. The Peter Weeresekere Childrens' Orphanage is a 20 minute walk from the place I'm staying at.

When I left UK, I was informed by Real Gap that I was the only volunteer here, so was very pleased to find out that Caroline from Scotland was at the homestay with me. Caroline has been in Sri Lanka for the past two months and gave me a lot of reassurance that I would get used to the way of life here !!

The room Caroline & I are sharing is very basic, it has a double bed, a single bed, a very old wardrobe & chest of drawers (both covered in years of dust & grime). Both beds have a mosquito nets over it, thank goodness for that - so far I've been bitten 3 times (I'm applying mosquito repellant at every opportunity). The room has one energy saving light bulb, some very basic curtains, no AC, just two fans, which keep circulating hot air !

Anyway, whilst I was unpacking, Caroline gave me a brief update on what she had been doing up to the day I arrived. She spent her first month in Yakkala and then went to another orphanage in NW of Sri Lanka called Pollonnaruwa and back to Yakkala for her last month.

Caroline had made arrangements to go out that evening, so after supper in the dimly lit kitchen / dining room, Caroline left and I decided to have a shower and an early night.

I'm so glad it was dark in the kitchen the night before, because had I seen the amount of ants crawling all over the food / table / floor / wall (everywhere) when I went into the kitchen the following morning for breakfast I would not have eaten supper !!!

Since that morning I have not eaten anything from the kitchen ! Monday to Friday my diet consists of peeled fruit, Pringles, cashew nuts and black tea. I'm so glad I brought some packet soups and Tracker bars with me too. At the weekends I escape to a hotel or family friends to eat some proper food and to have a decent shower …………… I won't mention the bathroom (as it makes me heave just thinking about the smell).

Caroline and I spend a lot of our time in the bedroom talking, reading and listening to music.

Well I think you must all get the gist of how life at my homestay is and I don't want to go into the gory details as I want my blog to be full of happy memories…..Now I've got the state of the homestay out of the way, I can get down to writing about the main reason I came to Sri Lanka - the little orphans !

The orphanage is mainly for girls from 0 to 18 years of age.. There is a nursery which currently has 6 children (2 weeks - 3 years):-

Baby 1 - Rashini (girl), when I first picked her up Rashini was very rigid / stiff and held on to me very tightly. Now after two weeks when I put my hands out, she smiles and jumps into my arms.

Baby 2 - Sauri (girl), a very clever and cheeky little girl. Very alert and knows how to get attention. She calls anyone walking past "amma", which in Sinhalese means mum ! She is one of the lucky infants as she will be adopted soon. Her adoptive parents visit her on a regular basis.

Baby 3 - Lathika (boy), he just loves to be tickled and has a lovely smile. I sometimes find him banging his head against the cot (out of sheer boredom), so I pick him up to stop him from doing this.

Baby 4 - Binura (boy), he's only 9 months old, but another lucky kid as he will be adopted by end of Dec 09.

Baby 5 - Madavi (girl), she's gorgeous, cute and cuddly.A very chubby baby, who reminds me of Aliya (my niece) when she was her age. Madavi doesn't cry, just stands in her cot and watches the world go by !

Finally baby 6 - Sewmini, wow she's special. She has a heart condition, but I can't understand from the Matron exactly what the problem is. Sewmini has the most gorgeous black eyes and it doesn't matter where I am in the room she is looking at me and is always always smiling - hopefully when I download the pictures you'll see what I mean (Mark / Claire, you would absolutely love Madavi & Sewmini). I would love to bring them back with me- oh what am I saying I wish I could bring them all (I hope Allah will be with them as they grow up and that they are forever happy - Insha- allah).

They have also just had a two week old baby handed into the orphanage, it's a boy and he was left at the bus stand last night !

Well that's the babies done for now so I'll move on to the toddlers (3 - 6 years) on my next entry.