The Opening Ceremony

Here is the blog you have been waiting for!

The morning of the final day was spent at the site frantically tidying up and blowing up balloons. Over to Sophie, Eddie and Emmie for a minute by minute account of our final visit to the site .... Sophie first..

 

Hi everybody, our last trip to the site was very emotional for everyone and we couldn't quite believe that it was over, and also we couldn't believe how far along the project had come, it truly was incredible the amount of work that had gone in to finish the building.

 

 

As you can see I was very proud of the board that me and my group had created, trust me many painstaking hours were spent depicting the alphabet in an interesting and colourful manner. The four boards that we created were a crocodile height chart, a numbers board, an alphabet board, and an official Rookwood School Aid Camps board, they really will brighten up the classroom.

Here's the official aidcamps board, lettering and artwork done by Harry and Chloe and painting by Lucy, the very relevant peacock showing all of our names.

When we got to the site, all dressed up and excited, the children, and most of the village, were there waiting for us, we really did feel almost like celebrities and the warm welcome was touching. The smallest children all had beautiful little flower necklaces which looked like they were extremely difficult to make, and they presented each one of us with one.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We had to put our hands together and bend down so that they could reach our heads, this is Sanjeev a very cute cheeky little boy, a popular one with the group (especially his best friend Cassie) presenting me with my necklace.

 

Over to Eddie now to tell us more about the celebrations...

After we were presented with the flower necklaces,which was a truly wondrous moment, our entire team were ushered into the back room of the project building which a few days earlier we had painstakingly helped to create with our bare hands.

Within the room our eyes were met by an an intriguing and unfamiliar custom. To bless the building and its future after construction a small fire was created by the school teachers. Upon this fire a small pot of coconut milk was placed and when the milk boiled over this was to bless the building and its future with good luck.

As this was happening children outside attempted, somewhat, to control their obvious excitement at such a momentous occasion to which half the local area had flocked to.

The blessing of the building took time as we needed to wait for the coconut milk to boil over. The room was engulfed with the aroma of coconut, much to Sophie's delight, as well as smoke and a warm sense of satisfaction that our hours of hard work had paid off.

 

The school teachers inside, with their impeccable manners, added to the occasion with their beaming smiley faces which did not waver for the entire event.

As all of this was taking place with no regard for what we British would call health and safety: Callum, one of the local builders, climbed 30 feet to hang a pot of incense and herbs from the rafters to further bless the building. This was just the start of the ceremony but we were stunned by the level of enthusiasm with which it was carried out.

 

The coconut milk boiling over after several minutes was met with instant applause, handshakes and an atmosphere which was second to none.

 

The crowd gathered outside the building to await several small performances by some of the local children.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Before this, however, the building was opened with an oil lamp which the children lit with the help of their teachers.

 

 

 

The performances were short and sweet and extremely cute. I think even hearts of steel would have been moved by the children's songs and dances to demonstrate the building to us all and how much they would cherish it.

Over to Emmie.....

As Eddie said It was a true delight to see the children's faces lit up with glee as they paraded around the stage in their beautiful costumes.

Yet the Sri Lankan children were not the only people who had to go up on stage. Andrew was the first, chosen specially by Mr De Mel, the head of Serve, as he wanted the youngest member of our group to read a speech for him, and not many people can beat the 29th of August. The speech was very moving and it was a shame Mr De Mel was not there to present it himself as it was truly touching and as well as all of the smiling faces of the children and thanks from adults it really made us feel how much our work was appreciated.

We were then lucky enough to hear some traditional Sri Lankan singing. The lady in the photo had a truly wonderful voice, even though we couldn't understand a word that she was saying, it was still very beautiful and another thing to add to our list of cultural experiences whilst we have been in this amazing country.

Then it was Mr Knight's turn to wow the crowd with words. With the help from Ruwantha to translate our thanks to everyone were expressed with gratitude, another very moving speech.

 

We were then privileged enough to watch the young girls from the centre do a traditional dance to authentic Sri Lankan music. They were amazing, I could not believe how they learnt it do well as the moves were very complex. Certainly up staged us in our dance ......

We did dance after and it was a hard act to follow. Our dance was supposedly traditional english dancing ... Line dancing? Was really fun though, and we had rehearsed so it didn't go wrong to save us from embarrassment. We all held our heads high as we skipped and dosey doe'd around each other, we all enjoyed it a lot.

Then it was our turn to say our thanks. Eddie, Sophie and I walked up to the stage. I was a bit phased by the crowd staring up at me, yet I said my part quite clearly so bring on prize giving! Eddie gave a lovely introduction and warm words of thanks at the end and Sophie gave a truly amazing sum up of our experiences here in Sri Lanka. It must have gone down well as the faces were still smiling up at us at the end.

 

After a lovely evening of perfomances we were ushered off to the back of the centre to have some traditional Sri Lankan tea then we said our final thanks and a lot of goodbyes and left the centre. Yet I know for sure, for some of us, that was not the last time we will go there.

 

Love you all, see you soon love Eddie, Sophie and Emmie x

 

Next episode..... Our visit to Kandy.

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