Some picture of the Young Hope Children..more to follow!

The children with Priya

Toys were given out to all the children - after praying over the bags of toys they multiplied so every child received a suitable toy.

The Children saying their prayers

Welcome dance

Playing cricket at the refugee camp

Some of the blessings from the trip...

After a busy week in Trincomalee working with the Young Hope children the team have had such much needed time relaxing and seeing some of Sri-Lanka.

It has been a fantastic trip where we have really seen God provide and bless us in many ways. In the Bible there are numerous passages where the people list the ways that God has blessed them, so it feels only right to mention these blessings here...

• Our journey to Trinco was amazing. We ended up having a nun travel with us which was like having a guardian angel in the van, we sailed through all the check points and made good time.
• We had a wonderful van driver who stayed with us the whole week and became part of the team, he took part in all the work we did and without him we would not have completed all of the projects.
• Health - considering the scope for sickness the team was blessed with good health, there were a few dodgy stomachs on a couple of days but nothing that kept us from doing the work.
• Everyone within the team bonded really well and we all found our roles. It really was a team and everyone was a vital part of it. I felt very privileged to have all members of the team there. We had just the right people for the projects we were given!
• During our time in Trinco we saw many army soldiers, heard shelling and gunfire, but we were kept safe from it all.
• The children were amazingly open to us and this gave us the chance to really spend time with them, hug them and love them.
• We had chances to pray with a number of different people including some of the childrens parents in their homes, teachers, the children, our driver and the nuns themselves.
• The weather - although hot and humid it was not as hot as it had been in Trinco and it was cloudy for much of the time so we were able to get on and build walls, paint outside and garden.
• A good relaxation time afterwards!

There are so many stories and photos to share, we look forward to meeting with individuals and sharing at a future curry night!

Priya

Dear Friends,

Just a quick update on our time in Sri-Lanka for you. We have just spent a busy week up in Nilaveli, Trincomalee working on the Young Hope projects. We have been so aware of everyone’s prayers so thanks to all of you. The journey up here was so much better than expected! My great-aunt, Sister Marie De Lorette asked if she could accompany us as she wanted to visit the sisters up here, which made life a lot easier for us as having a nun with you is like travelling with an angel! Every check point we passed went smoothly and the roads which used to be full of potholes and not really roads, had been resurfaced, so we were truly blessed. Upon our arrival the team were treated as honoured guests, garlanded with flowers, a spot of honour placed on each of our foreheads and we were each asked to light a ceremonial candle. The children performed a cultural show for us with poems, songs and dances, which were brilliant.

The team has pent the week living, eating and sleeping at the convent, which is quite unusual, as men are not allowed to sleep in convents, but the nuns have been so very accommodating towards us (and there is nowhere else to stay!) We have undertaken several projects – painting 2 murals on outside walls, which look fantastic thanks to Donna and Naomi’s artistic skills and directions. The men have spent a lot of time in the garden, digging trenches around the fruit trees and clearing out the rubbish as well as building a fruit bower that Sister was very pleased with. She has only been able to get hold of one an to come 2 days a week to do odd jobs for her so was very pleased to have 4 of them for a week! The inside of the main school hall has also been freshened up with some paint.

The team have been shopping and bought each child (200 in total) new school shoes, socks, stationery and exercise books. This means that the children now all have all the equipment they need for school – without this they get sent home. We also bought dried foods so all the children could be cooked a meal on the Saturday. On Saturdays all the children come for extra classes and dancing. 3-4 times a year they receive a cooked meal, unfortunately there is not enough monwy for this to happen more often, so the rest of the year they just receive a porridge-like drink known as Kolakamda, for many this is their only food all day. This Saturday, because the Young Hope team were here, lessons were cancelled and the children did a show for us. The team then had to do a show for the children! Alun led some worship; we had a drumming workshop, face painting, stories, games and more! All finished off with a nutritious meal of rice, chicken, vegetables, lentils and poppadoms.

The team have also visited several of the areas where the 50 Young Hope sponsored children live. This has been eye opening, but good to see. Photos to follow!

25 children are now living in a residential unit attached to the convent, so the team have been able to spend a lot of time with this group – playing, singing songs and just loving them. We also had the immense privilege of praying with the nuns, after a time of worship we were able to ask the Holy Spirit to come and fill them and they were incredibly touched by this.

We now head down South for a bit of a break and are looking forward to catching up with you all soon and sharing more of our experiences out here.

Priya xx