Archive for November, 2008
My skin is alive at the moment! Three days of working into the night and being attacked by every insect alive, there doesnt appear to be any flesh left to bite! Fortunately Piriton is cheap to buy here!The eldest daughter of the most helpful and giving family i have come across in the village gets married on the 3rd dec. Everyone is mucking in to paint and varnish the house ready to decorate for the big day. There are many times when i think there is no community spirit here but the last few weeks have really showed me there is a very strong bond. Having gone through three deaths recently, an emergency operation, and soon a wedding i have seen how everyone pulls together when its needed. I will be back to the pre school in 2 days to carry out some much needed maintenance that i have neglected to do due to the preoccupation with the Well projects. Must go as its 10.22pm and i am late for dinner! Badeginni (Hungry)
November 25th, 2008
Just a quick mention to Chantal Denham. Chantal, who is our media person, has been a huge successs in the village of ABay with the kids. She has worked tirelessly at the pre-school and been a tower of energy and motivation. Chantal has taken the reigns with the cricket group and improved her batting no end. Her bowling is less impressive, although her fielding is exceptional. the kids are at a loss without her. Unfortunately the Swimming Club has been on hold due to sea being too rough - hopefully when you come out next time. Thank you Chantal for coming out here in Sri Lanka for the past two months. It has been a pleasure working with you.
November 25th, 2008
Hi,
Paul here, i spoke to Tim last week and i thought i would do this quick post to keep you all updated on his current trip, cheers.
The lack of reliable Internet connection in the bay has made it extremely difficult to get any photo’s or lengthy news pieces from the trip uploaded onto the blog, it takes a long time to get initially connected; then half way through any work, that connection is lost, much to Tim’s frustration. what has added to his frustration is the fact that a lot of his media work has now been lost due to a hard drive malfunction( hopefully this will be recovered on his return to the UK).
The loss of this data/work is causing him a great deal of distress. Accompanied with bad weather,(the monsoon season has not been kind) has limited the amount of manual work being able to be carried out, and the fact that the team were very excited about using the new website to post up to date information as it happened and the poor communications not allowing this, has added to this trip’s obstacles and made it a very challenging month or two for Tim, both physically and mentally. Despite these setbacks he is continuing to chip away at the mountain of tasks aimed at improving the lives of many in Aragum Bay.
A lot has been achieved this trip also; work has been maintained on several more wells (see Tim’s blog) and activities with the children at the school has continued. Idea’s and plans for new projects have been established and ongoing work has reached near completion.
So, all in all, the good work continues, and the list of achievments contines to grow ,maybe sometimes not as swiftly as we hope, but still we move on and the work get’s done.
Thanks for your continuing support and interest.
Paul.
November 23rd, 2008
Another day working in paradise you may think. Well, it didn’t feel like that yesterday when my hard drive crashed! Two hard drives in four months - that hurts! Lost just about all the photos from this trip. Sorry guys. i am soo gutted. All the report work lost as well.
Are there any Mac users out there, who can help on my return to find the lost files from the hard drives???
It’s time for me to start collating all the info again regarding all the ‘well projects’ including all the costings (which i hate!).
Did the cricket group yesterday afternoon, having spent the morning doing accounts and checking two well projects. Heading to the town, Pottuvil, today to get some money from the bank. The exchange rate is very poor. Around 25% less rupees to the pound at present. Not good for our projects as the money not going so far! Tha sea is still too rough for the swimming club.
Sorry, can’t think, too much worry about lost work!
Laters T
November 19th, 2008
hey guys n gals. this will be short and sweet. sorry for delay but internet access a nightmare! we have the pre school maintenance programme running and have employed a cleaner for the school. the lady is struggling to bring up her two grand children on her own. She works for one hour every day. We are paying the going rate re salary. i know this sounds bullet point but its the best i can do quickly at the moment. we have 8 well projects on the go. we are also involved in a Tea shop extension and have been busy with cricket group and doing activities at the pre school. Chantal has been teaching whilst i have been busy with the Well projects. Gotta say my fav was the face painting! We were in Colombo getting Visa extensions when the we heard the spine chilling words during the evening - ‘Colombo is under attack!’ fortunately it was only one LTTE plane launching an attack on an electricity transformer plant. No significant damage or loss of life. Security checks have been more intense than ever! Loads to say but no time to say it at present! Watch this space! Tim
November 10th, 2008
Paddle 4 Relief now has an entry in Wikipedia.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paddle_4_relief
If you would like to contribute to the factual content then please fell free to enter information according to Wikipedia guidelines.
If there is important material missing and you do not know how to enter it on the Wikipedia website, please send it Paul Martin via the contact page, and he will send it to the relevant department.
November 3rd, 2008
