Wednesday 7th December
Moratuwa
(3 March 2006 - I don't know what has happened to the diary for Tuesday 6th December - we definitely toured that day, but there doesn't seem to be a diary page up - I will try to find what happened to it.)
Today is 8 December, and I am writing up the 7th's diary here in Bangkok. I will have to keep it fairly short, as the computer battery is flat as a pancake, and I don't have the right sort of plug to fit into a Thai plug hole yet - so am having to do this straight onto a hotmail to our webmaster, and don't want to take too long or it will be expensive.
Wednesday 7 December was our last day in Sri Lanka. I do the internet in the morning and change a bit more money to see us through and pay the last hotel bill, etc., buy a suitcase to transport all the badge stuff in, and find a present for Shane.
We all meet up at the Mount Lavinia, and are taken by minivan with some Impakt volunteers to Moratuwa where we collect the bus from its new home, and drive just a little way down the road to a temporary shelter camp.
There are about 120 children and 80 adults in this camp, and we start the show as soon as possible, as there is no space for parachute games. Natalie runs a nice "Hokey Cokey" (or as the children call it "Hokey Pokey") session while we set up, and a boy sings a lovely song, and about 6 of the girls do a great dance.
There is an open-sided building we do the show in, and it really is a great success. The children are roaring with laughter and so are their parents and grandparents! Everybody is feeling quite loose as it is our last day and there is a good deal of improvisation in the show, all of it successful. In the interval, Shane leads a dancing/musical bumps session, which goes down a storm. Then the second half of the show, then Charlie sings "Don't Worry, Be Happy" and Nat and John hand out the yo-yo's. And then there is a wild custard pie session! We drive away with everyone waving wildly, and we wish we could stay and do more, but our time is up - we leave the country early tomorrow morning.
We drive the bus back to its new home in Moratuwa (where it is apparently going to be "in storage" until the whole situation between Teardrop Relief and Impakt becomes clearer and the funding situation is clear) and unpack all the things we need to take with us to our different destinations. Charlie takes all his costume and props off, and he and Paddy take the D8 and microphone that are needed for our Children's World work in England, and our wonderful masks, etc. and Jo takes her costumes and props, and I take 2 parachutes and a badge machine and 2,000 badge components. I had hoped to take 3,000 but there was only just room for 2,000 in the new suitcase I had bought.
We all eat together (Paddy, Charlie and me of Children' World, Jo our second talented performer and her lovely boy Roo, Holly our splendid volunteer, John and Nat and Shane) at the Chinese restaurant next to our guest house. I hand out "Playbus Certificates of Merit" to all, and a Swiss Army penknife (or the nearest Sri Lankan equivalent) to Shane, without whom we really could not have run the Tour.
It's been a great Tour despite all the problems. More than 2,500 children and more than 1,500 adults have had a great deal of fun (as we have!), and I really believe we have done a great deal to raise morale in the camps we have visited. Shane is brilliantly trained up and John and Nat are well capable of doing all the different activities. It feels really strange leaving without knowing what is actually going to happen with the bus from now on. What will Shane and Nat and John be doing from now on? We really don't know, and and nor do they! Teardrop Relief have yet to sign the Impakt letter of agreement. Impakt are having a meeting on Friday. Hopefully there will be some clarity soon. We all so hope that this new, additional work we have been undertaking around the camps will continue after we leave, and are keeping our fingers firmly crossed!
8 December
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