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Article by Michael Finn
Copyright Michael Finn

This page will be devoted to the travel experiences of folk who are working or living in remote and often thwarted places, always remarkable locations and people. Their stories speak for themselves.

The author is in Sri Lanka. Her profession is Occupational Therapist.

Voluntary Work with People living with Cerebral Palsy.

Well I've been here for over a week but it feels like much longer. I feel I've settled in very quickly. Things are pretty much how I expected them to be - very poor, very basic living conditions, hot and humid, chaotic...

The children and adults (they still call them children!) are mostly very disabled and it's amazing some are even alive. One girl has untreated hydrocephalus - the biggest head you've ever seen and her vision and everthing is, of course, terribly affected. Amazingly she's just turned 14 years old.

Then there's so many kids with cerebral palsy who I'm sure are aspirating and slowly drowning due to the combination of their own problems and the feeding methods - my first priority is to change this. I've spent my time so far assessing the needs in general and have come up with an A4 page of issues which are all huge - easily more than 12months worth of work.

Hygiene and nutrition are obviously poor. But the people who work here are inspirational. The women who do the care work (Akka's) and the volunteers start work at 6am and work through until about 6.30pm - some of the Akka's work to 8pm. We have a couple of breaks during the day but it's very tiring and heavy work.

I seem to have quickly made friends with many of the Akka's already and am learning some of the language (Sinhala) out of necessity. It was Vesak this week - a special Buddhist holiday. Not sure what you might know about it. The idea is to reflect on the birth, enlightenment and death of Buddha, but like our Christmas it seems to have become a big flashy celebration and a 3day party.

While Sri Lanka has almost more public holidays than anywhere else, there are no public holidays where I work - not enough staff for rotation to free anyone up. So, I went with the Akka's to the local temple on Thursday night and then into Colombo about a half hour drive but only 14kms (you can imagine the roads) to see all the lights and experience dansil last night.

Dansil is when people give food and drink by the side of the road to everyone and anyone. I don't know how they manage it when so many people are struggling to feed themselves.

I'm based at Prithapura Infant Home, although some of the residents are in their 40's. This place is run by a family who also manage 2 other sites in central Sri Lanka - a special school and a farm (both residential) for people with more independence.

I went on a trip during the week to visit the school and meet some of the people. It's near to Kandy, up in the mountains and very, very beautiful. Really peaceful. I forgot my camera and am pleased that I have to go back to do some work there at some stage, to take photos. It is so lovely. Looking at the mountains makes me just want to go off and walk for days, but it's also full of leeches and other nasty things, so will take a little more planning.

No health problem to report. The food is good, although vegetable curries might wear a bit thin after a year. And the water is all boiled. And of course my vitamin supply will keep me healthy. I have an enormous task ahead with work, but will try to take it one step at a time.

More to come in time...

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