11th Feb:
Lynda's Blog
Goodmorning everyone, my name is Lynda, i'm a dental nurse and practice manager in London. I'm really excited to be reporting back on our first day in Kilinochi, Sri Lanka. Being my first visit to Sri Lanka, I was moved as to how friendly the children were to me, holding on and following me around everywhere. Slight communication problems but lots of smiles and laughter! Its amazing what dance can do, to break down these barriers.
Assessing 350 children on their oral health was a pleasure. Busy day, but thoroughly fulfilling. Makes you appreciate what we have and the need to educate these children on the importance of oral hygiene. Looking forward to another busy day spending time with these wonderful children.
I was privileged to be given the honour to cut the ribbon at the opening ceremony of the assembly hall at the Sacred Heart orphanage. It was moving to see what all your donations made to building blocks have achieved and the significant changes this will have to these children's lives.
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13th Feb:
Hope you are all well and enjoying our blogs Today I want to tell you a story about a young man who the BB team were lucky enough to meet whilst in Sri Lanka. Since he was born, this young man had lived in a central area of conflict on this island nation. His family, along with many others were constantly being displaced from their homes for the sake of protection. This continued on for most of his life, but no matter what happened he attempted to forge on with his education and in developing his cricket skills.
Unfortunately, during the last days of the war, this young man’s life changed for the worst. Not only did he loose his father to a shell attack, he also lost his right upper limb and lower limb. When the attack began everyone started running into nearby bunkers, but the bunker he ran to was so full that he couldn’t get his right arm or leg fully into the bunker. Unfortunately, this resulted in both his right arm and leg being severely wounded.
Once it was safe to exit the bunker, he was put onto a ship and taken to a hospital further south along the east coast of Sri Lanka. He was told that to save his life, that both the right arm and right leg would be need to be amputated, having no other choice, the doctors proceeded with the amputations and the operations were successful. He remained in hospital for almost a year after the procedures, and another charity very kindly fitted him with a lower limb prosthesis. With this he now continues to walk to school and can even continue to play cricket.
The BB team members who are on the Sri Lanka 2014 trip have been fortunate enough to meet with this young man, and to hear his story. He is extremely thankful for the lower limb that the other charity gave him, and has now adapted to being left handed, but still finds it very difficult doing some basic things that we take for granted. The Building Blocks team have therefore taken it open themselves to facilitate the fitting of a light weight upper limb prosthesis for this young man with the hope that it will give him more “normalcy” to his life so that he may continue to excel in his education and in his sports. We look forward to visiting this young man next year, to see how is life has changed with the new prosthetic limb. Stay tuned to hear about more of our Building Blocks projects, and once again I would like to say thank you to all of our donors. Without all of you, our projects couldn’t happen.
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10th Feb:
Morning BBlockers. Yesterday was one of the most inspirational days in the Building Blocks journey. Thanks to all of your generous donations and participation in our fundraising events, we were able to complete the construction of two new buildings for the Sacred Heart orphanage in Uruthirapuram, Sri Lanka. Prior to the construction of these buildings, the 40 girls who reside in this home had been sleeping, studying and dining in one room. Now, because of your constant support we have been able to provide the home with two new buildings: a dormitory and an assembly hall with cooking and dining facilities.
During this trip we were fortunate enough to be able to attend the buildings' opening ceremony. The kids welcomed us with pomp and ceremony as they placed flower garlands upon our heads and asked us to participate in the custom of "milk boiling over" which symbolises good fortune. The girls then put on a beautiful show filled with song, dance, and lots of smiles. It was an honour to have been able to witness such a significant moment in the lives of these children. To see their appreciation for what your contributions have done is a rich reminder of why we all do what we do. We look forward to seeing more of these projects coming to life
