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OSI - Sri Lanka |
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Year-End
Holidays
We started with Christmas dinner at both homes, and later in the week transferred our Wattegama children by train and bus to Pamunugama, where all of our children celebrated the holidays together. Below is our diary of the week, along with lots of photos, because our kids want to share it all with you!
Christmas Dinner Even in primarily-Buddhist Sri Lanka, Christmas is happily celebrated as an international holiday. On the evening of Christmas, the Pamunugama and Wattegama homes both enjoyed a special dinner with delicious, catered food, chocolates, and ice-cream, followed by fireworks. Thanks to sponsors Nina Shopolovich (Wattegama) and Lisa Bernard (Pamunugama) for providing for a very special evening for our children!
Wattegama to Pamunugama We took our Wattegama children by train and bus to Pamunugama so that all of our children could celebrate together. The train-ride between Kandy and Colombo is a scenic pleasure, unlike the traffic-jammed and bumpy road route. It's hardly a direct means of getting from Wattegama to Pamunugama, and required us to hire busses on both ends. But it was a wonderful experience for our Wattegama children to travel by train and they thoroughly enjoyed it, -a permanent memory for all of them. Thanks to sponsor Nina Shopolovich for providing this experience!
Holiday Party at
Pamunugama Home On Saturday, our Wattegama and Pamunugama children had a fun day together at Pamunugama home. We were joined by our dear sponsors and friends Kelly Atkinson (from Holland) and Flavia and Dinoo Daewar (from California), which made the day extra special for the kids. Late in the afternoon we spent much time making special preparations for our holiday dinner, arranging everything on the beautiful lawn in front of the home. After a wonderful candle-lit dinner, we ventured inside to sit around the Christmas tree where the children opened their gifts from their sponsors. We finished the wonderful evening with lots of fireworks outside. Thanks to sponsor Connie Carlberg for our wonderful dinner, and to the children's individual sponsors for their gifts!
Pamunugama Beach and
Party at McDonalds On Sunday our children enjoyed a visit to the beautiful Pamunugama beach, especially nice for our Wattegama children who rarely see the seaside. In the evening, we hired a bus to take us all to McDonald's in Welisara (about 45 minutes from Pamunugama) where the children had a fantastic party, as always, and a fun dinner, thanks to the generosity of visiting sponsor Dinoo Daewar... thanks Dinoo!
Pamunugama to Wattegama After a leisurely morning and sad good-byes, our Wattegama children boarded the bus to Colombo train station. Another lovely train-ride and a few hours later, they arrived in Kandy, followed by a 45-minute bus-ride to Wattegama. Thanks again to sponsor Nina Shopolovich for our novel transportation!
OSI-Pamunugama
Site Page - With more photos, maps,
and information about OSI-Pamunugama... Other Events - View other OSI events
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Besides
all of the traditional holidays, December marks the end of the school year
in Sri Lanka and children have most of the month off. Many of our
children are taken by relatives for the holidays, so for those remaining
the "holidays" are quite glum. But thanks as always to the kindness and generosity of our sponsors and donors, all of our Sri Lanka
children were able to enjoy wonderful and memorable holidays this year.
The children enjoyed a full week of celebrations, including special
holiday meals, plenty of ice-cream and sweets, gifts for every child,
fireworks, a visit to the
beach, a party at McDonald's, and for our Wattegama kids a memorable
journey on the train.
