12: The City is our Classroom: Our Class Tours Colombo!

July 07, 2018

Dear Friends,

THANK YOU for the prompt responses as well as for your readiness to contribute to our attempt to take some kids from Nagahaswatte on a Colombo City tour! We were overwhelmed to discover that during our four-day fund-raiser - 39 people contributed not only to the excess cost of the ‘double-decker’ bus, but for the entire bus tour! We also received additional funds for food as well as for future art class expenses. Several people contributed their time as volunteers, which we know is precious and we deeply value. We were simply amazed - and for this we give our heartfelt thanks. It also speaks to your confidence in us and gave us so much motivation to keep going!

Building momentum:

Preparing to tackle the scale of the City

On July 07 2018, the students who took part in the workshop series ‘Let’s Build Great Things!’ at the Building Hope Children’s center were taken on an ‘observation’ tour of the city they live in. They were all really excited and wore their Sunday best, sneakers, hats and all! They even brought little backpacks with snacks and made little wool friendship bands for the entire crew.

Prior to this trip, we conducted several workshops focusing on observing their surroundings - the Art Class, The Children’s Center, Mapping their street etc. Ultimately we hoped they were ready to tackle the scale of the city. The students did point out some really interesting things! (For example, the big ‘adhey’ (crooked) building, meaning Altair tower, and the slender bridge across Beira lake) The goal of the series of workshops were to promote criticality - to voice opinions and to speak out their thoughts and ideas about their own environment. In a way, we hope that this will contribute to the ultimate goal of child empowerment.

The Double Decker bus ride!

How it went:

The Students were given a map of the route, to participate in a ‘guess where we are’ exercise. We got off the bus at Viharamahadevi park, played and had snacks and drinks. You might find it interesting to know that the sandwiches and patties were made by several mothers of the kids in the Nagahaswatte area, which meant that some of the funds donated went back into the Nagahaswatte community. After the break at Viharamahadevi park, we had two more stops left - Independence square and the Parliament - but for the last part of the tour the kids were so excited (and sugared up) that they hijacked the tour guide’s microphone and sang songs and danced on the top deck. It was really sweet.

Overall, it was a lot of fun and learning; none would not have been possible without all your help.

Many thanks,

Ranitri and Sahani