INTRODUCING THEODORE

We are beginning to wonder if our house is turning into a halfway house for local animals. The latest little fellow to find his way into our home is a baby chipmunk. Prince brought him along one morning. He had fallen out of a tree (the chipmunk, not Prince!) and, being a baby, still lacked the climbing ability to get himself back home. After some not-so-subtle hints from Prince, we agreed to take him in.

Considering that Lovely the Egret only managed to survive 10 days with us and our turtles escaped, Darren has been hesitant to give the chipmunk a name. I call him Theodore, but I also like what the Sri Lankans call chipmunks - Tinting (from the sound they make). Whatever we call him, there is no denying that he is unbelievably cute! He is incredibly affectionate. He sleeps a lot but when he is awake he loves human company. He loves to crawl all over you and look for places to burrow and snuggle. Now that he's getting more confident and more capable he loves to go exploring, especially if he can climb or burrow. He likes to bask on the laptop (it generates a fair amount of heat) but he gets jealous of my mouse and tries to attack the scroll wheel on it.

So, as you can probably tell, even in the space of a couple of days we have all become particularly fond of Theodore/Tinting/technically unnamed Chipmunk. We know that eventually he'll probably find himself a proper home in the wild, so we keep reminding ourselves, but until then I guess the McQuades Halfway Home for Sri Lankan Wildlife remains in operation.

OUR NEW CLASS

We have recently begun work with a new group of students. We are excited about this because this is our first group that we will work with on a regular basis. It is also our first adult class. This class has four students,who are also completing a college course. They spend one day a week with us learning English and computing. This will not only help them in their current course but will help them be accepted into higher level college courses in the future. The students come from various places in Sri Lanka but, for their course, are based in a town a few hours away from us. They travel by bus to get to and from our class, which means a long day and lots of travelling, but they are so keen to learn. We are hoping to have a second class starting a few months from now.

HEADING EAST: PART 2

After visiting the pre-schools we were invited to visit the homes of some of the locals. The people we visited were neither Sinhala nor Tamil, but Veddah. The Veddah people are the aboriginal inhabitants of Sri Lanka. Where the Sinhalese people and the Tamil people both have their origins in India, the Veddah have always lived in Sri Lanka. Veddah have a close relationship with the land and, even today, many still practise traditional ways of hunting and cultivation. Unfortunately, much of the jungle area which would be their traditional land has been cleared. Also, intermarriage has meant that Veddah culture is at risk of being lost. Thankfully, it seems that recognition of the benefits of the traditional Veddah land practices is encouraging a comeback for Veddah culture.

It was a particular honour to be able to visit the local Veddah tribal chief. The chief was blind, but he told us the story of when, years back when his eyesight was better, he was taken all the way over to the West coast so he could have an operation to have his cataracts removes. The doctor explained the operation to him and he thought that the doctor was saying that he would have his eyeballs removed. Naturally, the chief was terrified and he ran away back to his home on the other side of the island. Later, when the opportunity arose again and he better understood the operation, it was too late.

On our way home from visiting the Veddahs we noticed a curious sight. As we drove we passed many men on bicycles, travelling in the opposite direction, carrying rifles across their laps. Our host was able to explain. It seemed that, at some stage in the past, the government had supplied the locals with guns, just in case they found themselves caught in the middle of the ongoing conflict. On regular occasions, these locals need to present themselves and the guns at the local police station for inspection. It turned out that today just happened to be gun-checking day.

HEADING EAST: PART 1

Recently we made a weekend trip to the Eastern side of the island. The Eastern Province has long been a front in the conflict in Sri Lanka, which has had it's toll on the people, socially and economically. However, of late it has been becoming increasingly stable, so it was deemed safe enough for us to go and visit. This was quite a trip though - requiring several hours driving and the most stringent security checks we've experienced so far.

Our visit was a research trip. We were to visit three pre-schools out there - to meet their staff and children, to have a look at their resources and to get a feel for their needs. The first pre-school we visited was held in a simple room attached to a house. It can have up to 15 children but today it had 5. The communities we visited were in rural areas and we were told that when the parents needed to be in the fields they often had to take the children with them for the day, so the children did not go to school. A couple of the children here found our camera a bit too scary!

The second pre-school we visited was held in a small, mud hut. This school had no budget to work with so all they had to use with the children were a few sheets of paper, a few pairs of scissors and some glue. Still, the classroom walls, adorned with colourful pictures, were testament to their ability to make do with very little.

The third pre-school was the biggest and best equipped of the three. This pre-school educates about forty 4 and 5 year olds. We were lucky enough to arrive in time to witness the rice-and-onions lunch meal that the school provides before the children are sent home.

When we arrived there were many parents waiting outside the school building for their children to be dismissed. I was intrigued to notice that there were also several older children. I was told that this village lies in the corner of it's region so there is no nearby school for the older children. Most can not afford the daily bus fare nor can they cope with walking home for hours in the heat of the day without having had lunch, so they do not go to school. They go to the fields with their parents or they stay home to take care of the younger children while the parents work. I took some photos and chatted with these lovely children, to learn that some of them did not even know how old they are. These children really are growing up a whole world away from so many of the rest of us.

A LOVELY MEMORY

For 10 days we were parents to an injured egret. Brenton found it wandering around our backyard one day. It's wing was so badly injured that it just dangled badly from it's body, only just still attached. We didn't know what to do with it so we just took it in and figured we would just see what happened. At night we put him in a box so that he didn't become prey for one of the many neighbourhood cats. We had to put a stick in the box for him to perch on though, otherwise he wouldn't sleep. During the day we put him outside to get some fresh air and to stretch his legs. Still, he actually seemed to prefer our company. If he got bored or hungry he'd come and wander through the house to see what was going on. He particularly seemed to like Prince, though I don't think Prince was so keen on him, and would stand at a safe distance watching him while he cleaned the van or covered books. Other times he would just wander around the house and try and make sense of this strange new world.

He was a fish-eating bird, so we went to the pet shop and bought a small tank of guppies. We would put them in my laundry tub and he would go fishing. We also got him a little frog and he scored a few of the prawns that I was shelling for dinner once. Apart from that, we went to the fish market and bought some smelly, little fish that we could freeze and break off a few whenever he needed feeding. He was quite willing to come and take the fish out of our hands.

We really hadn't been that sure he would make it through the first night, but after a few days we figured it was safe enough to give him a name. Because Brenton had found the egret, we gave him the privelege of picking a name. Brenton decided that 'Lovely' suited him quite nicely, so Lovely the egret he became. But unfortunately, despite his inquisitive behaviour and healthy appetite, his injuries must have still been quite severe because 10 days after he first came into our yard, he died. Brenton was brokenhearted. Still, our constant travelling really made it difficult to take such continued care of him. I'm just glad he died with a full belly.