Another week in Ampara. The CCD Officer on the east coast was recruited by the UN (grrrr!), so Mindy spent the week in Ampara interviewing replacement possibilities and visiting the vocational and educational trainings that our CCD team has started there. Adam held down the fort on the southwest coast... was sick (boo.)... and conducted orientation for his new Engineer (yay!)

Mr. & Mrs. Ariyapala (one of our favorite people in this world and his equally precious wife)
English class for kids (in a Muslim community)

English class again (and Mindy)

unloading sports equipment for an English class... (What? It's hard to understand why an English class needs sports equipment?) We believe bribery is an effective tool for motivating strong study habits. Plus, kids gotta PLAY, too!

Captain Sam (middle) with the teacher that helped form the class and organize all the details (left) and the English teacher (right).
Captain Sam (and the leaves used for a weaving vocational class)
weaving class; they were giggling about having their picture taken...
the weaving class... They all introduced themselves and told about their families (family details are so integral to personal identity). It was interesting to hear them say how they have 4 brothers and 3 sisters or 5 children, etc. One lady shared about having one daughter - who was only 1 year old when she was killed in the tsunami. She didn't mention her husband or having other kids, so I asked someone later, and was told that her husband left her after their daughter died and married another woman (Muslim men can marry up to 5 women, so this is pretty common). Just when I feel like I'm familiar with the culture, or when I think the tsunami and its devastation are a thing of the past, I get "checked".
sewing class
the cutest kid of the week...

... and his friends.