With increasing concern, we had been following the news on the internet and the information we received from our friends.

Maybe it is overkill to want to expect changes in Hambantota every six months.  In this part of the world things take longer than back home.

Sifaya was doing very well and my question about her growing belly: “rice and curry or baby” made her crack up.  She laughed for a long time.  Then said that she was very content with the two daughters and that she did not want more children. 

I already mentioned that despite the fact that there would have been plenty of space on the school compound, UNICEF was not willing to finance the private kindergarten.

To start with the not so good news … Despite the fact that Riyas had been in good spirits and the results of the graduation tests had not been released yet, it appeared that he might have failed to pass a second time.  This would end his academic career before it had even started.

We again paid our first visit to the widow in Ambalantota as it was on the way to Hambantota.  I wanted to show Michel the drinking water well that had been built in April.

To visit the four children was a lot of fun.  It was our first visit to Fatima who lived at the humble house of her brother.  She was quite fluent in English and her brother had excellent knowledge of the language.