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.

There was no perspective for the boy and we decided to continue his monthly payment till the end of the year.  After that the very introverted young man will have to come up himself with concrete plans.  With the absence of our friends and therefore, proper translation we decided to let him know about our decision in a detailed letter.

Sameela`s school performance was great.  We had not planned to go to Kandy on this visit and we had almost given up finding her parents in Hambantota.  The refugee camp had disappeared and to find them in the labyrinth of Siribopura was almost impossible.  We had met Sameela’s unmarried brother in the World Vision flats and the address he had given to us was less than specific. 

It was a big surprise to meet them at the house of “our” seamstress.  They had heard that we were in town and had been searching for us also.

Again, we badly missed the company of our friends.  Despite the fact that the seamstress was quite fluent in English, some misunderstandings must have occurred. 

I had asked the Mother to forward the quarterly reports from the school to us so we would be informed about the girl’s progress when we visited.  At home, seldom had we received a letter and only in very broken English, though with a very accurate list of the payments they had received……….

I decided to go back to the offer of the Vice Director of the girl’s school in Kandy to be informed by the school directly.

After the mixed experiences and the disappointments with Riyas’ school performance, we wanted to be better informed about Sameela.