It has been always the girls wish to see us all in sari, ever since Ellen and April wore sari for the Sinhala/Tamil New year celebrations, the girls wanted me to wear sari. We had an excuse, it was Alia and Ellen’s going away party last week, Ellen was going back home to take up position as US Director and Alia on her way to England to continue with her studies after a short visit. We also had volunteer Prabhani who was visiting us to help improve the Bead programme.
I wore my Sathya Paul sari which I bought from my recent trip to Chennai draped in a new and different way and Alia and Ellen draped it Indian style. It was the first time Alia wore sari and it was a special day for her. When we arrived the girls were ecstatic to see us in the sari. We were surrounded by them for over half an hour and they were delighted, it had made their day. After the cutting of the cake and the speeches that Alia and Ellen made and the cards that were exchanged to say Thank you, they had to bid good-bye to the girls, of course it was not an easy task. Many hugs were given over and over again Alia re-assured the she would come back to see them soon, however Ellen was not as sure how soon she could come back. Ellen has been an incredible support to the girls and Emerge, she made a change in their lives along with Volunteers Sheena and Aaron when she helped introduce the Bank and Store concept which has made the programme so much fun for the girls and it has taught them the basics of business. She also learnt Sinhala so fast that towards the end of her stay she was able to carry on entire conversations with the girls. Her dedication has be inspiring to me especially with her knack to multi-task and be super organized. She has made the most of her trip here, experiencing as much as she can of Sunny Sri Lanka. Her local knowledge is even better than mine and her ability to adapt to our way of life an essential part of the girls lives, she will be missed.
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