Very quick little update… I’m sitting in a wonderful coffee shop in Colombo being VERY productive. I think this may be the key to my research efficiency… get out of the house and away from the usual distractions and it’s easier to focus for long periods at a time. I’m flying to Kolkata, India (formerly Calcutta) for the week starting tomorrow to research a few other organizations with comparable programs (art therapy+education+income generation) and many, many years of experience behind them. I will also look

Every week the girls at Ma Sevana and the VTC make a personal goal. The past couple of weeks several of the girls have vowed to overcome laziness… hence this photo represents only a tiny fraction of the new jewelry created at Ma Sevana this Monday! (One of our girls made 19 bracelets!) April

Every Monday and Thursday Nirukshi runs Emerge Bead Workshops at Ma Sevana and the Suwasetha Vocational Training Center (VTC) respectively. Since I’ve been in Sri Lanka, I have also traveled down to Moratuwa twice a week to participate in and improve these workshops. Today was my first day back at Ma Sevana and I wanted to take a photo of my welcome. This picture is classic Sandeep. He is an incredibly playful child, as evidenced by the photo below. In this picture, he has hijacked

It was only yesterday I had a chat with Alia on SKYPE and I told her that I want to blog about my two orphaned squirrels “Barcelona” (elder of the two) and “Tobias”. It was the habit of their mother to have her babies in our letterbox, two months ago “Barcy” for short and his brother “Tobias” were born, after a month a Cat living in the neighbourhood ate the mother and these tiny ones were left alone to fend for themselves, Nadiya my daughter

Today is my last day in the United States before heading back to Sri Lanka, and my emotions are somewhat mixed. On one hand, it has been incredibly refreshing to be back home: I feel like my energy level and enthusiasm is at an all-time high. In addition, I can’t tell you how nice it is to be able to pick up the phone and call Alia when an idea pops into my head or a donation comes in. Living in the same time zone