Projects Abroad in Sri Lanka

This was my second experience with Project Abroad (first with two amazing projects in Cambodia in September 2023) and now I can confirm that after an experience with this organisation you’ll never travel looking to a new place with the same eyes. I’m a 56 years old Italian woman and I travel a lot but I love to visit new countries doing Project Abroad volunteering project. Why? Because with them you’ll have the opportunity to know real life and local people, to live with them and to know how they are wonderful, smiling and really kind even though they live much more simply than us (or probably because of this). This time my husband came with me and I realise that he appreciated every minute of our shared experience despite the hot and wet weather, the shared bathroom (when we travel alone usually we search rooms with a private bathroom every time) with only cold water showers and the hard work during the project. Together we decided to go in Sri Lanka and to work for Sea Turtle Conservation Project in Galbokka. We’re bank employees so we haven’t any experience to offer… only our hands and of course our hearts. But the centre staff is so kind and supportive that after only one day we felt like we knew each one of them like they were our kids. We’ll never forget any of them: Nimna and his smile, nicknamed Joker because he loves to joke with everyone; Kaveesha, the singer and artist, with his wonderful voice and his passion for Spiderman (his nickname); Kaveen alias Jerry, big and sweet eyes, who helped us to release our small baby turtles. And finally of course Charith, the Turtles centre ‘boss’ always busy but a real good friend for everyone in the centre. A typical work day in the centre includes cleaning the turtles tank, feeding them after cleaning fish to give them, to dig holes in the sand in order to hide turtles eggs from predators, washing turtles and a lot of other works. Each day is different and exciting so you’ll forget the hard work. Turtles are wonderful and baby turtles so nice and cute… I loved them so much. We released them two times, one at the sunset and one at midnight after patrolling beach to search eggs. This has been a wonderful experience because we went to the hatchery and we discovered that babies were born… what a great emotion. During the project we lived in a local family home and we enjoyed every moment with them. Our hostess Senanee is really kind and helpful in every moment and she is surely one of the best cooks in Sri Lanka! We felt like family with her, her daughter Nuhansa, her husband Ramidu, her mother in law and always safe. After our two weeks project we decided to make a week trip around this wonderful country and we enjoyed every moment. So, I wrote a lot about my experience and if you want you can read my 2023 review about Project Abroad. I think you could understand how well organised, safe and serious is this organisation. They are really careful about volunteers safety and I think it’s great to become a Project Abroad volunteer, no matter what age you are...so go ahead, sign up and start packing! For everything else there's Project Abroad

My experience was incredible. I discovered a new culture and learned lots of new things. It also gave me more self-confidence and allowed me to do something concrete, to work alongside other volonteers my age, and to have the privilege of looking after the turtles. We did lots of differents things and discovered beautiful places all over Sri Lanka. We visited the capital, Colombo, but also the beautiful region around Kandy, in particular the elephant orphanage, which remains one of our highlights. We also spent a lot of time in Balapitiya, where our house was located, and where we spent many mornings working. We had many tasks such as carrying water or sand in large buckets to clean and fill the turtle basins, painting a fresco to decorate the basins, cleaning all over the center, preparing fish to feed the turtles, cleaning the turtles, taking care of turtle eggs, and also releasing young turtles into the sea, a magical moment. Mosts of the tasks were exhausting, but we felt useful, and had plenty of breaks to rest. We also visited a lot of places around our town, such as temples and famous beaches. To sum up, this project taught me a lot and gave me an unforgettable summer.

I had a wonderful time at Sri Sambuddhaloka Early Childhood Development Centre/Montessori during my week-long project there – the teachers, students and parents were all lovely and I had so much fun working with them! Throughout my time there, I helped out with, and even ran, various activities such as colouring in, drawing, counting and singing nursery rhymes. The children were so welcoming, warm-hearted and intelligent, and their enthusiasm and playfulness always made me smile! Though they hadn’t yet learnt a great deal of English, we were able to manage really well with the help of the staff at the school. The school staff were also very hospitable and made me feel supported and comfortable throughout my time there, even from the very first day, as I entered circumstances which were different to what I was used to. The parents too were very welcoming and friendly, contributing to the supportive environment I experienced there. I'm grateful to Projects Abroad for facilitating this experience for me, and I hope they will continue to support the wonderful work done by the staff at Sri Sambuddhaloka Montessori.