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GYC2241 - Teaching and Conservation in Wasgamuwa Country: Sri Lanka Cost: £1345.00 Please note: Prices from: £695 (2 weeks), £1,045 (1 month), £1,345 (2 months), £1,645 (3 months), each additional week costs £95. Cost Includes: The price includes accommodation, food, kit and pickup from airport but does not include flight, insurance or visas      Duration: 2 months Company Rep Nearby: All the time 0845 344 7585 or

 

	This placement would suit... Someone who really wants to make a difference in a poor rural community, change the lives of the villagers and animals and gain an amazing experience in the process. You must be willing to give up creature comforts, go back to basics and live as the villagers do. In return you will become part of the village, and have the opportunity to make a really valuable contribution to the lives of the people there and their future generations. If you want to go back to the very basics, in a stunningly beautiful world, helping local people and the local wildlife, by doing work that is really valued and making a significant difference to young peoples lives, then this programme is perfect for you. Here you will be doing extremely worthwhile and rewarding work and building towards making a real difference in a very special rural community. The location is breathtaking with incredible scenery and wildlife set in the remote hinterland of the island, given the accolade, by natives, as the most beautiful place in Sri Lanka. Your Work In Wagsamuwa, you can work on conservation projects, teaching projects, or a mixture of both - It’s entirely up to you and we’ll arrange your placement to suit you! Conservation The aim of this project is to "Save Elephants by Helping People". The Sri Lankan Conservation Society that we work with are heavily committed to their cause and their pursuits include ecological research on elephants, remote camera trapping of leopards, community integrated human elephant/leopard conflict resolution, biodiversity mapping using surveying techniques, GPS and GIS. You’ll work with locals and the Sri Lankan Wildlife Conservation Society to preserve Sri Lanka’s elephant and leopard population and reduce human/elephant conflict. Your work will involve tank monitoring, trail transects, road transects, elephant damage surveys and monitoring of the fences around the park. You’ll also spend some nights or afternoons in tree houses recording how many elephants pass, take part in leopard research and some data entry. Teaching The teaching in Wasgamuwa is varied to say the least with ages running from about 8-40 and with students possibly varying from school children to monks to park wardens!! The institutes in which we teach are not part of the curriculum therefore all the students that attend class are there because they chose to learn. They are very keen to grasp English as it is essential if they are to be able to secure good jobs later in their lives. Good spoken English is a prerequisite of many careers in Sri Lanka and this enthusiasm makes teaching progress at a fast rate. The teaching schedule, at present, takes place at three locations: one of the two local schools in the morning, and the temple class in the afternoon. You will probably teach from 9-11am and again at 3:00-5:30pm in the afternoons; it is about a 6 hour day. Sometimes the more able students - those in their early 20’s - will come to the house after dinner in the evening to learn more in a more informal setting. Some of your lessons can also take place outside! There are roughly 125 students spread across four different classes each week that you will teach. You will have your weekends free for travelling and sightseeing. The standard knowledge of English is very good, with most students at 15 years of age. Sri Lankans are very shy and don’t want to make any mistakes and are at first reluctant to answer in English, but they gain confidence very fast. It is amazing how quickly progress is made. The school teachers and the park wardens are also keen for extra English lessons, if volunteers have any time left over. We will hopefully be adding this teaching into an organised schedule in the future. Location Be prepared!! This area is very cut off from the rest of the island and extremely remote. The area is very quiet and serene and a real journey back to basics. The project is located about 7 hours north of Colombo, in a very remote village comprised of many refugees from Sri Lanka’s civil war which sits on the edge of the Wasgamuwa National Park. The communities livelihood comes mostly from paddy farming. There are small shops located nearby that stock most things you will need on your placement and there is a hotel about 30 minutes drive away where you can relax with a cold beer! Getting around is not easy in this remote area and bicycles are essential as the main form of transport. Buses run from the region to Kandy and Colombo - taking approximately 5 to 9 hours, respectively. Buses run more frequently to Hettipola, which is the nearest town, located about 1 hour away. There are two 3-star hotels about 10-15 minutes bike ride away, one serving excellent Chinese food and the other having a nice pool and bar for some very welcomed chilled drinks after a hot days work! The two villages where we work are next to the Wasgamuwa National Park (10 minutes drive) so there is a lot to do and see if you enjoy wildlife and the outdoors. The Maduru Oya National Park is also about an hour away by car and is situated at Inginiyagala. This park is renowned for its wild elephant population. The surrounding jungles and villages can be explored easily by foot or bike. Sri Lankas longest river is about 20 minutes away and travelling a few kilometres down it in an inner-tube is safe and great fun - except during rainy season! Sigiria, Polannaruwa, Nuwera Eliya, Dambulla and Kalkudah Beach are all about 3-4 hours bus ride away. To cool off, you can hire a van and go to the Knuckles Range which at 3000 foot is much cooler! It is about 70 minutes away with beautiful areas to hike and plenty of cool streams to bathe in. The temperature drops to a comfortable 20-28 degrees at this altitude. Generally though, this is a remote and basic area and the placement is suitable for those people who enjoy reading and solitude as there is nothing to do in the evenings. However, you will always be with at least one other Travellers volunteer so you will have company - and board games! Accommodation The Wasgamuwa house is very, very basic indeed! The makeup of the house is the first thing you notice. It is a house made of entirely eco-friendly material, due to the fact that it was built by a team of conscientious conversationalists - the Sri Lanka Wildlife Conservation Society (SLWCS). This is quite a surprise the first time you see it however! The walls are made of wooden slats and hardened mud and the roof is formed of iron sheets. The floor is concrete. You really do feel like you are in the wilderness! The house is very open to the outdoors. Mosquito nets are provided to keep the bugs out though! It can be quite a culture shock at first, but rest assured the friendly nature of the villagers and beautiful scenery soon make up for the basic nature of the accommodation. The make up of the house is perfectly sufficient and keeps the house cool during the hot spells of the day and dry during the storms. Our time at Wasgamuwa! By Emma Stack and Rachel Jackson - Teaching Volunteers Well!! We couldn’t have asked for a more eventful stay!!! Where on earth do we start?! The whole trip has been so much more than we could have hoped for; from the amazing house to the crazy experiences! Its all been a dream come true! The wildlife is a joy to behold, a surprise around every corner! We scoop frogs out of the sink every morning, check for Cobra around corners, step over the house dogs to reach breakfast, dodge tortoises on the way to school, share a swim in the lake with water buffalo and of course there are the elephants!! But I’ll get to them a little later! The kids are a handful to say the least! Very energetic and boisterous, but above all eager to learn, like absolutely no children we know back home!! This makes every lesson rewarding, even if it can also be quite trying at times! We’ve taught classes with a massive range of ability ~ it can be quite frustrating teaching one child to spell CAT over and over, while another is ready to learn grammar! We had to re-learn all our nouns and adjectives etc! In retrospect we loved every class, although we have to admit we often dreaded teaching Grade 1 who can’t even write in Sinhala yet, let alone in English!! The weekends are always fun! You soon learn that a five hour bus ride is the norm, 2 hours is nothing!! Kandy is beautiful, a welcome break into near-civilization with internet and cold drinks!! Oh the novelty!! Go to "The Pub" on a Friday night especially if the cricket is on, its brill! The Koffeepot next door has the best internet and heavenly fruit juices!! Adams Peak is a must!! Do not be put off!! It is a big slog, bloody freezing at the top and leaves you limping for a week, but it’s all worth it!! The views are amazing!! Climb at night for the most perfect sunset and a good run down in the dawn! Nuwara Eliya is a stunning English-style town in the middle of the hill country. Make sure you visit a tea factory and you get to wear a sexy green uniform complete with hat - so exciting!! The cultural triangle is a must Anuradhapura, Polonnaruwa, Dambulla and Sigirya. Sigiriya has fantastic views and Dambulla has extremely impressive caves filled with beautiful statues of the Buddha. White water rafting at Kitulgula, all over body massage in Kandy (next to Hotel Suisse), shopping (Majestic City and Odels) and even clubbing (H2O and Zanziba) in Colombo!! Willies is a short bike ride away, turn right at the road! The pool is an oasis after a chaotic class but the food is questionable - do not try the mixed veg salad!!! But enjoy an amazing papaya juice and cold sprite!! The National Park... what can we say? Don’t get too close to the elephants!! Our Manager(Chinthaka!!!) really made us feel like a part of the herd, we watched about ten elephants tucking into grass and looking after their babies. It was amazing, so close... a little too close!! Next thing we knew we were surrounded by aggressive elephant females, growling and inches away from the jeep! We piled into the middle, trunk dodging, the field scouts no help whatsoever (Thushara and Mahesh!!)!! It didn’t take long for the jeep to be perched on two wheels as one elephant head butted the passenger side door and the others moved ominously into attack positions!! Thank god the clutch held out this time!! We managed to speed away after several terrifying minutes, only to be chased by the entire herd in full charge mode! Chinthaka has never driven so fast!! We made it through alive though (just!) and it’ll be a good story to tell to our grandchildren. Everything has been unforgettable!! We’d recommend this placement to anyone willing to enjoy their world and bike ride a lot! Do not be tempted to spend too much time in the comfy chairs! Get out there!! Talk to the kids (sign language is always good!), jump off bridges into lakes, celebrate the many festivals and generally enjoy Pusselayaya] and the surrounding area (esp. willies!). It is possible to completely immerse yourself in the culture of Sri Lanka in this peaceful village, but only if you go for it!! 0845 344 7585 Travellers Worldwide: Live and work abroad helping children, adults, animals and entire communities in less advantaged countries. Learn about their culture from the inside! Stay from as little as two weeks to as long as one year - you choose your dates and duration!