Thank you so much to everybody who has supported my voluntary service in Sri Lanka. I am leaving today for my next 6 week trip to Sri Lanka. On this trip I am self- funding my flight. I am fund raising to facilitate more holistic programmes for children with additional needs and disabilities in the Eastern and Northern Provinces in Sri Lanka working with the Holistic Special Education Foundation and our growing community. Everybody gives their professional skills and time voluntarily. We want to include as many families, teachers and health professionals in our programmes as possible.

We are fund raising to run programmes in Trincomalee, Paatilapuram, Muttur, Batticaloa and Ampara in the Eastern Province on this trip and collaborating with the Regional and Provincial Education and Health Departments as well as local N.G.O's. These are post- war areas in Sri Lanka, where there is still much poverty, trauma and there needs to be huge long term interventions around Inclusivity and Disability.

Community based visits and programmes are a huge part of our service. We need to provide transport- so our team can reach families in remote villages who are living in poverty and also so vehicles can bring these families to medical clinics and town based- programmes. Many children with additional needs & disabilities in the East and North of Sri Lanka (in other areas too) are not able to attend their local school. The majority of children with complex needs & a physical impairment do not have wheelchairs, specialist equipment or receive any physiotherapy, speech & language therapy or any therapeutic intervention. For many children who have more moderate additional needs they are unable to go to school because their family live in poverty and can't afford the transportation costs to travel to the nearest government school with a special class.

We will also be spending time in some schools who have classes for children with additional needs and they desperately need resources and for the teachers to receive more specialist training.

Thank you for reading my post. I am so grateful for all the support in many forms which I have received over the last 2 and half years. All donations are so very gratefully received and your donations will go directly towards funding our programmes, resources transportation within Sri Lanka.

If you would like more info and/or would like to help in any way- please message or email me.

Huge Thank you,

Julie X