Week Without Walls:
On January 23rd we set out from Colombo for our Week Without Walls trip to Hambantota. This trip was set up in order for us to gain a new perspective of Sri Lanka, to become culturally aware, and to help our partner schools in Hambantota by maintaining and painting them for a better and brighter learning environment. Our main job in Hambantota was to paint and fix up two schools. Through this trip we learned more about the history and assessed issues of global importance due to the tsunami. In 2004 there was a tsunami that forced locals to move inland away from the ocean in order to protect themselves from the devastation of the tsunami and future tsunamis to come. OSC has been working with the schools since the tsunami in 2004 and has built a strong bond with them that I and future OSC students plan to maintain.
When we first arrived in Hambantota we made a trip to the schools that we would be working at. We looked over the school and assessed what needed to be worked on and painted. We decided to do a jungle themed mural with an elephant, monkey, peacock, lion, some flowers and a big tree (from which the monkey would hang). When the 11.1 mural group (the group I was in) arrived, we noticed that there was a big wall that needed painting. In the front of the school we saw there was a large blank wall that we could put our mural on. It was in need of a fresh coat of paint and some cleaning. When we arrived at the school we looked over what supplies we had and what we needed to buy later. After we did that, we went back outside to make a quick mental sketch of where we wanted to put the different elements of the mural. We decided that we would start with the larger animals and the tree first and then finish the minor details later. Our goal for the next day was to just start fast and steady, and to work efficiently and have fun while doing it.
Day Two:
Once we got to the school we quickly began our work. We sketched out the elements that would be included on the mural and immediately started working on it. We got off to a really quick start and got the elephant and the monkey and a part of the tree done in a little over an hour or so. After that was when the process began to slow a bit. We didn't want to rush it at all. We had so much fun painting the mural but there were some challenges that we faced while doing so. We ran out of a few buckets and brushes to paint with and we were constantly finding objects that could reach high places on the wall so we could paint. There was a lot of thinking outside the box in order to overcome our problems. For example, since we didn't have any buckets for paint, we cut coconuts in half and used them as a bowl for our paints. The second day great and hardly had any problems.
Day Three:
Day three was a little more complicated because we had taken a lot of breaks from the heat. It was a lot hotter on the third day and it didn't allow us to work as efficiently as before. We were constantly taking breaks for water but we powered through and persevered in order to finish the mural. One problem was we were running out of time to finish so we pushed lunch till later and worked really quickly to finish the mural. One of the most challenging parts of the mural was the tree. The wall was really tall and the top of it was very hard to reach so we tried to find a long stick to tie a rolling brush to so we could paint the top. After an hour or so the tree was finished and the mural was looking good. We ran out of time so we couldn't repaint the sign but the students and teachers were very pleased with the mural and so were we. We had so much fun doing the mural and it was one of our greatest accomplishments.
Day Two:
Once we got to the school we quickly began our work. We sketched out the elements that would be included on the mural and immediately started working on it. We got off to a really quick start and got the elephant and the monkey and a part of the tree done in a little over an hour or so. After that was when the process began to slow a bit. We didn't want to rush it at all. We had so much fun painting the mural but there were some challenges that we faced while doing so. We ran out of a few buckets and brushes to paint with and we were constantly finding objects that could reach high places on the wall so we could paint. There was a lot of thinking outside the box in order to overcome our problems. For example, since we didn't have any buckets for paint, we cut coconuts in half and used them as a bowl for our paints. The second day great and hardly had any problems.
Day Three:
Day three was a little more complicated because we had taken a lot of breaks from the heat. It was a lot hotter on the third day and it didn't allow us to work as efficiently as before. We were constantly taking breaks for water but we powered through and persevered in order to finish the mural. One problem was we were running out of time to finish so we pushed lunch till later and worked really quickly to finish the mural. One of the most challenging parts of the mural was the tree. The wall was really tall and the top of it was very hard to reach so we tried to find a long stick to tie a rolling brush to so we could paint the top. After an hour or so the tree was finished and the mural was looking good. We ran out of time so we couldn't repaint the sign but the students and teachers were very pleased with the mural and so were we. We had so much fun doing the mural and it was one of our greatest accomplishments.
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