The Principal, Mr. Ravi Croos, Rev. Fr. Arul, Rev. Sr. Subashini and a few teachers accompanied the children. On the first day they visited the Lake House to see how the news papers were printed and dispatched, Vihara Maha Devi Park , the Zoological Gardens in Dehiwela, and the Majestic City in Bambalapitiya. On the way to Majestic City , Ashok, Vasanthi and their relations treated these little ones with tip-a-tip and tasty ice-cream and they enjoyed it while seeing the trains go by for the first time in their lives. At Majestic City , they were thrilled to get into the escalator for their maiden journey. Pushing and pulling and succeeding at last really brought them a lot of fun and frolic.

They lodged at the Jesuit Provincialate in Negombo for these two days. I suppose this would have been the biggest number of visitors they ever had at this newly turned Provincialate, one hundred and fifty guests from Arippu. Surely the Provincialate was rocked with a lot of noise, splash of water, laughter and what not in every corridor, and inconvenience to the inmates including the dogs, Leo and Juleo. We are very sorry and apologize for the inconvenience but the little ones made Akkarapanaha their safe haven and experienced care and concern from Frs. Anton Weerasingha, Dexter and Mr. George.

On the second day of the tour, the little ones had the privilege to be in the Parliamentary balcony to watch the proceedings of the last session of the dissolved parliament extending the state emergency for a month. They were thrilled when they were entertained with noodle soup at the parliamentary canteen. Then they visited the twenty eighth floor of the Bank of Ceylon tower in Colombo . They enjoyed the freshness of the Galle Face Green but not much interested in the sea as they are the children of the sea at Mannar. The planetarium was the next destination where they learned and enjoyed although they were tired. St. Anthony’s Church in Kochchikade and the Air Port visitors’ gallery were the final exposure points of their last day in Colombo . The little ones were overjoyed to see the planes taking off and landing. Their experience was that these planes were used to attack them. We could see the little faces becoming frightened as the planes were landing, bringing back some memories of the cruelty of war into these tiny minds. It must never happen again.

On third day, the final one they visited the Elephant orphanage in Pinnawela, Peradeniya Botanical Gardens , and the National Seminary in Ampitiya as all of them are catholic, and had a short stay just in front of the Temple of the Tooth Relic of Lord Buddha. In Kandy they had time for a crash shopping spree to get some mementos, gifts for their parents to celebrate their unforgettable trip to the south.

They were emotionally filled when they saw the orphaned baby elephants. Some of them were in tears and whispered to one another, “How pitiable to be without parents”

Frs. Gabriel, Ranjit, Lasantha, our new secretary Mr. Lakshin and Kevin accompanied the little ones of Arippu some parts of the tour.

They enjoyed…. were thrilled…… tired…… experienced lots of care and love…… from Southern Sri Lanka

Before we end, I love to share an act of sincerity of one of these little ones. One of them found a purse at the Dehiwela Zoo. Immediately he ran to me and handed over the purse. It had more than five thousand rupees. Next day I was able to find the owner, an employee of the zoological gardens and hand over the purse. This employee, Mr. Siripala commented, “Father, this is a very rare incident. Usually children who come on excursions want money. Here the child gave back the purse with lot of cash. When I learned that the child was Tamil I felt ashamed. I have labeled the Tamils as tigers. I will write to the school to thank the children. I have met a sincere Tamil person, I will never generalize again…….”