Six parishioners from St John’s Church, Stroud, recently embarked on an unforgettable adventure in Sri Lanka.
First stop was a Christian girls orphanage based in Moratuwa, near Colombo.
The Stroud community had earlier rallied around the mission and helped raise $5,000 to support the orphanage.
The funds have since enabled three of the eldest girls to attend Colombo University for a year. The three young women are full of hope and ambition, and intend to complete degrees in law, science, and archaeology.
This wouldn’t have been possible without the community’s generosity, and the parish is working towards a joint effort that will support the girls through the rest of their degrees.
Apart from the orphanage, the parishioners spent 12 days seeing the sights and sounds of the beautiful countryside.
During their travels, they stopped in to visit Brother Michael – the Anglican Franciscan priest in Pussellawa, near the city of Kandy.
Unbeknownst to the group, Brother Michael’s church was not only the spiritual home for the local area, but the hall was also used throughout the week as a preschool.
The group had the privilege of being able to visit and interact with the local children. With two school teachers amongst the touring party, it was a delight to see how the children interacted, sang, and were so happy.
Upon leaving, the children came and touched the feet of the two visiting teachers as a sign of respect.
The trip was a very humbling experience – one the group will never forget.
Since then, the Stroud parish community has also been able to send a donation to Father Michael to support the recovery process following devastating flooding in the region.
