Tea Leaf Vision Maskeliya

Each class at Tea Leaf Vision is named after a virtue.

Every time I step into Serenity and close the door behind me, it’s like fireworks are going off in the classroom. They jump up, cheer and high-five each other, laugh, cry out “Hello Miss” in unison, clap and whoop. I covered a lesson last week during which they were practising “Heart to Heart” speeches about their time at Tea Leaf Vision, their best moments, their initial thoughts and how they have grown. I was very touched by their speeches, especially when one quite stern and reluctant student talked about each and every person in the class and how they had shaped the person he is today. When he got to me he stopped and said “Shasha, I thought you were like all the other volunteers before we really got to know you. You are different. You laugh with us, you joke with us, you move with everybody. Serenity loves you.”

I have struggled to find my place at the school because of my age. I struggle with walking into a class of students who are, for the most part, two to three years older than me, and keeping the distance a regular teacher would. I find it hard to accept that they should treat me as a superior when I was in their position just a few months ago and relate to them in so many ways. Wednesday I laughed all morning. As a fun way for the students to wind down after their final exams, we organised an activity day divided into seven competitive games. Each team had to pick a name and design a logo using only what they could find and pick up around the school. I was put in charge of the blindfolded obstacle course, which it was a great success and brought me closer to the students.

As a part of their diploma, the students at Tea Leaf Vision are encouraged to improve their confidence and spoken English by going out to local primary schools to teach basic English every Wednesday afternoon. Thirty three schools, some of them in remote tea estates, benefit from the Community English Programme (CEP). As a volunteer, I have been to different centres every week, some tiny and lost in the tea plantations, others welcoming hundreds of children, some organised, some unmanageable.

CEP creates strong relationships between myself and the students I go with. The barrier of being a teacher slips away and they get to know me as an eighteen year-old girl while I get to know about them and their background. Being outside of the school environment only highlights how much they have benefitted from their time at Tea Leaf Vision. There’s a real reversal of roles when we step into a class of Tamil-speaking children where I am completely useless and the students take over. They become empowered, confident leaders and manage up to 40 kids by themselves.

I was sitting on the bus with a student on our way to CEP the other day, chatting about her ambitions, when she turned to me, looked me straight in the eye and asked “Miss Sascha, how can I thank your uncle? He has given me so much, how can I thank him?”. My perception of what Tim has built here has radically changed since I’ve arrived in Maskeliya as I witness how much effort goes into keeping it afloat every day. It’s so much more than teaching English. Events and projects and fairs, tournaments and contests, clubs and teams, conferences and parties, trips and thematic days, the staff is constantly creating new opportunities for the students to demonstrate and practise their skills. On Friday for instance, groups of students went out to perform street dramas about social issues such as unemployment, child abuse and malnutrition on tea estates. The workers were cautious at first but their curiosity was spiked when the students started performing and they eventually gathered around and watched intently.

Many students have told me that one year ago, they would have been too intimidated to give a speech, to even try talking English with foreigners; some are thankful that they get to have Sinhalese or Tamil friends and are not stuck in their community’s prejudice; others say that the teachers here are the most dedicated, kind-hearted, understanding people they have met. All of them say that Tea Leaf Vision has changed their lives for the better.

With graduation only two weeks away, the staff is scrambling to finalise certificates, diplomas, awards, reference letters and CVs. It’s a busy time but there is much to look forward to such as the school trip, the cricket and netball tournament, the end-of-year party and the staff trip.

Sascha xx