The official two minute silence on December 26th 2005 repeated itself unofficially at intervals throughout the day and night. The voices of people telling us, quite unprompted, where they’d been at this time this morning a year ago, and where the water had been, and where their families had been …. would simply trail away, as they gazed towards the shoreline, or an empty patch of land. So many absences, so many sudden silences. It was a very, very quiet day.

Buddhist ceremonies were performed and relayed over loudspeakers in every village along the coast. The multicoloured Buddhist flags flew with the white flags for the dead. As night fell, thousands of candles and oil lamps were lit, on the roadside and on the beaches. The patient memorial for the lost continued, the gently flickering amber glow and the steadfastly chanting voices belying the havoc and harshness of memory.

What more to say? Only that 2005 has, somehow, with the support of people like you, helped provide a few brighter memories to wedge between past calamity and the considerable challenges of the present.

funforlife in Sri Lanka has been just one of hundreds of groups working across the 11 countries afflicted by the Tsunami. To see giggles springing up as well as tears, and to see harmony flowering in groups innured to tension, has been a privilege. The resilience and spirit of the Sri Lankan people is greatly to their credit. Their readiness to have fun has made them an unexpectedly wonderful partner for our line of work!

The last project of 2005 was the biggest, with 18 volunteers, so we managed to reach more children than ever before, through workshops and magic show. The children themselves painted murals, built a Monkey King, made flags, performed dances, songs, and parades. funforlife has become so well-known in Hikkaduwa that we’re getting requests for our t-shirts!

Thank you so much for all your magnificent support, both moral and financial. We wouldn’t be here without you!

Wishing you a safe, happy and magical 2006,

Love from

Funforlife Team