Donated toys, all the way from the Netherlands, arrived in the hands of these happy orphans after a long journey by air and sea.

First they travelled by plane from Amsterdam to London as part of my regular luggage.

Then they stayed in London awaiting collection by the shipping company. Once collected they went on a 4 week journey by sea to Sri Lanka. Total transport costs: £5.-

Most orphans in Sri Lanka have little to no toys. The orphanages simply can’t afford them.

This particular donation consisted of toys for very young children which was an excellent fit for this orphanage.

At this Colombo based orphanage they have a special unit for babies and toddlers who could really do with toys.


The images on this page show us the effect the simple gesture of donating our used toys can have.

And toys are not the only way we can make a difference to the lives of others.

Coming to Sri Lanka on a responsible holiday, donating money or using easysearch and easyfundraising also greatly benefit those in need.

At LEO we welcome any ideas you have to put a smile on their face!

With many thanks to Mr. Laurent Koelink, director of Ensior BV (our major sponsor for an upcoming project), for donating these toys!

It funds LEO Project Foundation. What is it?

• A new online search engine called Easysearch
• And great online shopping at your favorite shops such as Argos, Next, Debenhams, John Lewis, Toys R Us, HMV and over 2000 others. Raise funds now whilst shopping online, click here.

The images on this page were taken at the beginning of this week and give a great indication of the change taking place.

Unfortunately prices hiked up since the first estimates to renovate the preschool were given. It works out that an additional £200.- is required to finish the work. Hence we at LEO keep on trying to raise the funds.

Now you might have noticed that the wording ‘microloan’ was used. It is important to keep in mind that anything that actually costs money is more valuable than something that comes for free.

So, to ensure that people are extremely serious about what the wish to use the money for it is given in the form of a microloan.

Interest is charged on the microloan which generates money to invest in other projects.

The interest rate is carefully considered and depends on the return on investment the organisation or individual borrowing the funds can realisticly expect.

LEO Project Foundation is a non profit organisation and the microloans are primarily to ensure that those asking for funding use it wisely.

We have been using PayPal for a while now which is great for one off payments by credit, debit and other cards, but now we can finally receive regular donations straight to our new bank account. If you feel like giving this Christmas, please go to our donation page here. Many thanks!

Some sample questions:
What are the starting dates,
how about visa,
where are the projects based,
what abiout travel insurance,
and many more.

The FAQ will continue to grow and grow. Know that with LEO you are always welcome to email or call us if you wish more information, even if a question is already part answered in the FAQ. We’re here for you!

We only have one month to go to the deadline. On 15 December the renovation has to start. If we miss the deadline the pre-school will be closed permanently. Help us raise the remainder by giving on our donation page (click here).

And although we started late in the season, the fruit of our labour is clearly shining upon us. What an amazing sunflowers!

The concept of square foot gardening, combined with lessons learned and experience from our friends in Sri Lanka will soon be implemented at one of our projects.

Could this amazing concept help lessen the fruit and vegetable shortage that orphans in Sri Lanka experience? We’ll have to wait and see.

By the end of December the first square foot gardens should be in place. Stay informed: sign up to our monthly newsletter, click here.

I had a fantastic time and thought the whole thing was unreal and a once in a lifetime opportunity.

The other volunteers were lovely and I made some great new friends.

Everyone at the foundation was very helpful and our mahout was great fun and made our time there very enjoyable.

The only advise i’d give someone thinking of going is to find out how many volunteers are going to be at the project at the same time as they are, as the elephants have to be shared out and it can end up with up to four people on one elephant, and in all fairness there isn’t really that much to do with the elephant that can be shared out among four people!

Lucy and I were lucky in that we shared one elephant, Sumana who was the most gentle natured of the elephants and was the only one that didn’t have to be tied up when her mahout wasn’t around.

At 68 she was also the oldest of the elephants. Tilanka her mahout was also amazing, he couldn’t speak a word of English but made every attempt to communicate with us, and it became quite comical at times with our sign language attempts!

Ruwan the onsite vet was very helpful as he would translate to Tilanka what we wanted to say if we could get it across ourselves.


We soon got used to waking up at seven am to go count Sumana’s dung and it was an experience to say the least and then go to wash her in the river which i loved doing!

As she had bad sores on her side it meant that she was unable to give tourist rides but it did mean that Lucy and i were able to spend more time with her than other volunteers did with their elephants as we were responsible for her vet checks every morning and afternoon.

Gardening with Mr Karoo, which came to be known as Karooing was also an experience and a half as he doesn’t half work you hard!


It was really interesting though as Mr Karoo is amazingly knowledgeable and likes to teach the volunteers about the different plants and what they can do and if you’re lucky he even gives you things to eat out of his garden.

We were also as volunteers given the chance to go work in the local school and temples teaching English which was amazing as the children are so sweet and eager to learn and were fascinated by us.

In the first week we had about 20 children collectively, well i say children but they aged from about 3 to 20.

By the final week we had to split the class in two as we had over 50 people coming which was incredible!

Going to the orphanage was also another option available to us where we usually just played cricket with the kids who would run to find stumps and bats as soon as we arrived as they were so happy just to let us join in and play with them.

One Saturday we even got the opportunity to go to the orphanage and watch the men chop down the coconuts from the trees which was unbelievable!

While we were there Lucy and I as well as other volunteers were able to travel to the tea plantations for the day which was an experience and a half as the bus journey down the hills in the pitch black was worse than being on a roller coaster!

We also had our surprise trip organised by Leo which was really good as they were more than happy to accommodate other people from the foundation who wanted to come.

Luckily for us the Pera Hera Kandy festival was on at the same time that we there and as volunteers at the foundation we were given the opportunity to go and watch it sat with the vets with an amazing view for free and i’ve never seen anything like it! It was incredible!

As you can probably tell i loved everything about Sri Lanka and my time there and definitely would love to go back as soon as i get the opportunity and would like to thank everyone at Leo for making the trip what it was!

The nearest pre-school is an 8 kilometres walk and cost double to attend! But their current school is falling apart.

Help us save this pre-school for them and generations to come.

 
Visit the ‘Save the children’s pre-school’ page for more information and give on our donations page