| “ Living with local families has taught us so many things that never crossed our minds. Initially adopting to another culture, with almost everything being so different to what seemed usual to us, was not easy ; but that said, it wasn’t hard to blend into these many differences, because of the open and friendly atmosphere in the homes. It wasn’t only the families but just about everyone being so warm and hospitable, made us feel so much at ease and gave us a sense of belonging. The language although at times posed barriers to communicate, the warmth and openness of the family members bonded us so perfectly helping us to fit in so well without any discomfort ” |
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Ms. Ingrid Marie Gullbrekken Seglem was one of the 12 students from Asane Folkehogskule, Bergen, Norway who accompanied their teachers Mr. Ketil Hofslett and Ms. Siri Sandberg on their annual soul searching expedition to Sri Lanka. Designed as a youth exchange programme, the month long stay in a totally alien culture gives the 18-20 year old youth a good grooming of ‘life skills’ and an understanding to manoeuvre it, in a better way.
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Each year a pair of students from a group of twelve, spend about 15 days with a local family in six of FORUT’s working districts – i.e. Anuradhapura, Puttalam, Negombo, Moneragala, Hambantota and Matale. Asane’s objective is to give the students the experience of life in a culture that’s a stark contrast to frequent showers in 12 degree weather and skiing. Being in homes with less resources make the students to understand how much of their own life’s daily comforts are taken for granted. For some it was the riverside that gave them their daily shower and do their laundry, while for others it was the well that taught them that fetching water even for a daily shower didn’t come easy. Rice and spicy curries replaced bread, lamb, potatoes and steak that appeared during lunch and dinner while even bedtimes were not spared of the humidity.
They students also get a chance to feel how FORUT is serving the communities in the various working villages and how acting as ‘change agents’ can improve attitudes that help uplift the quality of their lives. FORUT’s District Resource Centre staff guide these students in the approach taken to achieve this objective by involving them in many of FORUT’s activities during their stay.
“It was very interesting to see how women learnt to turn their skills into a scheme that gave them an income” says Ms. Julie Bye Johansen who spent her time in Matale, in a home where her host mother was involved in activities of women collective groups.
“The hospitality by the Sri Lankans are amazing and to think the length they would go to in doing whatever that will make the guest comfortable is unbelievable” says Asane’s accompanying deputy teacher, Siri Sandberg recollecting how a father and son in a host family occupied their retail sales outlet during the nights, simply to make the pair of students more comfortable. “I cannot see this extent of hospitality happening back at home” quips Ketil Hofslett and commends how friendly and welcoming the people are.
“We have many things to learn from your people. You seem to still have that something which we did have once, but have now disappeared” says Ketil Hofslett who is the ambassador for the exchange programme in Sri Lanka since 2005.
Opening up hearts and minds ….. |
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| “ I was very excited at the thought of actually being able to spend my stay with a local family, To me this spelt out opportunities to interact and have a better understanding about Sri Lanka which I visited 2 years ago. Just like the first time, there was no difference in my thinking that it’s a warm but beautiful country with a fantastic landscape and so different from Norway. The friendliness of the people really amazed me. |
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The family I stayed with were so incredibly kind and I enjoyed getting to know them plus the other people in the area. It is very interesting to learn about another culture and the way of thinking.
During my short stay and involvement in some of activities that FORUT was doing in the villages, I understood and learnt about the different programmes because along with Julie my other friend, there were many meetings that we attended. FORUT’s approach to help change people’s attitudes that aim at reaching a more constant change in society is commendable, instead of solely focusing on providing materialistically. |
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| I am truly touched by the enormous hearts of my host family and I’d to thank them all for being so kind in letting us stay with them. ” |
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| Andrea and Julie |
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| “ I’m very glad that I got the opportunity. It was a great learning experience on Sri Lankan culture, life and religions. I’ve seen beautiful nature and some wild animals. Most importantly I learnt a lot about how to adjust within a different culture. The family I stayed with was really nice and they took good care of us right from the beginning. After staying with them, I realized how similar we are all are, but yet so different because of the cultural differences. |
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Ever since I left, I have been thinking about my host family and I don’t think I can ever forget them. They taught us a lot and now I feel so much wiser. The stay was very satisfying.
I got a good understanding of what FORUT is doing and I am happy to see that the work they are doing means a lot. |
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| Together with my friend Maj-Linn, we want to greet our family with all our love. We miss them so much. They made us feel really comfortable and homely. I now feel like I have second family and really grateful to have been a part of this lovely family. ” |
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| Annika and Maj-Linn |
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| “ It was a once in a life time opportunity ! I loved the country and the people. A 10 hour drive felt like nothing because there was something to see everywhere. So I never got bored. When I first arrived my impressions were that it was a very warm but green and so colourful country. Right away I knew I was going to love this country. |
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My stay in Hambantota with family along with my friend Runa gave me more opportunities live like the Sri Lankans do.
I was very fascinated with the food, especially to see so many different spices being used. Back at home, we would never use so many in our food. The food tasted so good. I was also fascinated with the families who use so much time to express that they love each other and family was the most important thing in life for them. I loved them and their hospitality. They wanted to do everything for us, to make us feel welcome.
We participated in a lot of FORUT’s work in the districts and also saw some of the previous projects. They were doing a lot of useful work and the people seemed very satisfied with FORUT’s work. |
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| I would like to thank my family and all the rest of the people who made my stay a great one ! ” |
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| Ida |
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| “ Our understanding of Sri Lankan life was mostly from the family we stayed with ; like for instance the woman’s and man’s role in the family. There is a huge contrast between Norway and Sri Lankan life and culture, but there is something similar in there too. Sri Lankans seem more open and are together which is not so in Norway. Also how everybody helps each other to make food and how social people are. It’s a warm country with good and spicy food and of course nice people. |
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| I like the family that Marie and myself stayed with. They took good care of us and always tried to find interesting things for us to do. |
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| FORUT to me, seemed like a nice organisation that is doing a lot of interesting work to help people. Having only heard about the work FORUT does, it was nice to have seen it too. ” |
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| Ingrid |
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| “ From the beginning of my school year at Åsane Folkehogskule, I was interested at the thought of experiencing another culture. Sri Lanka is an extremely warm country and so are the people.
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| I enjoyed my stay with my host family and I understood what FORUT was doing in Sri Lanka. It was nice watching the child and youth activities at the Youth Centre. ” |
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| Jorgen |
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| “ Even though there is a big difference between the cultures in Norway and Sri Lanka, I liked it very much. I got a very good picture of the Sri Lankan culture and the people. My first impression of Sri Lanka was that the people were very friendly and helpful. My friend Martine and myself enjoyed the tuk tuk rides and of course the weather, beaches, palm trees etc., I was most fascinated to see how nice all the people were and to compare the differences in Norway. |
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We enjoyed our stay with our family who were very nice and kind to us. They treated us like their own and finally we also felt that they were a part of us.
It was nice to see what FORUT was doing in the area. We visited a lot of families and saw programme activities. We asked the people in the programmes many different questions and it seemed like they got good help from FORUT. |
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| We’d like to thank all who made our stay a nice one and our special thank you to the family. ” |
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| Katrine |
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| “ It was interesting to see the differences between Norwegian and Sri Lankan lives in the household, culture, habits, language and people. I would probably never have experienced all of these to this extent, if I hadn’t been living with a Sri Lankan family. When you are a tourist its not the same, its hard to sample typical local life. Now, I have a comparison to our country in mind. This impression will last with me for the rest of my life. |
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My first thoughts reflected on the environment, the warmth, the friendly but different people we saw, and all other physical things. I was really looking forward to our stay at Sri Lanka. It was fun to learn how to eat with your hands and fascinating to learn the close family culture in Sri Lanka like for instance how everybody takes care of each other and live close to each other. I really liked my family who were extremely kind and friendly toward us.
I have an understanding of what FORUT does and visited the working areas. |
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| I also want to thank our host family in Anuradhapura, who gave me two incredible weeks and so many new perspectives on life and family. I really started to care about them. ” |
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| Marie |
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| “ I really looked forward to live with a Sri Lankan family. To me it was a great opportunity to learn about a new culture. I was fascinated too realize how kind the Sri Lankans were. |
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Our family as well, they were very kind and were always concerned about us. I became very fond of them.
I learnt about what FORUT was doing and during my short stay found it interesting to be involved in the work. |
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| I would like to thank everybody who took good care of us especially our family. We are very fond of them and miss them very much ! ” |
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| Martine |
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