Last Prison Babies

We had our last session of Prison Babies on the 9th of December, 2010. Since the children and their mothers are all going to be moved to another prison in Kalutara which would be too far for us to travel.

We had a little party with them as we have planned. We watched Tom and Jerry together and had a snack time too. The fact that this was the last session made us all depressed a little, but looking at the smils on the children's faces made us feel much comfortable.

For the last 4-5 years of Prison Babies, the children have opened their minds to us and let us in. We all hope for the best of luck for them and wish they will be at better off at their new place :)








Prison Babies will still be happening next semester, but at different place maybe with different service project name. We managed to arrange another service project at a new prison with the children whose fathers are in prison. We will be doing pretty much the same stuffs, since we are now experienced, we hope to do get along with the children there well :)

Prison Babies' Visit to OSC :D

After two weeks, we finally met together again !

We had the children came to our campus and we played with them at the primary playground. This was the first time with the new children in fact. Almost all the old children who have been coming were moved to the Kalutara prison, only the new children left.

We were a little anxious that they might not feel very comfortable with new faces and new environment, and so start crying. But then, no one cried this time ! In fact we got along pretty well. They all seemed to enjoy playing with us, which is a good sign !

We could manage to take some photos of them and us too :D

First Visit to Prison !

On the 30th of September, Thursday, we went to the prison for the first time this year ! This visit was planned to be done last week, but it was canceled in the last minute last time due to the rain. It rained today and so we were a little worried that it'd be canceled again. But fortunately it stopped after lunch, so we could visit them !

This was the first time for many of the students from OSC who joined Prison Babies only this year, so in a way, it was really meaningful.

There were many new children (apprently around in total 30 new children in the prison) and some we could recognise from last year. Since we brought papers and color pens, we gathered around in their classroom and painted together.

They seemed to feel more comfortable in the prison with their mothers; no one cried ! In fact, everyone was all with the smily faces :D:D So we hope this has moved the mother'd mind to send their children to our campus next time, so that we can have more children to interact with !

We felt the necessity to enhance the environment; because of the humidity the wall and ceilings were, we found, all covered with mold. We thought it'd be good to organise and paint the wall and ceiling with the children there. Since it's their learning place and sleeping area, it'd be good if they decorate themselves. We, yet, are not sure if we can do it or not, because getting the permission from the prison can be really tough. We will see how it'd go !

Prison Babies of 2010-2011 !

Prison Babies session has started on the 2nd of September about three weeks after since the school started ! We had an orientation-like session to explain to the students in details about what we usually do and what we will do this term.

For this semester, 6-8 students from OSC have signed up for the project to help and play with the children. First, we had a brief planning session to organise some activities to do with the children and to prepare for the next week. Since most of the students were new to the project, and also the fact that we will have some new children from the prison, we planned to go out to the primary field to play and get familiar with each other. We always had difficulties in the beginning of the year or semester, since many of the children are usually no more than 2-year-old, so they often find it uncomfortable being at a new environment surrounded by all big giant people, us, and start crying. So we thought it'd be good to get to know each other first and familir with the new faces !

After the planning session, we were all excited and looking forward to seeing them.

However, we could see them only by last week (Thursday, 23rd of September) since it was canceled in the last minute the week before. Besides, in fact, we planned to visit them instead of having them at our campus since children find it more comfortable and opened to interact with us in the prison where their mothers are at. It was postponed because of the permission issue.

We had some newcomers as well as some who have left as their moms were discharged. Every year around this time, it's always exciting to welcome and get to know some new children and somewhat sad at the same time to let some go.

We had them in one of the classrooms and watched an exciting animation all time, Tom and Jerry ! They looked they quite liked them :)
Then we started painting with them on the paper. Like we expected, one of the children started crying, however, other than him, other new kids seem quite easy being with us, which is good !

Because of the traffic, they came a little late but then they had to go back on time, so they had to leave around 3:30. We couldn't interact with the children as much we wanted to, but it was a good start indeed!

We are all looking forward to seeing more children next time !


Also, like we planned last time, we will visit them soon. In fact, we are thinking of visiting them every month so that we can persuade the mothers in prions who do not wish to send their children to us, and have more children ! Like we donated some mattresses last year, we are also planning to have some donations or do fundraise to buy some basic stuffs for the children.

We have never tried this before, but we are also thinking of bringing them to the zoo nearby. We tried to introduce them to the new world. We once brought them to McDonald last year, we played there and had them icecream! It was totally something new that they have not experienced before. and they really liked it ! So we are going to try again this year.
We are not quite sure if it will work out or not, due to the security issue and running out of time. Well, hope for the best !

End of the year Reflection

The last session of Prison Babies(6th of May, 2010) was canceled because the teacher from the prison who was supposed to bring the children got ill and couldn't come. It was really disappointing, since it was meant to be the LAST session of the year before going into the break. And, unfortunately, there's a little possibility that this was really the last session of all since they might be moving their prison to Kalutara. If it is, it'd be really sad we couldn't even say goodbye
:( HOPE NOT, hope we'll never have to say goodbye.

This year, we made a huge progress in helping Prison Babies. Since the head of the prison has changed to a very supportive guy, we could get the permission much easier to bring the children to our campus and even visit the prison for us; we could visit them only once last year, however, we went there more than once for sure this time !

We had a successful fundraise this year as well. Thanks to the Language B department who sold the tickets to raise the fund while we didn't even ask them for, and Mrs. Nicky Paull, who kindly gave donations, we could buy the basic needs and the bed mattresses for the children.
We brought the children to our school and tried to do a lot of new stuffs with them rather than just playing in the playground, so that they can learn more, experience more and enjoy more. We tried to watch the animation movie which was a completely new culture that they haven't seen, and we painted with water color or colored pen and pencils (and we found potential in them :P). We also went to McDonald with them and played at the McDonald playground which was another new environment.

We believe that children enjoyed the time this year with us as we did and hope to see them next year as well. We will organise more fun and exciting activities to do with them next time!

Prison Babies update!

UPDATE !

Last week, we were able to visit the prison again after so long! We had donations from Language B department at OSC and also Ms.Lilani's friend, Mrs.Nicky Paull, has donated money for the children in the prison and we could have bought the mattresses for them. So we went there to give them the mattresses. They seemed to be really happy and really like our gifts; especially, the children's mothers were extremely excited about having the new mattresses as they even came out to the front gate and carried the mattresses themselves not letting us helping them :P

We were allowed for the camera for the first time! and could take the pictures of us and the babies. We, indeed, had a lot of fun and I wish we can visit there more often have more time spent with them!

AH! mothers are excited ! :P

And this week, we called them over to our campus. We had them in the animation characters costumes and watched Tom and Jerry. They seemed to like the costumes a lot as well as Tom and Jerry. They looked so cute and adorable in those clothes and we took a lot of pictures of them. We, indeed, had a lot of fun together like ALWAYS :) I wish we can plan more interesting things to amuse them and play with them next week and do a lot of things with them!

Prison Babies update

I haven't updated what has happened in Prison Babies.
After the December break, we haven't had a single meeting with the children for three weeks due to a presidential election, WWW and so on.
Last week, we could have invited them to our campus and spent some times with them. However, many of them seemed to be scared in a strange environment with strange people; younger kids seemed that they don't recognize us.
In fact, this was not planned so well that we just sat in the classroom and played with the toys donated by the primary parents. We are planning to do something better this week; we are planning to play some Sri Lankan traditional children' game and watch Tom and Jerry. We hope they will enjoy what we have planned !

Another visit !

The Prison Babies came to our school again last Thursday. Unfortunately, only five of them came this time and also we couldn't do anything as none of us have got any plan for them. One of the children, Thail(hope I spelled his name correctly), gave us an inspiration saying that he wanted to play football with us. We went down to the primary field and played there. It was pretty fun and I believe the children enjoyed it.

We heard a good news and a sad news. Good news is that we had a new baby last week. She looked frightened a bit, but she seemed to be getting along with others pretty fast. A sad news is that the eldest girl's mom is discharged soon that today was the last day with her. It's certainly good for her, but we'll miss her a lot.

Anyway, we've only got two weeks from now on before the December break. We made Corien and Upanda come up with a plan for next week and we are planning to go to McDonald with them on the last day.

I(Young jun) didn't know that the language B department is fund raising for Prison Babies. I saw a poster of Prison Babies they made on the wall and heard that they are fund raising for us. It's really good to hear and I hope we can do more with the children or donate some basic needs and goods they may need.

Second Visit !

We visited the prison this week for the second time !
The plan, that we'd visit them once in two weeks, seemed to be working very well.
We went there and met the children. We brought some play dough, the paper and the scissors into the prison. (we were probably not allowed to, but the guards didn't realize it.)
We cut the paper and made the crown for them. We also made Halloween pumpkin with the play dough. We couldn't bring any sorts of electric appliances that we couldn't bring the camera and couldn't take the picture which is really sad.

It was raining that day and we thought we'd not be able to play with them at the playground in the prison. But they seemed that they REALLY REALLY REALLY want to play that held our hands tight bringing us outside.

The time past so fast that we thought it's only been a few minutes, but then we had to leave at one point. We said goodbye to them for that day and wished to see them next week as well.

Long Time No see!

After the one week-long summer break, we had the first meeting with the children this week.
Maybe because of the visit we had last time, more new children came this time. It's certainly a good thing that more mothers are opening their minds to send their children here.
We couldn't really plan anything for the children that we just played with them at the primary field. They seemed to be getting familiar with us more and more after each week we meet with them.

First Visit !

Last Thursday, we visited the prison for the first time this year as we planned. It has been changed pretty a lot.

We were not allowed to bring anything that we couldn't take any photos. It seemed that they have tightened the guard and security that they frisked our bodies which was different from the last visit from 2008.

The most significant change was that they have finished building the school for the children and many more new faces were there. Now they actually have a place to teach and play only for children. The new building looked good and clean which was reasonable for children to stay.

As we brought some coloring pictures and color pencils and pens, we painted with them again like last week. We wanted to plan something new, but we couldn't really bring anything into prison that the activities we could do was limited.

After painting, we came outside and played with them. Many of the children were new that they didn't really open their minds to us. We were not so familiar to each other that they were scared of us and cried only last time. Good thing about this visit was that many of them are actually opening their minds and smiled as we are getting familiar.

This visit was really meaningful and fun. We hope that we can visit them more often this year.

First day with the children

Prison Babies in 2007 - 2009

What we basically do in Prison Babies is to visit the prison and play with children living in there. Since their outdoor activities are limited and are deprived of a normal childhood existence with family and friends, instead spending their days with prisoners and institutional staff, the students at OSC have decided to visit them to spend at least an hour with them.













However, we were not able to visit the prison for the security reasons for last few years. Fortunately, we could still have contact with them and bring them to our campus that we were able to continually meet with them every Thursday after school. Most of us are non-Singhalese speakable. We cannot understand every single words they are saying, but still we can see and feel the innocence and brightness in them. We believe that we ain't so different, but we are much more similar in many ways that we can be good friends. We hope to believe that they would feel the same way as we do.












From the year of 2009, we are planning to visit the Prison more often. We've been planning this from last year, but it didn't really work well because it was hard to get the permission from them. We could only visit there once from last year, but this year, we are planning to be more active. As the long Sri Lankan civil war is over, we wish that it'll be much easier to get the permission to visit them.

Prison Babies at OSC

In 1996, after reading a newspaper article about imprisoned women and their babies, the students of OSC undertook to help these children. Initially the activities consisted of art, games and singing in an attempt to brighten their days. Gradually our group realized that the children required more than games, such basic necessities like a balanced diet and proper clothing. The babies seldom received cereal, special baby food or even fresh fruits, things most of us take for granted.

These children were deprived of a normal childhood existence with family and friends, instead spending their days with prisoners and institutional staff. The OSC has contributed immensely to changing this situation by their positive interaction and assistance, thereby, bringing a much needed ray of sunshine to their day.

The aim of the prison babies group is to further improve the quality of life of these less fortunate children who serve a sentence for crimes they never committed, condemned to this life as the unfortunate victims of their mothers crimes.

The hard work and commitment of the student volunteers of the OSC have not gone unrecognized. In 1999, this project was selected for the first prize among 27 international schools due to the unique nature of this activity. Furthermore, in 2000 the program was awarded a NESA grant. The OSC sponsors a regular local teacher in the preschool.