Trip to Sri Lanka 2010

St. Joseph's School for the Deaf
Cleaning Day

Every Tuesday is cleaning day at St. Joseph's School and all the students participate. Part of it is basic necessity—keeping buildings used by 250 people clean—but also in a boarding school, it is necessary to keep the students active to keep up interest and morale and to avoid discipline and behavior problems that can arise when young people have nothing to do and are bored.

Cleaning an outside porch These girls are cleaning a much-used outside porch on the edge of an inner courtyard. Dust is a constant problem and frequent sweeping and mopping is called for.

Cleaning a fish tank Outside another building containing classrooms, a group of boys clean a tank of tropical fish and change the water.

Cleaning the girls hostel Straightening the beds and mopping the floors in the girls' hostel. The round mosquito nets are opened up to protect the beds at night.

Cleaning an upstairs sink Even the little children have their job on cleaning day.

Cleaning an upstairs corridor The upstairs corridors are wide and open, for ventilation and for light, but this also allows for dust to blow through the buildings.

An upstairs sink in the dining room The girls eat their meals in an upstairs dining room and these sinks are located nearby so that hands can be washed easily. Sri Lankan people eat with their fingers so hands must be washed after meals also.

Hauling water for mopping One of the older boys carrying water for the people doing the actual mopping and also for refilling the fish tank.

Cleaning an upstairs corridor In these old buildings from another era, the windows have wooden shutters but they are rarely if ever closed so that the breezes can constantly circulate in this hot climate.

Sweeping near the kitchen One of the girls sweeping the sidewalk outside the downstairs kitchen area where the food for the students is prepared.

Checking with the maintenance man These boys are conferring with the maintenance man about a difficulty they encountered in their cleaning work.

Cleaning the chapel The chapel also gets a good cleaning each week.

Moving supplies One of the boys moving supplies from one floor to another.

Cleaning the courtyard Toward the end of the afternoon, it seemed most of the girls ended up in the courtyard pulling weeds, tending the plants, and sweeping the dirt walkways.

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	These girls are cleaning a much-used outside porch on the edge of an inner courtyard. Dust is a constant problem and frequent sweeping and mopping is called for.
	Outside another building containing classrooms, a group of boys clean a tank of tropical fish and change the water.
	Straightening the beds and mopping the floors in the girls' hostel. The round mosquito nets are opened up to protect the beds at night.
	Even the little children have their job on cleaning day.
	The upstairs corridors are wide and open, for ventilation and for light, but this also allows for dust to blow through the buildings.
	The girls eat their meals in an upstairs dining room and these sinks are located nearby so that hands can be washed easily. Sri Lankan people eat with their fingers so hands must be washed after meals also.
	One of the older boys carrying water for the people doing the actual mopping and also for refilling the fish tank.
	In these old buildings from another era, the windows have wooden shutters but they are rarely if ever closed so that the breezes can constantly circulate in this hot climate.
	One of the girls sweeping the sidewalk outside the downstairs kitchen area where the food for the students is prepared.
	These boys are conferring with the maintenance man about a difficulty they encountered in their cleaning work.
	The chapel also gets a good cleaning each week.
	One of the boys moving supplies from one floor to another.
	Toward the end of the afternoon, it seemed most of the girls ended up in the courtyard pulling weeds, tending the plants, and sweeping the dirt walkways.