Sri Lanka

Customer recognition part 2, trip to Ella and work progress 12/11/06 to 30/11/06

Sri Lanka still manages to surprise me.It seemed to be a day like any other but little did I know that my life, or at least the part of it where I buy a bottle of water every day, was never going to be the same again. There I was sitting in my office sweltering and getting tired of drinking luke warm water. So I went downstairs and crossed the road to a chorus of horns from the motor bikes, tuc tucs and buses all who's drivers seem to panic at the sight of a white man crossing the road. I had opened my mouth to say "a bottle of water please" when I noticed before me the shopkeeper wearing the most gormless smile you could ever seen whilst holding a chilled bottle of water. After nearly 11 months he had finally remembered my order. As tempted as I was to say "no I want a bag of peanuts" I took the water with a smile went back across the road to another huge chorus of horns from panic stricken drivers. A week later he is still hugely impressed with the leap forward he has made in customer recognition and having my bottle of water ready for me seems to be one of the highlights of his day.

Last weekend a gang of us headed up to the hills to Ella for a quick get away from Ampara. It good from time to time to be reminded that there are some truly stunning parts to Sri Lanka, as Ampara is far from being picturesque. In addition to great scenery , the weather was cooler, there were actual restaurants there and we saw the odd white person that didn’t work for a NGO. It was great. Our walk along the train tracks was a surreal experience , it felt like a totally different world. The station, trains and general vibe felt very much like home. The only downer was when it took to pour rain which was bad enough until we got back to our guesthouse and realised that we had all been attacked by leeches. Not very pleasant at all. 

I don't get out in the field as often as I should but when I do it's good to see the physical progress that is being made however slowly it is happening. The photo's here are some before and after shots of some of our schools buildings that I've taken over the past few months. The wind down process is in full swing and one by one the projects are closing down and staff are being let go. I have 5 weeks left here but it will be probably be late April by the time everything is finished. One of the reasons I don't want to stay on is that I reckon it will be pretty sad to be here right at the end,to go from over 100 national staff down to handful at the end will feel weird. From a security standpoint as well I seem to be getting out at the right time too as the violence gets worse by the week. It is a farce to say that the ceasefire is still in place given that 3,000 people have been killed in the time that I have been in Sri Lanka. It's pretty depressing to witness first hand a situation where it appears that both sides just do not seem ready for peace and compromise. I find it hard to read the media reports from both sides now without wanting to scream in frustration. This week the leader of the LTTE gave a speech outlining the reasons why he reckoned the ceasefire was "defunct". Yet when questioned later the LTTE said no, that they were not withdrawing from the cease fire agreement. Welcome to the world of Sri Lankan doublespeak.

Even More Bling...30/10/06 to 11/11/06

After being at a party until 2am that morning the last place I wanted to be at 10am on Saturday morning was in Nintavur at the opening of our fisheries building but what is a chief special guest to do ? As team leader not only do I getting bigger garlands than anyone else but I get my name on the welcome banner as well. It was all a bit mortifying to say the least. It was a busy morning…there were ribbons to be cut….coconut trees to be planted…speeches to be made …tacky presents to receive and documents to be signed. Despite how it looks, no I haven’t just married some Sri Lankan guy , I merely was signing over the building to him. Back in early January on my second day in Ampara I went to the foundation ceremony of this building so it’s nice to be around to see the finished article. As well as the meeting hall and market building we set up the local farmer’s co-operative union and gave them some training in running same as well as giving them fish boxes and some money to get them going in a variety of fish related trades. It’s days like these that make putting up with all the hassle out here worthwhile making you realise that you are part of something positive. And while as per usual they asked for more stuff the didn't labour the point, by and the large the speeches were very complementary of what we had done .

We recently got a new batch of GOAL t-shirts in and they have become hot fashion items in Sainthamaruthu. The gas thing is that all the national staff are always asking for t-shirts and then they will never wear them. Most of the office and senior staff consider it to be beneath themselves to wear t-shirts so as soon as this photo was taken most of them took them off.

In a fit of madness last weekend a few of us went for a hike in Gal Oya National Park which is 20kms south of Ampara town. The climb only took around an hour but the heat and our general lack of regular exercise meant that it was tough going. It was worth it in the end though, the views from the top were amazing, there are times you are so absorbed in the work and day to day hassles that you forget that this is a really beautiful country.