A Sri Lankan Story
A Sri Lankan story
Four and a half years had elapsed since my last visit to Kalmunai Sri Lanka, this time under much less stressful circumstances than the aftermath of the now historical Tsunami of 2004. The Children are now young adults and towering Condominiums have sprung up from the debris of the huts and houses of the devastated village. Myself and Hanai, an SCI Japan volunteer I had worked with in 2005 (who coincidentally happened to be in Sri Lanka at the same time) were met with gasps of astonishment as we toured the area. The village people found it hard to comprehend that we had returned.
We were treated as honoured guests with dinner and wedding photos, gossip, kisses, hugs and handshakes, they laughed and cried as they related their stories to us.
I also spent time with Mark from Austria and local volunteers at the tea plantations in the central parts of the hill country, high above the cloud forming tropical rainforests where the Crickets and frogs sing in a chorus through the night.
Our team presented a variety of projects at the Tamil schools that are attached to the plantations, mine was to teach basic resuscitation to fifty 7-15yr olds.
Other issues included Sexual equality, and although the issue is nationally promoted in Sri Lanka, in reality women are poorly represented in relation to the balance of the population. ( 51% of population - 4% representation in parliament.). We also renovated some parts of the school and improved the boys’ toilet facilities which didn’t have the capacity to cope with the numbers.
Unfortunately, because of the recent conflict we were unable to move North to the refugee camps, where almost 300,000 refugees are being held. I did meet with a Minister of Parliament to state my case but was told, ' no, all foreign N.G.O. workers and journalists are barred from entering the camps'.
Even so I achieved much more than I anticipated but in a less direct way. The situation is evolving but the Government is not yet open to help from outside
Peter Pollard.
Service Civil International Volunteer
Sri Lanka 2005/9.