ABDF

Thursday, April 09, 2009

Hi everybody!

Well, it certainly has been a busy week thus far. I’ve completed one quick project, and have been getting estimates and otherwise lining up several others. Thankfully the Periyapulmalai school rahab project Jerry is working on has affected me little; my part comes at the end when the financials need doing.

There has continued to be rain every other day. Nothing like what I described last year, what with the dramatic thunder storms, alas, but enough to cool things down to a relatively pleasant 85 degrees in the evening. Unless we get a solid month of good rain we will be behind on rainfall this year, but even these 20 minute downpours are helpful, and rather pleasant to boot.

Dog has returned more or less permanently. I guess the boy Vihas got tired of chasing him off. I haven’t been allowing Dog to hang out on my floor; he leaves huge piles of hair everywhere and I worry about the fleas. Now he’s trained to stay in his place on the stairs and when he does occasionally try to come up all I have to do is snap my fingers, and he turns around and leaves. Good Dog! Smart Dog!

As I said, I’ve been busy arranging our projects. I’ve been running around with a couple of helpers, Prabha and Balan, with whom I have worked since tsunami times. Prabha was our partner on last years’ water tank, and Balan with the computer lab, among other things. We’ve been getting estimates here, estimates there, estimates all over town. If I can raise another $1,500 I’ve got everything that I’ve asked for budgets on. A total $5K more would cover everything that’s been mentioned to me. All of our projects are really good and really important, and it’s difficult saying no. Things usually move really, really slowly here in Sri Lanka and to a certain extent I’m relying on this. If someone talks to me about a project, I ask them to make a wish-list and get me estimates before I approve the idea. Unless they are very motivated, it can take a month or two before I see any figures; this is the delay I’m counting on, to give me time to find the money.

We did complete one quick-n-dirty project. Prabha works way out in Irunooruvil, a barely-hamlet an hour south-west of Batti. The school year ended yesterday (Wednesday) and now there’s a three week vacation before school starts anew. Prabha was approached by the lady who sews the uniforms for his school and the one in nearby Pavatkodichchenai (try saying THAT ten times fast!). Every year at this time the government supplies each student with enough fabric for one uniform, and the parents take it to a local seamstress to be cut and sewn. Unfortunately, the lady, whose name is Rathika, has one of those ancient black foot-pedaled Singer machines, and it was broken and unfixable. She asked him if he could help her get a replacement machine, so Prabha came to us.

Yesterday Rathika and her aunty came to Batticaloa to do some shopping for the impending Tamil New Year, so we went ahead and bought her the machine. It looks just like a modern machine, but its pedal driven, as there is no electricity in that part of the District. We made a deal with her; if we provide the machine, this year she will sew all the uniforms for the two schools at half price. Given that there are a total of about 400 students, I calculate that we are collectively saving their families about $288, which is $12 short of the cost of the machine! I like the symmetry.

Tamil (and Sinhala) New Year is next Tuesday, the 14th. Here in Sri Lanka it’s a big deal; in the Tamil parts of India it isn’t, as Holi, which takes place in the fall, is their big holiday. You will remember me describing New Year last year. The family matron blesses each family member with a ritual bath, consisting of pouring water on the head. (You get a soaking, so you’ve gotta make sure you pockets are empty of paper money, cameras and passports!) Then you take a real bath, and change into new clothes. This is why Rathika and aunty were in town yesterday; they were getting new clothes for their family. I myself brought a cool shirt from the US that I haven’t yet worn. Anyway, after changing, the whole family troops off to the local kovil (Hindu temple) for puja (service), after which everyone returns home for a lunch. Then people break off and go and visit friends and families. It’s all very convivial. In fact, it isn’t that different from the way we used to do New Years back in the day, albeit without the Hindu aspect. You know; bathing, new clothes, and visiting.

(Incidentally, this is also why the school year ends when it does, just before the New Year.)

So I’m looking forward to Tuesday. The thing I don’t like is that for several days before and the week of New Year almost everything closes down. Of course necessary stuff like hospitals and pharmacies and the food market stay open, but for example, the furniture stores where I get my computer table estimates do close. And if something needs to be ordered and shipped from Colombo, such as the mimeograph machine we ordered for our Kaluthavali project, there’s an extra week and half delay. So that part of New Year can be a pain in the butt. And that’s why I’ve been so glad to have Prabha and Balan run around with me getting the estimates; oft times I’m not even sure where to go to get them, although I’m learning. Oh, and they always get local price, as opposed to foreigner price!

For me there is something of a time constraint; on the 23rd Jerry and I are going down south to Unawatuna to stay at our friend Mally’s guest house. That’d be the Shangri-La, which I’ve mentioned a lot in past dispatches. It’ll be five days of pure relaxation, and then I return to Colombo with Jerry, who leaves for India for his Grand Train Tour. Leaving Colombo I’ll spend a couple of weeks in the Hill Country among the Estate Tamils (again, read last years’ dispatches). My mission is to begin to lay the groundwork to bring American English teachers into the tea estates. So I’ll visit several possible school sites to get all the details; number of students, expectations, lodging info, bio data of the teachers and principal, etc. The idea is for me to assemble these into reports and when we recruit a teacher or two we can give them detailed information on what to expect, and they can choose the site.

But all that is later in the month; the current impact on me is that I’m trying to get stuff done ASAP before I go, and ASAP can be really hard to get here. As I said, I’m grateful to Balan and Prabha for spending so much time with me.

Especially Prabha. His father is dying, and it’s only a matter of days. I don’t know what the diagnosis is, but imminent death is a certainty. Last year you may remember me describing the house-sitting part of a Hindu funeral; that was Prabha’s father-in-law. Thus my time before I leave becomes even more precious. Of course I’m going to spend a lot of time sitting at Prabha’s house. Not only is he a good friend and a great project co-conspirator, but I’m going to representing Claire and Fiona, the famous Irish Gals from tsunami times, both of whom are still close to Prabha. You’ll also remember Claire from last year – she came for a month.

So that’s news for the moment. I hope you’re doing well and of good cheer.

xoxoxoxoxoxo

B.