ABDF

Monday, April 27, 2009

Hi Everybody!

I’m writing you from the beautiful garden at the Shangri-La, the guest house in Unawatuna (u-na-WA-toon-ah) owned by my friend Mally. I’ve mentioned both Mally and Unawatuna in previous letters, both this year and last. Unawatuna is just outside the southern city of Galle (gall) which is probably one of the most historically picturesque places in Sri Lanka and one of my personal favorites. But I’m getting ahead of myself, and ought to start where I left off, back in Batticaloa.

I’m very pleased with the way the ronio (mimeograph) machine project turned out. My friend Riswan, the guy who owns the computer shop Macsar, came through for me with the machine. As you will recall from my last letter Mr. Gandhi at the first shop where I ordered the machine got greedy on me and tried to extort (what else can you call it?) more money. Riswan at Macasr then said he’d get me the same machine for the original price, and guarantee it the following Monday (the 20th). True to his word, it was sitting waiting for me Monday morning. Thus I slowly learn who I can rely on and who I can’t.

Tuesday the 21st I took the ronio down to Kaluthavalai (kah-loo-TA-va-lee), to the site of the EDS after-school project. Accompanying me were Balan, who helped me order the machine and create the start-up kit (ink, paper, stencils, etc) that we bought for EDS, as well as my housemate Easwaran; you may recall that Easwaran hails from Kaluthavalai and first put me in contact with EDS.

It is, I think, a sign of how much more normalized life in Batti District is becoming when I tell you how it was easy to get through the checkpoints heading south on the main north/south road. Even with a big sealed box atop of the tuk-tuk. Last year, we’d have been stopped at every checkpoint and at least looked at. In particular there is – was – one notorious checkpoint where the soldiers registered everyone, searched everyone, and searched everything. With me being foreign they would have at least insisted that we offload the box, open it, and unpack everything.

This time however, not only were we never stopped, but we passed through that one checkpoint before I had even noticed we had gotten there. Even on the way back, well after dark, we were only given a cursory glance at one checkpoint, and then nodded on.

The thank-you I received at the site was far more than I had expected, and it was very sweet. We turned the corner off the main road and were stopped by the sight of all the kids – some 400+ of ‘em – lining the road both sides. We got out and as I started to walk between them, I was loaded with at least a half dozen fresh garlands. Two of the garlands were enormous, going down to my knees, and thick with Jasmine and other aromatic flowers. Garland-making is considered an art, and it is very exacting and time-consuming, so I was very much aware of the honor being given. In fact I had so many garlands that I felt like a giant turtle trying to peek out of its shell. And of course, there was applause along the whole line. At the entrance gate I was given a traditional Hindu blessing/greeting; sprinkled with holy water from a sacred vessel, then in order, a smear of gray ash, a dot of turmeric-yellow paste, and a dot of purplish blue were daubed onto my forehead where the “third eye” is said to be located.

Usually when there’s some sort of ceremony, everyone feels the need to stand up and give long speeches. It can take hours. Easwaran knows me pretty well, and had let his buddies at EDS know that I’m not into the pontificating. So there were only two speeches; the President of EDS gave a short welcoming speech, and mine.

I’ve gotten pretty good at impromptu speech-making, having had do it so often, even when I’m only a guest and have nothing to do with the occasion. So this time, with the aid of one of the EDS teacher volunteers as translator, I thanked everyone. I thanked Easawran for connecting me, I thanked Balan for his help, I thanked EDS for the service they were providing their community, and for allowing me to be a part of it. I then thanked Gene Risi. He’s my dad’s friend, and it was his donation that paid for the ronio. I described Gene a little bit. The point of doing this was that I wanted to stress that the money did not come from some government or big agency, but from a regular person. There is an assumption, which is reasonable enough, that any aid that comes along is from either government or big rich agency; an individual reaching out half way around the globe to help is a very unusual thing. I find it makes the recipients not take the gift for granted, especially when they hear an actual name and learn something about that person. So I always stress this.

After the mercifully brief ceremony we retired to one of the volunteer teachers’ house for a beer and snacks while the kids began their lessons for the day.

We got back home way after dark, tired but happy.

The rest of the week was split between getting ready for my trip (laundry and so forth) and starting a couple other projects.

I’m really happy to report that I got a funder specifically for our big water tank project. As you will recall last year we built a water tank in Navatkadu, a small village in the interior. It is such a success that two nearby villages have requested tanks of their own. My friend Prabha (the guy whose dad died two weeks ago) is our main partner, as he born in the Navatkadu area. I had promised him that this year I would guarantee one tank, and if the funding is available, we could do the second; if not, then it would happen next year.

Well, my friend Jerry from the UK is here, as you know. He and his wife, Sue, had raised a bunch of money in the UK to dig wells. For a series of reasons it wasn’t working out right, and so Jerry offered a chunk of his funds for ABDF.org projects. I told him about our water tank and the request for two more; he immediately agreed to fund one of them, as the money had originally been raised for water projects. So last Wednesday Prabha and Balan took Jerry and I out to see last years’ tank, and to see the site for the one Jerry will fund. I have to apologize; I don’t have the name of the hamlet with me in Unawatuna. But it is a tiny place of 127 households along the dirt track just before Navatkadu. It is so poor it makes Navatkadhu, which about three times the size, look prosperous. The one and only industry is rice farming and the houses are all of thatch and corrugated metal. They suffer the same water problem as Navatkadu; the water table is very deep with a layer of bedrock and gravel between water and surface; in addition the groundwater is brackish. There is too much salt to make it safe to drink. So a tank is a terrific solution. The District Secretary has already approved the tank as it helps his office out as well; it saves his water truck time and ultimately money to fill one tank rather than drive around all day waiting for people to run out with buckets.

So now it is very possible that we will be able to build that second tank. Given that each tank costs between $1,200 and $1,300 to build, Jerry and Sue’s generosity is quite substantial. So: Hooray!

On Friday Jerry and I took the day train from Batti to Colombo, then a commuter train down south to Galle. I believe I already mentioned this new fast train day service. Jerry and I bought tickets for the observation car which as far as I could tell, is a completely regular sort of car; no huge windows or anything like that. Still, I have to say that this was the most pleasant Batti-Colombo experience I have had; as you know, normally I dread the overnight train. This time I could open my window, feel the breeze, and watch the countryside go by. In another example of the more relaxed security, last year all trains Colombo-bound were searched just before leaving Eastern Province. This time there were no such searches.

Well, it turns out that the fast train isn’t very fast; the trip took about an hour less than the overnight train. We got off the train at 4:30 in the afternoon at Maradana station. This station is north of Colombo’s main station at Fort. We wanted to catch the train south to Galle, which starts at Maradana. Good thing too; we were able to get seats, but by the time we got to Fort, it was standing room only. At Fort the train became extremely packed. And the train takes three hours to get to Galle. The seats were an uncomfortable plastic, but it was a lot better than standing!

So we arrived at about 8:30 in Galle, tired, hungry and badly needing a bath. My friend Sugit picked us up and after a quick 4 km drive, we were at Shangri-La.

As I mentioned last year, Shangri-La consists of a main lodge and a series of round bungalows situated around a gorgeous tropical garden. For me the place is the ultimate in relaxation: it’s quiet and peaceful. Mally is a great laid-back guy, being an old ex-surfer. The guy who cooks for the restaurant, Dushanta, has a rare gift at cooking. He cooks amazing food, both Sri Lankan and Western, and has never had a lick of training other than reading from a cookbook and memorizing the ingredients. My first night here he made me a steak in pepper sauce that was divine. Everything is made fresh to order, and I mean fresh: the fruits and vegetables are bought from farmers in the morning. In fact, Dushanta’s cooking is one of my favorite reasons for coming here; most of you know I’m quite the foodie. Last night he made me fresh grilled shrimp of eye-popping size. OK, I need to stop this; I could wax eloquent about Dushanta’s cooking for pages and pages.

The other reason I like to come here is the Society. In Galle, Society (note the use of the capitol S) is mostly a bunch of upturned-nose British expats who in the UK would be dead common but here in Sri Lanka they can play at being Somebodies. I’m sure you get the picture and I need describe them no further. In Unawatuna and environs, however, there’s a small community of foreigners of various nationalities who aren’t interested in acting as if the sun still never sets on the Empire. Mostly 50 and up, they have all worked and lived in various interesting places such as Papua New Guinea or Gabon or the Falklands, and have decided that southern Sri Lanka is what they love best. They haven’t “gone native” or anything but they aren’t pretentious like the Galle set. By now I’ve been here often enough that I’m considered an honorary member, as is Jerry. Shangri-La is the unofficial watering hole, and Mally the ringmaster. So the evenings are always fun, even if it’s just a few of us listening to music and playing cards. I gotta tell you, it makes very pleasant company and environment and it’s the kind of life I can see myself living when I get too old or exhausted from my ABDF.org work.

Of course, you do get the gone-native types, especially the new-wave mystical types. For some reason, they tend to be Germans. When we arrived at Shangri-La some of the crew was on the veranda already; Nigel, Bonnie, Eleanor, etc. But then there was Simone. She owns The Secret Garden, a new-agey sort of place offering Ayurvedic massage and treatments, mediations sessions and water therapy (not sure what that is). An attractive middle-aged lady, she only wears flowing white. She is nice enough (and a mean cook – she cooked everyone dinner once last year – wow!) but when she greeted Jerry and I she put her hands together in the Indian manner and saluted us with “Namaste.” Namaste is Hindi, which is not spoken in Sri Lankan. Not to be outdone, I smiled at her and Namaste-d her back, then proceeded to ask her in Hindi how she was (using 90% of my Hindi vocabulary to do so, I might add). I’m afraid that poor Simone was stumped; Namaste turned out to be all the Hindi she knew. Now, I like Simone, and so the whole exchange was done with a smile and wink, but still…

Jerry, Sugit, and I spent Saturday afternoon wandering around Galle Fort. Last year I described Fort; it is literally the old Portuguese- and Dutch- built fort at the entrance to Galle harbor and looks like something out of the Pirates of the Caribbean ride at Disneyland. It’s very cool to walk the ramparts, and the streets inside the walls are an architectural treasure; in fact I think the place has been declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site. If you’re curious, I’d urge you to go look up Galle Fort on the internet; there are plenty spectacular pictures.

Other than my afternoon in Galle, I’ve done plenty of nuttin’. Why do anything else? Excellent food, convivial company, a beautiful surrounding. And Galle is much cooler than Batti; after the heat of the East Coast, the south feels very comfortable.

I leave for Colombo Wednesday, and then will spend the next two weeks with Minister Sivalingam and others, investigating schools to bring volunteer English teachers from the US next year. Anyone interested in teaching English in the cool, beautiful tea estates?

So for now, I leave you; lunch is just about ready… Sigh. Life is tough.

xoxoxoxoxoxo

B.