ABDF

The heat must be addling my brain. My last post was on the day before my half-way point in this years’ season, and I didn’t even realize it. It would have been an appropriate to step back and summarize where we stand thus far this year, and to compare it to last year. It also would have been a good time to ruminate on the future, and the goals we hope we achieve.

Well, better late than never!

I think that the biggest improvement we’ve made over last year is that I now have the routine down pat. It took much less time for me to get situated in Batti than it did last year, which means I was able to hop right into project work.

Here’s a mundane example: my motorcycle was here waiting for me, so I was able to immediately start visiting project sites. For various reasons, last year it took me several months to get the bike, which meant I either had to hire a tuk-tuk, which is time consuming and expensive, or wait for one of my friends to get off work so he could take me on his bike. Or wait for the weekend.

I also started this year with a small list of projects that we had already lined up last year. By the end of last years’ season we had several good projects in mind, but no money to fund them. This year those projects became the priority; examples include the ronio machine in Kaluthavalai and the water tank in Mangikkadu. I plan on having a similar list by the end of this season.

Just as important if not more so, I learned last year who I can work with and who I can’t. Who can be trusted to carry out their end of the work and who can’t. Who is careful and responsible, and who isn’t. I’m now easily able to vet the people who I meet with regards to potential projects; those who are willing to put in some work as opposed to those (the majority, unfortunately) who are hoping I’ll just hand them a chunk of money, no questions asked. Thus when it comes to the human factor – dealing with people – I’m much more efficient and waste a lot less time. Of course, this is an ongoing process, and I continue to learn who is who and what is what, like when the first shopkeeper we ordered the ronio machine from tried to raise his price (after giving a written quotation) when he learned that a white guy was paying for it.

So how has this translated into our work thus far? Well, for one thing, we’ve finished off as many projects so far as we did for all of last year. Last year we worked on 9 separate projects of varying costs whereas this year we’ve either completed or are currently working on 13. And, since it is a really desperate situation there, I’ve given the go-ahead to start a 14th – the water tank at Shalampailkerny. In terms of money, our project funding has increased by at least 20% over last year, which has allowed us to do more. We’ve even managed to score funds from the UK, and I’m working on sources in Ireland and Luxembourg.

So this is all very well and good, but what does this mean for the future? Well, next year is going to be a tough one in terms of funding. The US economy is still in the doldrums and folks are more concerned about mortgage payments and health insurance than giving to the ABDF. Understandably so, although it makes funding that much more difficult. The ABDF is undergoing a lot of changes behind the scenes and so I hope, under the leadership of our new Executive Director, Marc Levine, that we will soon come up with a workable strategy to address this issue. Stay tuned for things as they develop.

In terms of projects, next year ABDF will be initiating its first project outside Batticaloa District. As I have mentioned in past posts, our friend Minister Sivalingam has asked us to send qualified volunteer teachers to Estate Tamil schools in the Hill country. We’ve already identified two schools and are currently drawing up the paperwork needed to get this ready. The biggest challenge on our part will be to find two or three qualified people willing to take the time off from their American lives to come and teach. This is an even bigger challenge because the teacher will have to pay their own way; we simply don’t have the funds to support volunteers for six months or a year. We’re researching all manner of organizations to approach to help foot the bill, but it’s a slow process.

It is very important that ABDF come through on this one. Minister Sivalingam has been a tremendous help to us, despite his having nothing to do with Batti District. His patronage of this teacher project will also improve our standing with the Sri Lankan government, which right now is not particularly fond of foreign aid organizations. Additionally, we must recognize that education is the second important phase for any developing country; once fundamental living conditions are addressed (water, shelter, etc), the next step is to educate the people. So our bringing in teachers will help Sri Lanka in the long term in a sustainable way.

In terms of Batti projects, we must continue our project work, but perhaps shift emphasis a little. The coastal strip, which was almost always under Government control during the conflict, is relatively developed although there is still much work to be done, as our projects in Valachchenai, Vantharamoolai, Kaluwankerny, and Kalthavalai show. However, I’ve become increasingly aware of the huge disparity between the coastal strip, and the interior; Batti, as you know, is divided by a long thin lagoon that separates the coast from the interior (see the map on the webpage). The interior (called land-side by locals, as opposed to sea-side) was under LTTE control for years and experienced almost no development. This is particularly true in the lands just opposite Batti; they were the front lines of the fighting in the East and suffered disproportionately. This is the area where we have been building our water tanks: Navatkadu, Mangikkadu, Shalampailkerny, etc. You can see Batti across the lagoon from these places, but they are a world apart in terms of development.

So while we should maintain our interest in projects along the coastal strip, I think any expansion should be into the lands just across the lagoon. They really need help; virtually any and all kinds of help. I’ve got my thinking cap on, and in conjunction with local contacts, am trying to come up with useful, do-able, cost effective projects for the folks there. I feel some exciting projects coming on.

Well, I hope this post has done a lot to keep you informed of how we are doing, organization-wise. We have set ourselves some big challenges for the future but I know we’re doing the right thing. And when you do the right thing, you manage somehow. The Universe often seems to act that way.

This entry was posted on Thursday, July 16th, 2009 at 5:26 am and is filed under Letter from Batticaloa. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.