Sri Lanka in 2006
We had kept in touch with the people and the projects we worked with last year in a number of ways. The Rotary Club that Deborah now belongs to (Mid Wirral, UK, District 1180) sponsors a bus and driver to bring children into Caritas, a special needs education day centre, south of Colombo, run by Sister Jacintha from the Sisters of Charity. Deborah raised money to take out some specialised toys for differently abled children and many thanks go to all those who contributed. The toys and the sensory boards that she built were well received. Caritas is a truly inspirational place. She was able to purchase cupboards for books to start libraries in the pre- and after-schools and to give money to start a horticultural project to help develop sustainable skills for young people � all on behalf of all those who kindly donated money.
The trip was an emotional roller coaster. It was great to see people again. Life goes on there with the day-to-day struggles for food, education and justice that we were part of last year. The people who run the projects work tirelessly to try to improve the lives of others. It was good to see some of the houses that we helped to build for families affected by the tsunami, now completed with families living in them. On the other hand, one of the tsunami camps where we played last year with the children and where we were involved in the distribution of nutritional supplements, felt a much more desperate place when revisited on the same distribution run this time. It feels as though families are destined to remain in their wooden shed-like transitional homes, living in close proximity with little privacy and with one stand pipe for water serving 150 families. We heard that many of the aid agencies are pulling out, some because their work is done or funding is depleted and others because local contractors are asking for danger money due to the ever-worsening political situation.
Despite all this, the wonderful smiles that typify Sri Lanka are still there and the elders and children that Deborah visited were pleased to see her again and offered her their usual, wonderful, Sri Lankan hospitality.
We are trying to continue with our connecting communities theme by keeping in touch with and supporting people in both India and Sri Lanka. We have just been to Oxfordshire to celebrate the wedding of Jagan Deveraj and Maeve Wadge. Jagan and his mother Bern run Arivu, the project with which we worked in Bangalore. Maeve became a volunteer a few years ago and they fell in love. Maeve runs a handmade paper co-operative, as part of Arivu, training young people and women with no means of income. The project aims to give them sustainable skills. They make wonderful products from fair trade materials that you can buy. Have a look at www.arivu.org
Below are some photographs taken on this year's visit:
