WHY SRI LANKA?Why did we chose to come to Sri Lanka? Many, some or even perhaps none of you that may take the time to read my posts may be privy to what prompted us to come to Sri Lanka, after all, it is literally on the other side of the planet...
For those of you that do know, humour me as I will try to explain the reasoning.....
Many may recall the earthquake, and resulting tsunami that struck Indonesia on Boxing Day 2004. It was the third largest earthquake ever recorded on a seismograph (there may have been many larger ones that have occurred in the history of the earth, but lets just say that this is in "modern times). The earthquake itself was so strong that it vibrated the entire planet as much as 1 cm, and resulted in inducing other, albeit smaller, earthquakes as far away as Alaska. The shaking near the epicentre lasted close to 10 minutes, which would seem to be lifetime to those that experienced it. The earthquake, and the resulting tsunami (which, in most places, was up to 30 metres in height) killed over 200,000 people in 14 countries. Most of us, myself included, assumed that Thailand was the hardest hit, but this is not entirely true, partly because the media coverage that covered the event centred itself on Thailand. In fact, Indonesia was the hardest hit, followed by Sri Lanka which is over 2700 km away from the epicentre...globally, it was the world's largest natural disaster....
Sri Lanka was largely neglected in the aftermath. They were in the middle of a civil war, fear of an unstable government led many countries to dismiss Sri Lanka as a candidate for foreign aid. The devastation was immense, with over 30,ooo deaths, and the south and east coasts (we are in Unawatuna, on the south coast) were particularly hard hit, and many who survived the intial onslaught, fell victim to disease, as one might expect......(search Sri Lanka Tsunami on YouTube....)
Anyways, back in Canada, a small group of Richmond Fire Fighters felt that they should do something. Amar is a dispatcher for the RFD, Brian is now a retired firefighter, and Doug (who just joined us today Friday, Feb 12) is still active...and with others, privately fundraised money in an effort to support Sri Lanka in its relief efforts. This group originally partnered with Habitat for Humanity, and they personally came to Sri Lanka to aid in the effort....and they did again two years later, but for reasons not to be reported here, became "disenchanted" with Habitat for Humanity, but continued their efforts on their own time. It should be noted that this small group of people, and their supporters received NO help from the RFD, it was done on their free time......in an effort to bore you any further details, lets speed up to this trip.....
After Gord and Amar returned from their trip to SL (Sri Lanka) in Feb 2014, Feron and I expressed interest that if they were to do it again, please keep us in mind, so about 1 year ago, during a visit to their house in Richmond/Ladner/Steveston ( I dont know what to call their neck of the woods, but you get the general idea...) they said that they were planning another trip in Jan/Feb of 2016, and would we like to come...so here we are.....
Fundraising.....
The members of our travel group who live in the lower mainland primarily raised funds at the Richmond Night Market, more or less begging for donations. It should be noted that both Feron and my daughter Tess (who is currently attending UBC) did attend the night market to help on one occasion....I started a GoFundMe page. At the end of the day, the group, as a whole raised around $6200, which is a considerable amount of money here in Sri Lanka. In fact, that amount would build, and completely furnish a house....
100% of donated funds go directly to helping families in need in and around Unawatuna, and Amar, who goes by a number of different names here (Amber, The Big Toe to name a couple) is the bookkeeper, and runs a spread sheet to keep track of expenses....
So, how is it decided to help and not to help?? Of course this could not be done without the unbridled help of Anoma, owner of the Nor Lanka Hotel. Both her, and her husband Helge (Anoma was born in Sri Lanka, Helge in Norway, but both are actually Norwegian citizens...) are classic examples of "global citizens", and while both are extremely humble, they have developed a local reputation of being philanthropic, with them providing food to a number of local families. Anoma was showing us a ledger she receives monthly from the local "supermarket" where 8 or 10 families pick up their food and Anoma pays the cost on a monthly basis...it costs about $150/month for a family of four...if the world was full of people like Helge and Anoma, it would certainly be a much better place.....
So, it is Anoma who finds the families that are in need....but it is not haphazard. She ensures that the family (s) that are helped will not take advantage of the aid given to them. One might expect that "freeloading" is commonplace...and in fact it has happened to the group on previous visits. Where the family that was helped just asks for more and more...and that is something that is not tolerated. The purpose of helping is to "kick start" the family...to give the a leg up.
This trip involves a family of 6....Manjo (the father),Thushari (the mother) and thre daughters,Mikel (13), Sheshara (9), Ruth (2) and one son, Enok (6). Manjo is a mason by trade, and picks up odd jobs her and there, but work is scarce. When we arrived, they were living in a shack on someone else's property that abutted up against the property owned by Thushari's mother (her house is not much better, and she shares it with two other sons). Anoma's generosity (combined with that of some other Norwegians that were staying here) have already provided financial support to enable Manjo to start the foundation and some walls....in addition to this family...there are others.....
more to follow.......
current family home....
A look inside...there are only two "rooms". Note where they cook......
The new house take shape...this is 3 days into the build after we showed up. The walls on this side of the house were complete prior to our arrival.
The rear of the house..these walls were incomplete when we arrived. And the roof trusses are being place. It is coconut wood that has been treated with diesel and some other oil to make them highly resistant to insects.
Safety first!!
The wheelbarrow
Inside the new house...it will have 3 rooms when completed, with a outdoor kitchen (it will have a roof over it, but no walls)
Roof trusses...hmmm working at elevation...
playing cricket...
Two of our favourite tuk-tuk drivers (Coach is missing..) Sisiera (left) and Chi Chi, whom I call Cheech (for what I think is obvious)...Everyone we have met is unbelievably nice....and these two (plus Coach) are most excellent. Coach and Cheech are Anoma's brothers.
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