Wednesday 18th May 2022

Another day of school closure meant another day working from home, with a morning meeting at 09:30 with Tim Pare and Yadharshini that I almost didn't make at all, as the internet connection was not working properly. The combination of curfews, power cuts and monsoon weather result in either no power and internet at all, or a connection that is so unstable as to be not worth even bothering with.

As I have mentioned previously, I am safe, I have a roof over my head, very good food twice a day, and occasional internet access! Sadly, that is a lot more than can be said for many of the people in this local community, and discussions with Tim and Yad today centred around how Tea Leaf Vision can adapt at this critical time for the country to support even the most basic of needs in this locality.

I spent most of the day completing three quarterly reports for the Kindernothilfe Project that Tea Leaf Vision has been running for almost 18 months now, where a team of Community Facilitators help the poorest women across the region to form Self-Help Groups. I was so moved when I got to the sections where Self-Help Group members stories are shared, as most of them are heart-breaking.

Having said that they are heart-breaking, they are also in almost equal measure incredibly uplifting, as women in some of the direst of circumstances are coming together to support each other to improve the quality of life for themselves and their children. If I ever question why I am out here in Sri Lanka (it does happen occasionally!), I only need to read one of their stories to find the clearest answer I need.

P.S. I was sat on my own in the staffroom in TLV School Maskeliya a few days ago now, thinking about the war in Ukraine, and I ended up singing an old Pete Seeger song 'Where have all the flowers gone' (the acoustics in that building are wonderful!). It reminds us of the absurdity and fruitlessness of war, and I include a link to a lovely cover version of the song by Chris de Burgh below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h-07CVL1WBU









Comments

  1. CharlesMay 18, 2022 at 11:37 PM

    I love the first photo, Keith. Everyone seems to be working in harmony. Have the pickers just finished a shift, and if so is there someone who weighs each bagful for remuneration purposes?
    The song is deeply moving - as is the idea of you singing it alone in the staffroom!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Tuesday 4th March 2025

Image
I finally got to my last day here which started very early, as I was up at the crack of dawn to sort out a few things in the apartment, then get my last few bits of packing done. Razeena once again brought me breakfast, which was a great start to my day. After breakfast, I popped a present for Sandra in Ravi's office, just in case I didn't see her to say goodbye to her but then met her at the Junior School on my way back and said a fond farewell to her there. I left at 08:30, with Liyanage driving me to the airport - not that I was aware of that journey, because I had got up so early this morning that I nodded off for most of it. I hardly had to queue at all for either the security checks or for check-in, so I had quite a bit of time before my flight was due to take off at 12:50. I had a delicious, filled croissant for lunch, with a latte, then went to Gate 9, where I didn't have to wait too long before boarding the plane, which thankfully took off on time. It was an 11-hou...
Read more

Tuesday 3rd December 2024

Image
Today marked the 60th and final day of our amazing 2-months visit to Sri Lanka. We had a rather rushed breakfast, as we were being picked up at 09:00 by a friend of Ragu's to take us to the airport. Everything went very smoothly, with the quickest check-in I have experienced there (in the past I have had to endure long queues). The flight took off almost an hour late, but that's not unusual, and it actually made up the time, as we landed back at Heathrow just before 19:30. We had decided to get a transfer home to Bath, and our friend Ahmed, who is a taxi driver, was there to meet us. After such a long journey to Heathrow, it made sense not to wait for another 2-3 hours to get a coach back from the Heathrow Coach Station (which I have done previously, and is a bit of a killer in terms of exhaustion). We had a very relaxed ride home with Ahmed, and got back to our flat a mere 18.5 hours after leaving Colombo Swimming Club this morning! It seems strange writing my final blog entry...
Read more

Saturday 5th October 2024

Image
It's my fifth trip to Sri Lanka, but on this occasion I am at last joined by my wife, Valerie, and it will be lovely not to be on my own this time. We flew out of London Heathrow Airport one hour late at 22:30 UK time on Friday, and after a rather excruciating eleven hour flight, we eventually landed at Colombo Airport just after 13:30 Sri Lankan time on Saturday. I slept for a few hours on the journey, but Valerie struggled to get any sleep at all. Sandra Wanduragala met us at Colombo Airport, and we drove into Colombo for a couple of hours - meeting up with her daughter, Selena, at the Good Market, which we really enjoyed and would love to go back to. We then went back to Selena's home, where it was good to be able to freshen up a little bit, and enjoy a nice cup of tea, before our driver, Rohan drove us to Kurunegala, where we will be based for the next two months. Arriving in Kurunegala, we met up with my good friend Tharika and her daughter, Evinka, to have dinner at Sri B...
Read more