Sri Lanka being a small unprotected island hanging on to the south tip of India by a bridge of tiny islands feels like we are bobbing around vulnerable to any of the natural disasters lurking under the ocean. Yesterday the ocean was exceedingly rough and this morning I made my way down to the beach for an early morning swim to find huge surf eating up the beach. Those angry waves are the result of the earthquake that recently rocked the streets of Christchurch New Zealand killing over 100 people and another 200 are missing. Sending our thoughts and prayers to those families affected.
Our preliminary work is all done the group headed to the village this week to see what has being going on so far. Water lines are ready, materials are there and now we just need 11 more members of our team to arrive safely tomorrow.
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| Doug, Dave, Mary and Lisa (Doug's wife and daughter) Me standing on the foundation of the medical dental centre next to the nutrition centre. |
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| Doug, Mary, Dave, Lisa, Randy |
We are deciding on paint colours now. Bright white walls inside and I’ll be getting some large canvases in Colombo in a week so we can get the children to paint some colourful pictures that we can hang throughout. Will be fun to have a large art project for the children to enjoy! Any suggestions on the outside paint colours?
We have been given an empty home in the village to use as our kitchen and store all our dry goods and supplies for lunch. The women of the village are going to be taking turns helping us with the meals. Some traditional home-style Sri Lankan food! YUM!! Red hot chillies, tangy fresh lime and cilantro salads, freshly ground coconut with spice…. just like the landscape here the flavours are vibrant, fresh and red hot!
Tomorrow I have my first cooking class to learn about all the fresh authentic spices and how to mix them to make the delicious curries and other traditional dishes I love so much. I’m so excited. I’ve been learning bits here and there over the last 6 years of travelling here but I still have so many questions. I’ll be sharing with you some of the recipes that I learn and photos of the dishes so you can try them at home.
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| Some flowers just for you! |
Thank you for reading...stay tuned tomorrow for some traditional Sri Lankan recipes!
hugs,
