We Made the Front Page and the Playground Arrives...phewf!

On our way to the village on Wednesday we discovered that our project made the front page of the newspaper!  The playground arrived on Tuesday evening so the last 2 days the firefighters have been workin hard to get it together before the opening ceremony today.  Last night they worked until it was finished... I haven't seen the finished product it'll be a surprise when I get to the village this morning.  I ca't believe that today is the day that we will open the doors to both the Nutrition Centre and the Medical Dental Centre... it's been a long time coming.  As I type this the doctors and dentists are on their way to the village to start the first treatment day at the centre.  By the time I get there at 9:30am there will be patients waiting to be seen.  At 4pm everyone will be there and we'll have a small celebration to open the first buildings of the Sahana Children's Village!  What a miracle!!



Recipe for Dahl Curry yummmmm!

250 g Dhal (yellow lentils) soaked for 20 minutes and rinsed

1 onion sliced

5 cloves of garlic sliced thinly

1 stick cinnamon

20 curry leaves

1 piece rampe (if not available use lemon grass)

¼ t Tumeric

1 t mustard seed powder

1 t curry powder

2 t chilli powder

½ t black pepper

1 t salt

2 ½ cup coconut milk

½ - ¾ cup water

1 ½ cup cream

For Topping

1 onion sliced thinly

1 t oil

2 pinch of salt

1 t chilli

Method

Place all ingredients except salt in a large pot and cook for 15 min over medium heat.  Add more water for a soupier mixture or less for a dry dhal.  Add in salt at the end.

Fry

Heat oil over medium high heat.  Add in onion, salt and chilli and fry until golden brown.

Once dhal mixture is done pour into serving bowl and spread onion mixture on top. 

Option:

For a healthy twist add in a few handfuls of raw spinach or kale once dhal has cooled slightly.

Group 2 first week in photos

Things are moving along great.  In a couple more days we'll have the entire nutrition center and medical dental building totally completed.  The best part about this week has been our extra sets of hands that have come aboard to help.  A big thank you to Laura, Cynthia, Tim, Sophie and Karen for being so enthusiastic in our project and jumping aboard to lend a helping hand.  Here are some photos of our progress this week!



First week with group 2!

Group 2 arrived on Sunday.  From the moment they arrived they’ve been so enthusiastic about the project and working like mad to get everything finished for our opening ceremony on March 25^th.

So far the walls have been painted with the filler and the floor has been finished.  The roof is just about finished on the medical centre.  We got some great news today  that the playground has finally been cleared at customs and will be delivered next week in enough time to have it set up by Friday! 

The highlight this week for me has been to see how the community is really coming together here.  The children look forward to spending time with the guys and gals everyday.  This week the children had 2 days off schools so we had the pleasure of having them around to supervise us.  Yesterday at lunch Sachini and her brother Tivanka entertained us with some traditional Sinhala Dance (see photo below).   Sachini and Chandika are my 2 little sisters here. So sweet and helpful. They have taken me on as their personal project to teach Sinhala and boy do I need the help.  It’s going to be hard to leave them when I go back to Canada. 

I'm having a bit of trouble uploading photos to my blog. Here is one for now and I'll try back later this afternoon and add some more.

Some favourite photos...

This week was too busy to keep up with the blog posts so I have posted 3 new ones today... hope you enjoy the photos.  Just to give you a better idea of what the village looks like and the faces of the people there I thought I would post some of my favourite shots. 

I am looking forward to welcoming group 2 here tomorrow.  Monday will be their first working day and I can't wait for them to see the site and meet the people!

JOY!

Mark (Asanka) our translator, me and some of the sweetest children you'll ever meet!
standing infront of where the playground will go



can I keep him?

some flowers found

natural spring

tea plants

view from nutrition centre of the village

view from the playground



Thank you to group one...

I just want to dedicate this blog post to the men and women firefighters that dedicated the last 2 weeks of their lives to helping the 800 children and families that will benefit from the Sahana Children’s Village.  Becoming a firefighter is a noble career and I believe attracts people with good and generous hearts.  I am happy to know you and will forever appreciate your willingness to fly across the world for this project.  Your heart for children and their well being is greatly appreciated.

Here are some photos of you over the past 2 weeks to document your hard work. 

Your friend,
Eden

The Children LOVED the magic tricks with David MacDonald
Thanks David for your creative ideas and enthusiasm!

The Possibilities are Endless!

Sunday was an awesome day!  Started out at the Buddhist temple in the village with a ceremony for the children of the village who are graduating into a leadership role within in their 'sunday school'.  Kristen (our journalist who is making a documentary about the project) and I arrived at community hall and Sachini, Sachini and Himsa were there to greet us.  They looked so sweet in their long white dresses and bare feet. Himsa grabbed my hand and led us across the cricket field at the base of the valley and then up the hill through the tsunami village houses to the temple which sits on the hill across from the nutrition centre.  We were greeted with giggles, smiles and flowers picked and wrapped in bows by the children.  We were seated at the front of the open air room along with a monk, a teacher, the mayor of Akmeemana and another government official.  For about an hour the teachers,  monk and mayor took turns talking to the children about how to be a good citizen in their community.  They all looked so sweet in their white uniforms.  One of the little girls around 5 years old did a beautiful traditional dance. Kristen and I were given pins to put on the children's tops to appoint them leaders in their class.  We were also given candles to light the oil lamps.  Near the end of the ceremony we were served butter cake, bananas, cookies and Faluda (sri lankan bubble tea). 

Temple at the village

Felt like we were celebrities being ushered around to events.  We got in the van and made our way to the Karapitiya Hospital in Galle.  They are building a new wing for the hospital for monks, priests, and the leaders of the other faiths in the southern province of Sri Lanka.  Lal was invited to part take in the ground breaking ceremony because of his dedication to helping the people of Sri lanka.  We were his honoured guests.

Lal and I at the ground breaking ceremony

After the hospital we headed back to the village to spend the afternoon with the children playing football (soccer) and chuck chuck juice (duck duck goose) and ring a round the nosey (ring around the rosey).  Kirby, one of our firefighters brought bags full of soccer balls and jerseys for all the children and organized a skills workshop and then a couple of short games.  The kids LOVED it! 

Playing games at the Village

This past week we all worked hard.  Ian Lai arrived from Canada to lend his chef skills and permaculture knowledge to our project (his website: http://myurbanag.com/).  His ideas have really helped me think big and see that our original plans for this village are small compared to what this land can really offer this community. Imagine a village completely self sufficient able to grow all the food that it could possible need, use the natural spring water as energy to irrigate the land, reusing plastic containers to grow starter plants, reusing grey water to improve soil quality, essentially everything we need for this village is right there at our finger tips we just need the expertise to use it to its full capacity.  While Ian is here we will be meeting with some experts from the department of agriculture and tomorrow heading to Samakanda another permaculture village not to far from here.  So much here to learn! So much here to be positive about! 

Ian smoking some eggplant for our lunch...yum!!

It's been awesome having Kristen here!  She's been a huge source of support for me and this project.  Kristen has a ton of creative ideas that I'm looking forward to implementing in upcoming projects.  Check out her story on our project here
http://www.bcitbroadcastnews.ca/2011/03/07/to-sri-lanka-with-love-and-a-camera-march-7th-2011/
and
 http://www.bcitbroadcastnews.ca/2011/03/10/to-sri-lanka-with-love-and-a-camera-part-2/



Kristen and Ian after taping their radio interview



Kristen Woodhouse

There is a radio interview with Ian and his ideas for the village that will air shortly I will send you the link once it's been posted.

Thank you so much for following along on our journey!
Hugs,
Eden

10 Minutes...

I don’t even know how to begin to write this but I feel that this is important to share with you.  For you to understand how important the Sahana Children’s Village is for the growth and nourishment of the children who have been affected by the war and the tsunami. 

I was feeling a bit tired this morning it had been an emotionally charged week, long hours, hard work in the kitchen and hot sun.  I decided to treat myself to an Ayurveda massage at the hotel.  The last few minutes of the massage I was seated and Rita, a tiny SriLankan woman, was tenderly pulling my hair into a pony tail… something my mom would have done when I was a little girl.  She asked me where I was from and why I was here.  When I told her that I have been working in Akmeemana in the tsunami village she put her hands in prayer and lifted them to her heart.  She touched my chest and said

 so good tsunami village….

Her story unfolded...

I was there during tsunami.  I was working in a hotel on the beach when tsunami came.  Taking care of an elderly German man.  I was serving him breakfast and then the wave came swirling around the room,  again it happened everything washing away everything going out.  The ocean taking everything.  I don’t know what is happening.

She stands in the middle of the room and I am now taken on a journey back to that day December 26^th 2004. She moves around the room as if she is reliving the entire event.  Tears well up in her eyes and she grasps her hands to her heart. 

Please God,  please God help the people.  Please God.  The ocean is good but the people are very bad.  Always drinking and throwing garbage into the water.  Throwing everything into the water.

10 minutes and it all came and went away taking children, old, young, all valuables, all things from homes.  People are crying, screaming pleading with God.  Everyone running.  Some can’t run some are too old.  I look down from the third story of the hotel and see palm trees flat, some falling.  Next door the building collapsed.  Children are hanging from roofs, children hanging out of trees.  The old German man is too old to run.  I tell him he can come to my house.  I live up in the mountain on the way to jungle beach.  I help him to my home. Germans, Swedish, Australians running, hiding in the mountain.  Oh oh they are hurt and crying so many people in the streets on the way to my house laying there dead or crying out.  So much pain.  In my house, such a small house I have 30 people all Europeans all crying.  Some have no clothes I give them what I have.  I give them bed sheets to lay on my floor.  They are scared.  I tell them God will take care of us. 

She stops and again puts her warm hand to my chest and we both stand there with tears rolling down our faces. 

I make them rice and curry.  The day before was Christmas day and Poya day (Buddhist full moon holiday) everyone happy everyone dancing and smiling.  Late into the night they are celebrating.  Some go to bed at 6 in the morning.  At 9am the tsunami.  10 minutes and everything is taken. 

My daughter has a bad heart.  She says she is fine mama but in the evening she needs the hospital.  Somehow we make it to the hospital.  Oh no so many lying in the halls.  Big bellies swollen bellies.  Sri Lankans and foreigners all there on the floor in the halls so many dead- thousands dead.  So much water in their bellies. 

Why God?  I go to the water and pray.  Why?  Ocean so good gives us laughter for children, swimming, helps our gardens and feeds us.  Beautiful flowers and gardens it gives.  Gives life.  People so bad we have been punished for not taking care of the ocean always throwing and not caring.  After tsunami people helping other people.  People tying up garbage nicely, people giving everything taking care of the ocean.    Now people forgetting again throwing in the ocean.  Please no more punishment people will not learn. 

4 days after tsunami I go to my mother’s house. Oh such a bad smell.  Big door laying on the ground.  I lift it up and find my mother.  Oh so bad so bad.  She is there crushed by the tsunami.   4 days she has been there. 

There are so many bodies more than 500 bodies thrown into a pit.  There are so many they are treated like dead animals.  Must get rid of the smell.  Like animals they are thrown into the pit. 

After tsunami so many Europeans come.  All who love us.  They give and give.  They have lost much but they work hard and build houses, build hotels, clean the beach.  We are so thankful.  Thank you for helping.  The government bad government takes the money and puts it in their pockets.  But Europeans so good they give money all the money.  But government keeps money and only 10 rupees here and there they keep 100 rupees for themselves and only give 10 rupees.  What to do?    We have lost everything.

  I know so many children and families that are dead.  So many. We don’t know till later that the whole of Sri Lanka there has been tsunami.  But Unwatuna so bad so bad.  Oh please God no more tsunami.  You can take all, all the valuables all the things take it but no more tsunami. 

Everyone wants to go up to the mountains far from the ocean.  But the old German man can’t go too old and it’s too far.  He tells me to go.  I can’t leave him.  He is old not young,  young people are running.  I stay with him.  We pray that God will take care of us.  God is good and will take care of us.  We don’t know why this happened, punishment from the ocean maybe but God is good.  So many innocent people so many.

She turns to me crying. 

I don’t like to think about tsunami.  10 minutes and everything taken.  People so scared.  I still look at the ocean and pray. 

She hugs me and I feel silly for being the one comforted now.   

What to do.  This is life.  We must enjoy and take care of the ocean.  The Europeans most are so good taking care of us asking for nothing.  They love us. 

------

As I walk down to the beach I remember my own experiences in Sri Lanka after the tsunami. I had never seen such sadness and loss of hope.  Seeing mothers weeping by the side of the beach holding a child's doll, highchairs hanging from the roofs of buildings, men sitting amongst the ruins of their homes staring out at the see with vacant eyes. 

There is nothing sadder that looking into the eyes of someone who has lost all hope.  

The land that stole my heart in October 2004, 2 months before it all happened, called me back in the months after the tragedy to somehow help.  Seeing first hand the devastation that can happen in 10 minutes - the lives taken, homes and families torn apart.    Nothing profound came from that except for a deep need to treasure life and the time that we do have with our loved ones. 

This beautiful paradise with such generous and kind people has been through so much: 3 decades of war that stole children from their families to become soldiers, a tsunami that killed 30,000 and over 1,000,000 lost their homes and now this year floods came and took more homes and lives. 

This is not the only story that I have heard in the past 6 years… it is only one of many.  These are the stories that keep me going when work gets tough and funding falls short.  Our Sahana Children’s Village is one thing that we can do to help heal the lives of children who have suffered in the wake of the tsunami and the war. These children deserve a place where they can feel safe where they can be children and play and learn and grow.  You can imagine what might happen to a generation that has lived through such tragedy.  There is a lot of healing that needs to take place.  We cannot control the ocean but we can provide healing and nourishment for the lives of the future leaders of this country so that one day there will be a generation here that does not know the fear of war.

There are so many causes in this world that need attention.  We all just need to keep doing what we can and enjoy all of our 10 minutes taking care of this earth, ocean, it's creatures and its people. 

Thank you for reading and supporting us!

Eden 

(please see post below for another update with photos of our progress this past week!)

First Week in Photos

First week is done 3 more to go.  I’ve had some interesting adventures in the kitchen.  The first lunch I had 7 children and 4 ladies from the village helping me.  By the time lunch was served we were all exhausted but it tasted pretty darn good!  It’s been a bit of an adjustment learning some new ways of organizing a kitchen for example moving the gas element into the middle of the kitchen floor while flames are licking up the sides of the clay pots…the ladies are totally in control and somehow their long skirts never catch on fire. 

The firefighters are working hard every day and accomplishing a lot. For those of you that are reading that are friends and family of these men and women you should be very proud of their hard work and dedication.  We are all very thankful for their time and dedication to get this project completed by the end of this month. 

We seem to be making some great connections here and this project keeps collecting more support and enthusiasm with every day.  Here are some photos of our first week.  Sorry it’s been a little while since the last post it’s been long days and early nights getting to sleep.