Sri Lanka

I've been journaling less and less with each country. Started out strong writing about each city in Morocco- down to 1 entry per country. My notes on Sri Lanka are pathetic, but only because I've been too busy having an amazing time to write. And I fall asleep immediately during any moment of free time we get. Sri Lanka was hands down my favorite part of the trip. I've never been to a place this colorful- the clothing, skin, food, mountains, plants, animals, it's like all the rain and heat soaks and bakes everything in hot colors. After being awake for over 24 hours, the gang made it to Colombo at Sarvodaya's Peace and Meditation Center. We all crashed immediately. I felt like I was dreaming when I woke up, it was such a serene place, I couldn't figure out how it was just a driveway off the road of the chaos of the Capitol city. There is a sapling of the tree Buddha reached enlightenment under on the grounds! That night, we had the honor of meeting Dr. Ari, the founder of Sarvodaya and the leader behind a service movement that started in one village and now is active in over 15,000 across the country. This man received the Gandhi Award and is widely known and respected across Sri Lanka and the world. He is so old and wise and humble and I could not believe we got to hear him speak in such a small group setting. The next day we drove an exhausting 12 hours across the country to Trincomalee, a northern coastal city that is still struggling severely from the devastating aftermath of the tsunami and civil war. While traveling and crazy driving on dirt, winding roads made for a long day, it allowed us to see so much of the country- jungles, mountains, wild elephants, tea and rice fields, tons of monkeys, and tuk-tuks, a kind of tricycle motorcycle/mini car that everyone drives way too fast here. A lot of it reminded me of Sierra Leone and the DR, the tropical beauty contrasted with extreme poverty. Palm trees standing tall and proud above hunched over shacks made of mud or rusty scrap metal. We stopped to hike to the Buddhist Golden Temple, which is built into a cliffside and offered breathtaking views. We spent the rest of the week at Trinco, doing a Shramadana in the village of Jamailia. On the first day, we were greeted by the entire village with beautiful handmade flower garlands, a marching band, and parade. Sarvodaya means "awakening of all" and believes in an all inclusive community model. Ceremonies are huge in Sri Lankan culture, and a leading representative of each religion, ethnic group, and political party was at the front table of the jam packed room. A buddhist, muslim, hindu, and christian priest gave very long encouraging speeches in Tamil that followed a lot of clapping and lighting candles. It was so wonderful to witness everyone in the village united and excited about renovating the school. I worked on the preschool building with a group of mothers and their children. We painted the outside and landscaped the schoolyard. The mothers took me under their wing and wouldn't let me paint for more than 5 minutes before offering (forcing) me to take a seat, cookie, fish biscuit, or glass of tea or hot milk. At first I felt uncomfortable and overwhelmed by all the attention they extended us, as I was here to help and work hard. But then I realized what a western "efficiency" mindset I had. It is custom for them to take frequent breaks for talking and eating and they wanted to give their guests the best they had. And I did have the best time getting to know them- we even finished our project early on the final day. "Mothers" shaped my experience in both Morocco and Sri Lanka, and I will never forget the love, warmth, and endless supply of food that was given so freely to me by these inspiring women. I got the superlative "most likely to get stolen by 5 year olds" because of the little gang of misfits I acquired at the preschool. Boys Mufit, Nadir, Doggi, and Bakhar and tomboy Lisma. At the end of the day, we played a lot of "RUN" which involved pointing at a faraway landmark, racing to it, collapsing in a pile up, and then jumping back up to point and race to the next destination. Back at the District Headquarters (sounds straight outta Hunger Games), our group hung out at the beach. All 14 of us girls shared a dorm style bedroom and a rat infested bathroom- we grew closer than ever. Sang Annie's "Hard Knock Life" on the beds under our pink mosquito nets. There was a girl's vocational school upstairs. We made friends with the beautician trainees and they practiced on us! I was able to meet with Jeeta Jacobson and Jeeva Rajah, the two supervisors of the YITP Integration Program for 350 war affected children in Trinco, Amparai, and Baticcolo. Recruitment into the rebel armies robbed children of their childhoods and this program reunited them with families and provided social support, job resources, community internships, and trauma therapy. They both stayed after work hours to answer my 100 questions and were invaluable resources for my research. We were given our farewell with a huge cultural show of singing and dancing before heading to the mountain city of Kandy for 2 days. Our contribution to the talent show was singing "In the Jungle" a capella and doing the Thriller dance. Go USA. We went to the market, visited the famous Temple of the Tooth, Helga's Folly, and the Sri Lankan International Buddhist Academy. Greatest thing about the city is the advertisements. They're in English and make me so smiley. Everything is called (positive adjective, object). For instance, you want a sandwich? Get a Happy Sandwich. In the mood for a cookie? We've got a Friend Cookie for you. How bout a cake? Nice Cakes come in many flavors. On our way back to Colombo, we stopped in the middle of beautiful nowhere at a rural mountain village to learn about a Sarvodaya water project and microfinance SEEDS bank. We spent the final 2 days at the Center for Higher Learning doing what we named "reflection boot camp". It was the most peaceful, yet learning intensive part of the entire trip and just what we needed to retreat and digest all we've learned in this whirlwind of a month. Now 2 days of traveling from Sri Lanka to Qatar, Qatar to Turkey, Turkey to France, and France to DC. We shall overcome. I feel so blessed to have had this adventure, but do not want to set foot in an airport or eat airplane food for a little while.