Over the first week I will facilitate and accompany three AusAID officers who are coming to check out the work being conducted by our team with Australian Aid money. And have we got a week planned for them!
First we will head up the west coast to Puttalam district where they will meet families who as a result of a permaculture program are now growing enough produce on their own land to feed their children and pay for their schooling - and still have excess to sell, or barter. Having food and water for your family is a basic right often taken for granted, but being able to do it yourself, to be in control and to have choices - well that's living!
In the middle of the country is the beautiful hill capital of Nuwera Eliya, an oasis from the heat and humidity of the lowlands. This is tea country - if you drink Ceylon tea there is a good chance it comes from this area. But not all is green and fragrant - some of the plantations do not take good care of their, primarily Tamil, workforce. Many of these communities have no safe, clean water on tap, many have no adequate sanitation and as a result there is a high prevalence of illness. It's here that Australian money has been working to rehabilitate water sources and provide basic sanitation - but it's not just about providing services. This has been a catalyst to get government talking to estate owners and community members, and estate owners taking ownership for the conditions in which their workers live. New partnerships have been created, people are talking to each other, Tamil workers are talking to Sinhalese owners and governments - tea production is up, sickness is down - but again it's the peace building and self-determination that has transformed communities and individuals.
Across on the East coast, in an area devastated by extended war and a tsunami, Australian's have sponsored about 3,000 children and as result of that money a maternal, new-born child health program has begun to turn the devastation of malnourishment in the most vulnerable babies and train mothers how to sustain that health; pre-schoolers have gone back to school, teachers have been supported and trained; and home gardens are being established which will mean that families can support themselves and maybe generate some income.
And then, in the second and third week, the fun starts... I travel to the Northern city of Jaffna where I have the privilege of facilitating a design workshop for a new $3 Million Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) project in two communities. Another Australian Aid funded project, we will work, through local partners, to increase the adoption of improved hygiene practices and sustained equitable use of water and sanitation facilities. (More about that in the future...)
But of course, as well as working, I will pay an obligatory visit to Barefoot and Odel and I will catch up with Salvo family and friends, looking forward to that too :)
