Educational videos for teenage mothers

My fellow volunteer, Nienka the nurse has been working at Ma Savena, a teenage mothers's home. When she first started working there, the condition of the home was horrid. She said the place was filthy and depressing, and there was basically nothing great about it. All the girls had head lice, and the babies were wearing soiled clothes all day because they weren't wearing diapers!
The home is called a reform house even though those girls are the victims of rape. They are only 13-18 yrs old. They didn't do anything wrong, really. The girls are called inmates, and they are not allowed to go outside of the premise. Some of the girls stay at the home for more than a few years until they turn 18yrs old (sometime court orders that they stay at this home until they are old enough not to be the Gov's responsibility)... There is a law in place to prosecute the perpetrator, but it takes a long time. The girls tend to be hesitant to stick through the process because of the shame attached. The case quite often gets thrown out for silly reasons like a missing paperwork.
When I visited the home, a girl who was raped by her father just came back to the home with her baby. I didn't know what to say. Just too sad. She doesn't have a home to go back to either.
Nienka did fundraising in Netherlands, and she used the money to purchase new mattresses, pillows, diapers, personal hygiene items etc, etc. She made amazing changes to the home. She also taught the girls a lot about nutrition, hygiene tasks, baby care, cleaning of the house etc. She was worried that the girls and the staff might go back to their old habit once she leaves. So, we decided that we make education videos about nutrition, hygiene care, and cleaning to remind them what they need to do. We also wanted to do the videos for the new mothers arriving too. I was the camera woman, and Yoshi (another volunteer) helped as an interpreter. The videos are obviously made by amateurs, but they are funny and send clear messages. It was a fun project and also very nice to be able to work together with the fellow volunteers I respect a lot. I hope the girls will not forget what Nienka taught them.

social etiquette in Sri Lnaka

I don't really know how Sri Lankan guys interact with Sri Lankan girls socially, but the way they communicate with us, I mean female foreigners, is very different from what I'm used to in America or Japan. Awkward, really.
For instance, I was at a grocery store the other day, looking for tofu. since I didn't see it, I asked one of the shop attendants if they carry tofu. He took me to the fridge section, couldn't find tofu, and turned around to ask me "your country is?". I replied "Japan and America" And he said "your phone number is?" I just stared at his face and said "no phone number" and walked away.
It is so strange, but this seems to be such a normal progression of conversation to Sri Lankan men. He didn't even ask my name! It is always like that. After 30 seconds of conversation, they want my phone number. It's happening to all the foreigners I've met. I'm guessing they do this to us because it's not socially acceptable to do such a thing to Sri Lankan ladies. They can't really have a girlfriend like the way we do in the West. They seem to be very young and naive comes to dealing with opposite sex.

Right after I arrived to Sri Lanka, I made a mistake to give my phone number to one of the security guards at my office. I had the hardest time to understand his English, and I somewhat thought he needed my phone number because he is a security guard (not sure why I thought that). Since then, he has been calling me at least 2x/day even though I never answer the call anymore. He calls really late and early in the morning too. A similar thing happened to my housemate, Adam too. He met a Sri Lankan guy during his field trip. Apparently the guy fell in love with Adam while they were hanging out for like an hour. Since then he has been calling Adam obsessively even though they would probably never see each other again. The guy texted Adam one day, saying "I love you too." Well...Adam said this guy's English is not that great, but we are trying to figure out "too" part... It seems that this guy thinks he is in a relationship with Adam?? And just a few days ago, Adam received a text with picture of two doves kissing. The writing in it said "you and me" in Sinhale...

It's just very strange. Very different.

karaoke!

My house mate, Adam asked me if I wanted to go to karaoke one Fri night. Based on his research, we have to go to a place that’s somewhat on the high end because otherwise it could be a prostitution joint…
Anyway, the day he picked to go to karaoke, I was exhausted and needed to get ready to go on a trip early in the morning next day. So, I decided to stay home instead. Adam, Ayesha, and Yoshi went to Colombo to check out a few places Adam knew about. Unfortunately, they couldn’t get into any of the bars because some of them are closed, and also because Adam wasn’t dressed appropriately for the posh bar (his pants were too short…). So they came back to the hostel, and we decided to have a karaoke/dance party there. We all found the songs that we wanted to sing on Youtube. We put a red grocery bag over the light to create mood lighting. We all hit the floor dancing as we took turns singing. Adam also had a bottle of Arrack (which is a coconut based whisky) to share. Really sweet but actually pretty good. We were giggling and having a great time as we danced and sang more and more. Then, we heard footsteps. One guy from the international unit (the unit responsible for all the volunteers) and a matron of the hostel came to tell us to tone it down. They said that there was a funeral going on not too far from the hostel...(the funeral was for the guy in the picture. a 22 yr old man died of leukemia). Also our neighbors complained to the security guys that we’re too loud and keeping them up. As we talked to the guy from the international unit, Adam quietly moved to sit down on the coffee table so that they don’t see the bottle of Arrack. We are not allowed to drink alcohol of any kinds at the hostel. The hostel is run by a Buddhist organization. The thing is it’s very quiet around the hostel at night, and the noise travels far. I felt bad but couldn’t help laughing about our misfortune. We had more songs to dance for.
I was gone for the weekend, so nobody had a chance to ask me what we did at the hostel on that night. I was so glad to be out of town. People loved to gossip around here, and they seem to enjoy knowing what we are up to. Apparently, they knew that we were drinking which is against the hostel rules, but they didn’t kick us out…it was a super fun night that I would remember for a long time 

LGBT community in Sri Lanka

Being gay is basically illegal in Sri Lanka. There is no law protecting them against discrimination or harassment. I'm not sure if the authorities actually take any actions to prosecute them though. It seems Sri lankans and/or the government don't want to acknowledge that LGBT community exists. It appears to me that many people are very uninformed/unaware about it, and they are somewhat in denial that this is a human right issue in their own country. Majority of Sri Lankans are Buddhist, and as far as I know Buddhism doesn't make no claim on any type of sexual behaviors...
I recently went to LGBT event at British council. They had three day long film festival. The event wasn't that well attended unfortunately, but even then I could tell LGBT has a strong community based on the way they seem to know each other well.
I ended up talking to a guy who turned out to be an counselor for LGBT population. He was telling me about the subtle discrimination that they experience and also the difficulty with their families. This counselor turned out to be an artist, and he had his work displayed at this event. I purchased one of his paintings from him. The proceed goes toward LGBT community work. I get overwhelmed sometimes when I think about the amount of work still left to do to bring equality for all, and I don't even know what I can contribute...but at least $30 I spent on the paining will be used for good cause.

The trip to the villages ended in an interesting way

I took a three day trip to two different villages in southern part of Sri Lanka last week. The drive took about 7 hrs one way, and I saw so many different scenaries of Sri Lanka--rice paddy fields, tea plantations in the beautiful hill country, pristine beaches w/wild peacocks, the civil war battleground w/wild elephants crossing the streets etc. I'm sure it's a matter of time before Sri Lanka becomes the destination for all. It's just too beautiful not to be discovered. Anyway, it was all fun and very touching to meet all the villagers, but what I remember the most from this trip is that I got drank in the car with my boss on the way back home!

When I travel, I'm usually with men only-my boss and co-worker. During the last trip, they asked me if I liked to drink. I told them that I do occasionally, but not much since I came to Sri Lanka as I'm not allowed to drink at where I live (Buddhist hostel). I didn't think much of this conversation until the last day. Until when my co-worker jumped out of the car all the sudden and came back with a bottle of Lion beer, whisky, and plastic cups! They said that it's not illegal to have open bottles in a car. They were like "nobody cares, really. We work hard and need to drink sometimes. Just don't tell anyone". Oh...a beautiful Buddhist country! I love Sri Lanka more now :).

As they drink, they kept saying "just a little bit, just a little bit." I had 1/2 of the bottle of the beer, maybe. But, my boss and co-worker ,who are both pretty devout Buddhists, went for it. I mean they really did. They stopped the car every 5 mins, so that they can pour whisky into plastic cups without spilling. They kept asking me if I wanted whisky, but I decided against it. I wasn't sure if I could handle it with the bumpy and windy road. By the time we got back in town, both the beer and whisky bottles were empty. My co-worker became extremely talkative, and I just couldn't wait to get out of the car... My boss also chews betel all day long too. At the end of the trip (1am!!), he smiled at me with red-stained teeth and said "good trip. You don't need to come in until 10am tomorrow..."

volunteer work

I guess I didn't know exactly what to expect when I first came to Sri Lanka. I wasn't really sure if I would be placed in a village teaching, building schools or what. The only thing I knew was that I wanted to do something, at least one thing, that Sarvodaya (the agency I volunteer for) would find to be helpful.
It turned out that the Community Capacity Building Unit (CCBU) could use my help. This unit helps villagers organize themselves to work collectively to bring positive changes/improve the quality of life.
One of the things that I'm working on is the well construction project. Japan Asian Friendship Society (JAFS) provides most of the funding to build the wells in the villages, and CCBU has built about 150 wells all over Sri Lanka in the last 5 years. CCBU needs help sending the progress reports on the construction to JAFS and also writing the grant proposal for the funding for the next five years. Those are the things I do when I'm in my office at the headquarter of Sarvodaya.
To do the reports, I can get to travel with the unit to different places to meet the villagers and see the wells too. I just attended the well opening ceremony in Kegall district. Lots of people turned up for the ceremony--maybe about 30 people. The treasurer of the village society started crying during his speech as he got too emotional. They were needing this well at last for the last five years, and it was finally completed! It was very touching (I was trying very hard not to cry) to see him sharing the tears of joy.
The villagers used to walk about a mile one way to get the clean water from the well in the next village. Making the trip to the well more than once a day means they have less time to work in their rice paddy field, vegetable farms etc, meaning less produce to eat/sell.
The new well would be used by 150 people everyday. It costs only $600 to build one well. It really made me think about the money I waste on things that I don't even need...

meat lover's paradise. the philippines that is

I can't believe it's almost a week since I came back from the Philippines. When I think back my week long vacation there, the things I remember are the blue sky/water, the fish biting my elbows and feet, roosters crowing all day long waking me up, San Miguel, San Miguel, Red Horse, and San Miguel again .....and all kinds of meat. Lots of it too. Lechon, longganisa, adobo, kare kare etc. If you love to eat meat three times a day or more, the Philippines is it for you. In fact, Rach and I had the hardest time finding fresh veggies, especially in Coron. This mostly meat diet was quite a shock to my system since I have been eating pretty much vegetarian in Sri Lanka. I have to say I enjoyed the sweet aroma of meat though! Filipinos are serious about their meat, and they seem not to waste any parts of animals, which I really respect. Rach and I saw a street vendor selling chicken heads on a skewer. Even I couldn't bring myself to try that. Maybe I can't be Japanese Anthony Bourdain after all. Sad.

off to Kuala Lumpur

I'm sure Rachel didn't think I would really join her when she asked if I wanted to come to the Philippines, but I sure was glad I decided to go for it. I've been having good days lately and loving being in Sri Lanka, but still I miss hanging with my dear friends. In fact, when I thought about seeing Rach during my flight to Kuala Lumpur/KL (I needed to spend a night there before going to Manila), I started tearing up :).
I had never been to KL before, and I didn't realize how cosmopolitan that city is. I'm ashamed to admit, but my heart started beating faster when I saw starbucks at the airport. I made a bee line for a nice soy latte, and this is how my sweet relationship with coffee started again after not having any for the last three months. After spending a couple of hours in China town negotiating the price for a fake Lacoste shirt (I got pretty good at doing this after living in Sri Lanka. Walking away like I don't give a damn when they give you an outrageous price is the key), I headed out to Little India to walk around. There, people are watching the World cup game as the street vendors had huge TVs set up. I was standing to watch the game, but there was this guy who insisted that I sat down. So I did. He ordered two orange juice and chapatis for me, which I insisted that I didn't want since I just ate in China town. He paid for everything, and I thought...this doesn't seem right. I wasn't sure if he was just being nice or wanted something else. Turned out that he wanted to bet against me on the game! I felt bad about not having a good reason to decline his offer after eating all the free food, so I lied saying that my parents asked me never to gamble. Told him about my mom being dead etc. I don't know why I said that, but that's what came out of my mouth. When I told him that I needed to go, he wanted to know where I was going and if he could come along. I ended up lying again saying that I have to meet my husband. LOL! You see things a woman needs to do when she travels alone...ha ha. will write about the philippines next!

wherever I go, I find something I love to eat

Happy 1st anniversary of the end of the civil war in Sri Lanka! It's a national holiday today. It actually ended in May last yr, but the celebration was postponed until June due to heavy rain/flood happended last month.

So...The food in Sri Lanka is simple (meaning I can tell what's in it. Not overly processed) and delicious. Fruits here are like candies to me. I've been eating papayas everyday as they are much sweater than the ones I can find in Seattle. Cheaper too, of course.
I was just making a quick stop at my hostel after the morning tea break, and the matron of the hostel stopped me to have a jak fruit with her. It is apparently the jak fruit season (they produce fruits mostly from May to Sept) It's a big fruit with hard skin which you crack open to get the sweet meat inside (you can see the guy opening a jak fruit in the pic above). We have the tree on the premises of the Sarvodaya headquarter, so this is as fresh as it can get. It's often used for curry too, but the one we had today was sweet enough to eat as dessert. Jak fruit is supposed to be good for bowel movement, digestion, and diabetes. The tree bark is used for fractures and sprains too.

My favorite thing to eat here so far is buffalo curd with kethul treacle. The curd is really rich because water buffalo milk is fattier than the regular milk. Probably not good for my arteries, but I can care less...Kethul is a palm tree (see the pic of it) that produces large clusters of hanging flowers. The sap is collected from the flowers and boiled down to make the treacle. It tastes like maple syrup only that it's better, and it goes so well with the curd. I've been thinking about making french toasts to eat with the treacle. It will be heavenly.
I also drink coconut water pretty much everyday. Lots of stores have a pile of king coconuts (tambili)up front, and they cut the coconut open as I order it. It's supposed to keep the body cool and boost the immune system, and I'm convinced that this will keep me healthy during my stay. It's just so refreshing after walking around under the burning sri Lankan sun and being saffocated by nasty polluted air..
Oh I also love egg hoppers too. I will write about it later...

Sinharaja Forest Reserve aka a leech land

I went to Deniyaya (down South) for a hike in Sinharaja Forest Reserve last weekend. The bus ride to get there was 6 hr long one way, a really bumpy, packed bus ride. I mentally prepared myself for this, but the journey was not as horrid as I anticipated. Many vendors came on to sell things like magazines, toys, handkerchiefs, apples, posters of Buddha, etc etc. At one point, we had a guy singing with tambourines. Just watching people was entertaining. We also made a stop at a service station to replace one of the tires too. I wanted them to check on the break too, but apparently they weren't worried about it as much as I did.
I managed to sleep some until we got to Galle which is about 3 hrs into our trip. In Galle, we passed the town where the train was derailed by Tsunami in 2004. 1500 people are killed by this incident. Reminded me that the country is still in recovery.
Sinharaja Forest Reserve was very dense and lush. Did I think it was worth taking a six hour bus ride? Not sure, to be honest. I didn't get to see any animals (I see more in Moratuwa where I live), but it was interesting to learn about the ayurvedic use of different plants.
The forest was full of leeches, and they are aggressive! They climbed up my shoes and tried to get into my pants(!), really. I actually had one on my back at one point. (in the pic, the tiny black thing on my shirt is a leech)I was lucky that it didn't bite me though, phew.

stray dogs and puppies

Stray dogs are everywhere in Sri Lanka. They are as common as Buddha statues on the street, and those statues are everywhere like Starbucks is in downtown Seattle. Those stray dogs are usually very docile, and they don't bother me at all. But there are three dogs that decided to torture me by barking like crazy. The worst thing of all, they just happen to hang around the meditation center where I really really want to go. I don't know what to do with them. I should have paid more attention when I watched Dog Whisperer.
During the second week here, I was volunteering for the women's movement unit. They have two dogs living in a shack in the back of the office bldg, and one of them just had six puppies. Absolutely adorable ones too. The thing is the mom looks too skinny to feed six hungry babies, and the only food she seems to get is the left over from my lunch. The office orders packed lunch for me, and it's usually a simple fare of dhal, some kinds of veggies, sambol etc...for 70 LKR (Sri Lankan Rupees), which is about 62 cents. The mom is usually waiting for me to finish with her tail wagging. You can imagine the pressure put on me to leave as much food as possible for the mom and puppies...

the first three weeks in Taprobane

I started the first week in Sri Lanka feeling like "what the hell have I done to myself to come here? " My sister reminded me that I said the same exact thing when I moved to the states and UK....apparently I never learn the lesson. It usually gets interesting after the first week though...after the initiation phase. Everything was just a bit too intense at first.

It's the third week now. I can actually say that I have gotten somewhat acclimated to Sri Lanka style. The noise and heat/humidity don't bother me as much.

Mosquitoes still love me. I was reading about dengue fever, aka break-bone disease, on CDC's website (as I was listening to Dengue Fever, ha ha) because my friend, Joy (volunteer from UK) told me about her friend who got it twice in Sri Lanka...apparently symptoms get worse every time. Gotta put Deet on at all times.
I also got used to being stared at constantly like I'm the most exciting thing on this earth... kinda annoying, but how often do I get this much attention anyway?? I might as well enjoy it while it lasts.

I had a very first Sinhalese language lesson tonight. My teacher, Yamuna, is such a patient lady. My memory and pronunciation are horrible. I think I entertained her by butchering her beautiful language. I'm going to villages in South with the people I work with in a couple of weeks, so I'm hoping to learn basic phrases. We shall see if that's possible...