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...
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...
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