Visit to the projects part 1

The good surprise is that we get into the minibus and when we are about to leave, Sandeepa comes with us with the members of the CCF. Thus it’s all together that we go and visit some sites where they are very active. No need to tell you that we are very pleased to spend a few moments more with Sandeepa. First we go to a home gardening. It’s a place where they grow various young plants which will be given later to the inhabitants. A kind of plant nursery. Kumara shows me more particularly the network of “sprinkler” which waters the place. We discover of course a great number of local species but also tomatoes growing here and there and even a cauliflower young plant with leaves only, a luxury product in this country. The families who benefit by this place take care of it and take part to the apprenticeship of the techniques of growing and watering. It’s the principle of the help brought by the CCF. The aim is to help people with a technical and financial support. By no means there is a kind of nannying, of direct assistance without people taking an active part in it. We set off again for a few hundred metres towards a dam financed by the CCF, on the river Kirinda. Hemali and Kumara tell me that thanks to this dam, 400 families have access to irrigation water. At present the floodgates are wide open following the recent important rains. The next visit is devoted to a family composed of the mother and her three daughters. Her situation is critical because her husband is dead and her brother who is a soldier and supported her, has just been seriously wounded and must have an amputation. Everybody is moved when hearing this tragedy. The older daughters, just back from school, show their uniforms proudly: white dress and blouse, red tie. The oldest wears a medal she got thanks to her fifth rank. Their house is not finished and they with the grandmother. A long silence follows the explanations translated by Srath. The mother holds her tears back when telling about her brother’s wound, meaning the end of his financial help. Despite all her efforts she doesn’t manage to find a permanent job because of her lack of professional training, of means of transport ,of opportunities in this part of the country, of everything in fact. We can see in her eyes a call for help her dignity prevents her from saying loud. I feel uncomfortable, of course we could help this family too but how many of them are in the same situation? Several ten or hundred thousands probably.
We then go into a small house inhabited by a family composed of a young couple and their two children. The husband is a farmer, his wife was trained as a dressmaker. There aren’t many jobs in the clothes industry in this area so the CCF has paid for a sewing machine for the family. They have already bought 8 in the district. Each of them is worth RS30000, about €200. The family got the machine very recently so for the moment the clothes made are for the family and the neighbours. But in a near future the production will be sold through a kind of  cooperative run by the project. Her husband takes me to visit the field he cultivates not far from the house. We step over tomato plants and weave between the coconut trees for a few minutes before discovering the field in question. I am very cautious while making my way because I don’t want to walk on a snake (cobras are numerous in this area). The field is rather well delimited, it seems to be 3 to 4000 m2 large. They grow a kind of very thin and very long gourd. The plants are between 1,50 and 2 metres high. Each visit is also the occasion to taste a bean, a fruit or a new vegetable found by Kumara’s professional eye. He likes joking and, taking advantage of our complete confidence in him, he makes us eat a fruit which is surely delicious when ripe, but which is very acid when still green. He’ll fool us again later with cloves!

During these two days we appreciated his natural sense of humour and we also showed ours. Anyway, the discovery of these new flavours was something surprising and very pleasant. Before the departure I had a little fear of the Sri-Lankan cooking and products. We had bought all the medicines necessary in case of stomach or intestine troubles. Finally everything was alright, so I put an ad: “One box of Maalox, lemon flavour,(ends in 10/2010) and one box of Diarexyl (ends in 11/2010), completely new, for sale”!

The following stage leads us to a banana plantation which benefits from the irrigation programme. Next to it is ahouse inhabited by two boys aged about 10. A neighbour, rather old - I think she’s 65 but it’s impossible to be sure with these marked faces – explains to us that one of the two is her grandson. His parents died during the tsunami ( he was 5 or 6 at this time, about Sandeepa’s age), but he is lucky enough to have a sponsor. The other one doesn’t have a family and was taken in by the grandmother. Both kids live by their own in the house and are helped by the neighbours.

We then visit a house against which stands a hut sheltering a strange machine. I’m told that this machine is usedto make cords from coconut fibres. The CCF financed the machine which is very simple and a first supply of 300 kg of coconut fibres. Thanks to that, two women earn a small amount of money. I can’t resist to the desire of operating the machine while the two women are weaving the coconut fibre. This spontaneous team work makes them laugh, I take advantage of the situation to play tricks by testing the resistance of the new rope with my Herculean strength. Kumara makes a good audience, we continue our visit still with Sandeepa who gets progressively used to our presence. Sometimes, when getting off the minibus or when walking the short distances done on foot, she comes and holds my hand to walk by my side. My heart beats a little faster then; it’s such a happiness to live these particular moments. These almost paternal feelings, for me who don’t have  children, are both new and wonderful, upsetting too. I had prepared myself and I understand better the restrictions imposed during the visits by the CCF. Besides the child’s protection which remains an absolute priority, it’s also necessary to protect oneself towards this relationship. Don’t let’s be carried along by our enthusiasm, keep our place of sponsor even if there is no father, even if some mails begin with “Dear father”, even if Sandeepa looks at me with her eyes full of emotion, admiration and maybe of love from a little girl aged 6 who never had a father. I wonder how Sandeepa will live our departure. I hope everything will be alright for her; and for us.

I ask Hemali and Kumara if it would possible to see Sandeepa’s school. Very kindly they agree to make a detour. It wasn’t part of our plans but this nice team can’t indeed refuse us anything. More seriously we must thank them a lot because they did everything they could to make this visit a real success. They were always there, full of attention and I know that organizing everything (trips, meals, visits) must have taken a lot of time, not to mention the two days they spent with us. So we make a little detour the school. Sandeepa is not particularly pleased for today she’s playing truant because of us. We stay only a few minutes not to disturb the pupils. Some of them taking advantage of their break come and meet our little group. A huge map of the world gives me the opportunity to show them where France and Sri Lanka are. They can thus measure the distance between the two countries. I’m sure they already had a good idea of the culture gap, seeing how they watch us with their astonished eyes. The pupils in Sandeepa’s class are in the library, we can therefore take photos of the classroom. Kumara shows me Sandeepa’s drawing among all the ones hung on the wall.

It’s almost time to go back to the hotel and take Sandeepa back home. We were supposed to have a little break at the beach but we preferred, by far, all the visits we did. At Sandeepa’home, nobody gets off  ... Munidasa and Malani come and join us carrying bags with a mysterious contents. The minibus starts off again, towards Kirinda beach.