Friday, April 26, 2013

April 26: The final push and final farewell

The last day came far too quickly. The work was winding down, but our spirits were high, and we realized our time with the local team was coming to the end. The monk's niece had died tragically on Monday, and the guys had been at the funeral the night before. As we drove into the site on the last day, our driver Aruna muted the music in the van out of respect for her and her family. Despite the sombre start, we got at it very quickly, finishing the cleaning and painting of the exterior and interior of the temple wall. Mud was still being made by the new quarters and being ferried in to the masons finishing the floor. When we looked in on our almost completed room, we noticed the monk, the podi monk Kosipa and the boys had laid down traditional mats, laid a table and had erected a small shrine in the corner. The freshly yellow painted walls were adorned with flowers and the newly installed fans were running. It looked beautiful. We had invited the boys to join us for lunch and eat we did. We handed out little gifts to the local team and thanked them for putting up with us ;) , as they do every year. The let us learn and make mistakes, taught us well and laughed as we often fumbled our way through things, always allowing us to figure it out.


We were given the opportunity to ask the monk some questions about his calling and temple life, a rare and honest insight into the goings on in our little village. As were were presented with out certificates from the temple, the monk handed us all Sri Lankan tea and a key chain and sent us home with plenty of buffalo curd and bananas. We made out like bandits.

We returned home to pack, shower and head to Ketakalawatta for our proper good bye with the boys. The monks snacks, some beer and of course a little Arrak, we sat, and sang and some even some danced. And as the light faded and we piled into our vans and headed back to Tangalle for a great evening prepared by the amazing team at Moonstone and Raelene our amazing hostess.

It went far too fast.

Amalie Bruun
DWC Team Leader
Sri Lanka, April 2013

Wednesday, April 24, 2013

April 23: Visiting a new project, working hard in the heat, and playing with the local kids

After our breakfast we piled into our vans, but today on the way to site, we stopped off at the local Muslim School just down the road. This is another project that TRIP/DWC is working on right now. The grounds are very neat and tidy, and there are a lot of kids at the school. We visited all of the class rooms to take a look at the potential work to be done. Their buildings definitely need a coat of paint and new playground along with a slew of other things like science lab equipment, books, a library, etc. Looks like another great project!


We then headed off to site and got right to work. Most of the team was working on painting the exterior temple wall. It was all hands on deck to try and get it done as fast as possible. The heat was SO intense. We had some nice thick paint today and it was amazing how fast we started to move along. At 10am we stopped for tea time with the Monk who had arranged young fresh coconuts. With quick and skilled knife action they were opened up for us so we grabbed a straw and started slurping our fresh coconut water. Tasted amazing in the heat.

Shortly afterwards we headed over to the school for a presentation from the school principal and the District Manger of Education. It was great to see all the kids, parents and teachers come together to celebrate the school. After the ceremony, we were served sweet Sri Lankan tea and a massive table full of homemade treats. They tasted great!

Before heading back we to work we stopped to watch the school kids play a couple of New Years games in the school yard. Games included: blow up the balloon as fast as you can till it pops, sack races, and put the eye on the elephant while blindfolded (their version of pin the tail on the donkey). It was great to see the kids laughing and having fun with their parents.


Soon we were back off to work painting the wall again. After a quick lunch break the Monk gave us a tour of the temple. The temple is 110 years old and the inside is covered with very detailed and well preserved wall paintings explaining the life story of Buda. Amazing!

At one point we did run out of paint so we all moved over to the new building. The final layer of concrete was being poured inside today - Amalie and Kristian were helping the workers hand mix the concrete. Back breaking work in this heat. It's coming along really well though. The walls are all painted, lights are wired and installed, the doors are almost ready for installation and the windows just need a final sanding before they get a last coat of stain. It looks great. We worked away on sanding and staining the windows. Our extra paint finally arrived so we worked a little longer today in order to finish the outside wall. All in all, another great day with a lot accomplished. Looking forward to pizza tonight at Moonstone with the group. Can't believe we are leaving soon.

Alison Lacon
DWC Participant
Sri Lanka, April 2013

Monday, April 22, 2013

April 22: More painting, concrete work, and carpentry...repeat.

After a day of rest and relaxation, it was back to work for all volunteers.

This morning was the first day back to school for the kids, following their New Years Break. It was great to see the children that benefit from all our hard work. They were slightly distracted as we painted the outside walls of their classrooms. Peaking through the wire mesh windows-always smiling for the camera.

The school is really starting to look complete. Most of the walls are now painted and the classrooms ready for use. With such a great facility, the enrolment in this school is expected to increase quickly!

Work continued on the new building on temple property - cement was mixed and carried as the outside curb/sidewalk was poured, then troweled and stained a deep red colour. It looks great with the yellow colour on the walls. The electrician completed the connection of the electrical panel and branch circuits and tomorrow they will connect the electric power to the building. The carpenters showed us how to use their tools, with their skill and our willingness, the construction of the doors and windows was well underway by day's end.

David Myer
DWC Participant
Sri Lanka, April 2013

April 20: Making "friends" with local creatures and visiting Tangalle's harbour

A team of 5 eager volunteers headed to the school to finish off the final room in need of a fresh coat of paint. However, the air was no longer filled with the smell of gasoline, but the smell of a decomposing dog found at the back of the school! Thanks to Kristian, Kal, Suresh and the use of the children's slide, the dog was moved from the area. The lock was cut from the final room and the work began. As the furniture and pictures were moved from the walls many new friends were discovered, including hundreds of red ants, serval frogs and lizards, and a huge spider! Many screams were heard by the other team across the road painting at the temple! And it wasn't even tea time yet!

After these exciting events, the team was able to buckle down and get to work to finish the classroom in time. Everyone pitched in to put two coats of paint on the walls and put the room back in order before the end of the day! The front gate of the school was painted and so was the inside of the temple.

The school is now ready for the kids and teachers are returning on Monday.


That night most of us joined Oneil to go on a tour of Tangalle and to see the harbour. The harbour was filled with beautiful colourful fishing boats that served as a great photo op. Oneil then took us to his home to meet his family and, of course, to eat! We then met Oneils father who is holding a ritual ceremony to commemorate the 2 year anniversary of his wife's passing.

Danielle Myer
DWC Participant
Sri Lanka, April 2013

Friday, April 19, 2013

April 18 & 19: English classes, more painting and amazing food

We started the morning of day 3 out with a special presentation at the Community Centre by the English class of the village. We were all greeted with beautiful bouquets of flowers by the children. They sang us a number of English songs including twinkle twinkle and the older children presented an English discussion about their local market. We were all thoroughly impressed with their level of English considering they only have English classes (sponsored by Trip Canada) once a week.

We got a lot of progress done on day 3 of working, however, day 4 was a killer. Yesterday we painted 3 rooms of the school and lots of the outside. Over at the temple we finished parging the main room of the new eating area and completed all the finishing work on the rest of the walls. At the end of the day half of us went on a river cruise near Tangalle where we saw peacocks, monkeys, fruit bats and several local birds. We arrived back around 7pm and enjoyed an amazing pizza dinner at our home away from home, Moonstone Villas.

Today lots more painting was completed at the school but we were very disappointed that we did not have access to one of the main buildings, which is in dire need of a paint job. All the parging was finished at the temple and the first base coats of paint were applied to the eating area. Prep work was also done on the wood frames for staining to be done tommorow. We had another amazing lunch at the Community Centre cooked for us by a local family. However, all you could hear coming from the Community Centre at the end of lunch was snoring. We were all exhausted! It was extremely hot and we dragged ourselves through the rest of the afternoon. After a quick dip in the ocean in all our work clothes to wash off, we are now back at the Moonstone Villas getting ready for a lovely meal out tonight at Buckinghams - given we all stay awake!

Looking forward to finishing off the rest of the school tomorrow and cleaning off the improved playground in time for the children's return Monday morning. Cannot wait to see the looks on the children's faces when they arrive back after their holiday!

Isthtuti! Pasua Hemawemoo!
(Thank you! See you later!)

Jamie Shea
DWC Participant
Sri Lanka, April 2013

Wednesday, April 17, 2013

April 17: Saved by Suresh!

Yes, the smell of diesel continued at the temple again this morning, this time with half the team lugging buckets of cement around the perimeter of the building until late morning when "woo hoo!!!!!" was heard across the land and the cement work was complete. The monster cement mixer was then trucked away for it's next job hopefully far, far away from our site. The team then switched gears to parging where the awards went to Jason for always having a trowel full of mud ready to go, to David for having the honor of actually shaping the walls and to Kristian for overall parging talent.

The other half of the team spent the day at the school painting, and painting, and painting. Most outer walls now have a first or second coat, and the front entrance arch has never looked so good.  The biggest challenge with painting was the wall height. Picture this: 4 Canadian gals staring up at an 11 foot high wall wondering how they are going to paint that high. Attempts at standing on school desks and chairs only got them so far. Then like a knight in shining armor the girls were saved by Suresh who whittled down the end of 2 long pieces of bamboo and they became pole extensions to attach to the end of the rollers. Brilliant. Trust 1 Sri Lankan to have a more innovative creative idea than 4 Canadians combined, any day.      

Penny Gumley
DWC Participant
Sri Lanka, April 2013

Tuesday, April 16, 2013

April 16: Work Day One


The sweet smell of diesel lay heavy in the air as the cement mixer chugged away loudly. Our first day at the temple was going to involve a lot of concrete making, as we saw the day before when we took our jet-lag on a tour of the work sites. Stretches were done in preparation of the mixing to be done by shovels, but we were pleasantly greeted by the sight of the mixer.

The mixer helped us pour the whole floor for the temple's new building by mid-afternoon! Rest assured it wasn't too much easier having it, there was still lots of shoveling of the mixed concrete and gravel and a long chain gang to pour the buckets out.

Tea time at the temple was a welcome break mid-morning, made even more enjoyable for us by being hosted in the new monk's quarters which we helped build last year. It looks great and the monks are very happy with it.

The sun was hot, the backs were tired and everyone felt a great sense of accomplishment at the floor being done. Now for some more stretches...

Kristian Bruun
DWC Participant
Sri Lanka, April 2013

April 15: Arrived and Reuiniting with old friends!

By the time Sunday afternoon rolled around, all 12 volunteer's from Trip Canada had finally gathered in hot and very humid Tangalle. Taking the rest of the day to unpack, acclimatize and relax, the group spent the day at our hosts lodging Moonstone Villas. For many of the group, this was their first return to Sri Lanka and Tangalle in many years, so improvements in road and general infrastructure were of great interest. Arriving on New Year's Day, most businesses were closed, so the group had to wait to see Tangalle in all its glory!

Bruce, Amalie, Anil, Ruwan and Raelene sat down and went through the tasks to be completed for the next 2 weeks. Being on the ground provides you with updated site information and we learned that all construction at the school had been completed, BUT, there was a ton of walls - interior and exterior - that required painting to complete the project. The temple was where the bulk of the work and as such team would be located. A new cooking, eating and storage facility had been built on the temple grounds for the monk and his students. Our task was to finish plastering the lower parts of the walls, mix and pour the floors, finish the floors and paint. We also discussed possible future projects, for either the end of this trip or next year's group. These included the female monk's facility and primary school in Tangalle.

After a great first night's welcome curry buffet at Moonstone, everyone tumbled into bed, happy to lay in one after the long journey. Raelene and her amazing staff made sure all the comforts of home were provided and everyone pretty much slept through the night.

Monday dawned hot as we met for our first group breakfast and went through some house keeping details. T-shirts were handed out, general housekeeping reviewed and we set off to tour our work sites, the homes of Kal, Somaseelie and Vijay, Ketakallwatta and have a great meal prepared for us by Senevee's wife Shamalie at the Community centre. The day was full of happy, tearful reunions, notably for David Meyer and Vijay. Everyone in Palathaduwa seem healthy and happy and maybe a little "tired" after the New Year's festivities.

We returned to Moonstone eager to cool off and catchup on news from home. David, Danny, Penny and Jamie headed off to the Rock Temple with Depaul. All four raved about the view from the top and enjoyed the view after the 561 steps to the top!

Dinner at Palm Paradise was another happy reunion of old friends and a great time. And by the time our tuks tuks arrived, all were ready for bed and off we went into the darkness in our favourite form of transportation.

The real work begins tomorrow.

Amalie Bruun (TRIP Canada)
DWC Team Leader
Sri Lanka, April 2013