March 9: Day 9 - 10 Year Anniversary Celebration

Today is the day of the 10th anniversary. The plan is to have an afternoon celebration at Moonstone with local people who were involved with the various projects over the years, the blessing by the Monk, and speeches from a couple of the students, some of the community people, Wayne, Raelene and myself.

We continued to work in the morning when it was coolest and called it a day after a full morning. Home to change and the celebrations started!

We were honoured by the presence of the local Monk who came to bless the ceremony and to speak about the great work that DWC and TRIP Canada have done over the past 10 years.

Natasha, the first student to come to Kamloops through the Kamloops Tangalle Friendship sponsorship was the Master of Ceremonies - he did an outstanding job!

Marcia Julian 

DWC Team Leader

Sri Lanka: March 2015

March 3: Day 3 - Touring past DWC project sites

We took the day to tour the DWC projects of the past 10 years.

The first stop was the one most important to our group as we had built the first of four houses in Ruvingama - Canada House - in 2005. 10 years ago, we worked in a hot, dry, vegetation-less field. There was no water, no shelter from the sun, and the earth was baked hard. As we drove in the road, this is what we saw...

On to Ketakalawatta to visit with Sanjeev and to see the homes, community centre and Buddhist shrine. There were three other well-cared for homes in this lush community with fruit trees and gardens growing. The families generously let us take some photos! It was a great day to see so many things that we had built or contributed to.

We also met Sanjeev's son who had just graduated in computer technology, thanks to support from Trip Canada and DWC.

We also visited the Trades' Training Centre which sits waiting for the right function to come along.

The school project with TRIP Canada and DWC was next - a school that was destined not to exist without substantial renovations and now supports many local children and teachers.

It was a great day to see so many things that we had built or contributed to. Back to Moonstone for more pool time and R&R!

Marcia Julian
DWC Team Leader
Sri Lanka: March 2015