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 1: Day 1 - The journey to Tangalle

We're here! Seven tired but totally pumped Canadians, ready to start the Tangalle project. We arrived early in the morning and what a pleasure to see our vans waiting for us! It is hard to believe that for several of us it has been 10 years since we made this trip and for three, it is a first time for setting eyes on Sri Lanka. It was 10 years, almost to the day, that six of our group first arrived in Sri Lanka - just weeks after the destruction of the 2004 Boxing Day Tsunami.

The journey was a fun one of noticing new things and reminiscing about the first one. What we really noticed was the new growth and development all along the way. Where we last saw broken homes, treeless devastation, boats and trains where they shouldn't be, this time we saw new life, and a sense that life has picked itself up and carried on.

Raelene, the owner of Moonstone Villas and a DWC volunteer, greeted us. We will be staying at her hotel for the duration of the trip. Wayne, DWC's founder and former president, had just arrived in from his trip through Northern and Eastern Sri Lanka - we got settled in and had a great time chillin' around the pool!

Marcia Julian
DWC Team Leader
Sri Lanka: March 2015