KP supervises ground preparation for tree planting.
Latest News
18
Oct
2008
Tree Planting Under Way
24
Sep
2008
No word from Ulla
Well, here I am again in Sri Lanka. I had come with the idea of visiting Ulla on this trip, but the situation with the war has become much worse. The road linking Ulla, in the East, with Kandy and the rest of the country, has been effectively closed by the military. Not only is it very difficult to get people through, but supplies, even critical supplies like fuel, are only sporadically allowed to pass through the checkpoints.
There have been bombings and abductions in the areas of the East, some points in fact very close to Ulla. The military appears to be running an operations in the hills around Ulla and in Yala National Park, where persistent harassment from the Tamil Tigers is keeping the area terrorized. What this means to Community Friends is that we have no access to the programs that are going on in Ulla and no word from the micro-entrepreneurships that are under way. So, for the time being, we will have to focus on our work in the tea plantation at Waitalawa.
Jay Goodfriend
20
May
2008
Funding for Tree Planting
Community Friends’ board is pleased to announce that a source for bridge funding been found that will pay for the purchase and planting of 10,000 trees on the land to be reforested in Sri Lanka. Work is about to start, preparing the land itself – which means clearing weeds and tangled surface growth, digging contour drains to help stabilize the hillsides and improve the land’s water retention, and digging 10,000 holes. We will also be starting a local nursery so that as many of the 10,000 trees as possible will be grown by micro-entrepreneurs in our community.
We are also pleased to announce that Dr. Gamini Hittunayaka, of the University of Peradenia, has offered to provide us with technical support in guiding our many choices and strategies for this program.
Thanks to all for your generous support!
Jay Goodfriend
14
Mar
2008
Land Transition
This month we are meeting in Kandy, Sri Lanka, to hear a proposal for the land revitalization. Decades of tea production have deeply impacted the soil and wildlife habitat here, leaving nothing but crystalline dolomite where once a verdant forest stood. Steeply sloping terrain combined with torrential rains during two seasonal monsoons have further contributed to the decline of topsoil deposits. And, once again, we are confronted with a local population that seems to be held in poverty by the jobs they cling to – tending and plucking tea.
The proposal that we are considering is this: transition the land away from tea towards agroforestry. This means replacing the tea plants with fruit-bearing trees. In this way, we can help stimulate the local economy with fruit production while at the same time repairing the land by creating greater biodiversity, a return of native species, and through the elimination of chemical fertilizers. The proposal is to plant trees during two or three rainy seasons, so that the young trees freshly planted will have abundant water and a weaker sun to contend with.
The idea is to attempt to plant 10,000 trees including mango, jack, mara, avocado, sabukku, sapu, toona, as well as many others. The trees are to be selected and mixed in such a way as to support the reemergence of full biodiversity. For instance, some trees find it acceptable to establish themselves in very poor soil and harsh sunlight. These will be the first wave. Then, once they are established somewhat and the soil is stabilized by their presence, a second wave of trees can be attempted. After that, understory and other plants that encourage wildlife, by providing forage, shelter, etc.
In order to obtain funding to get these first 10,000 trees started, we are looking at Carbon Offsets from the trees themselves. This will require support from the agricultural experts in Kandy – fortunately Geeva will help us make that connection.
It is our estimate that within 7-10 years of planting, we will start to see a reasonably-sized fruit crop that will be the true economic engine to help support the local population.
Jay Goodfriend
22
Jan
2008
New friends in Cambodia
Community Friends has a new friend in Cambodia. We have made a small grant to a school that promotes bilingual literacy to school-age children. Multi-lingualism is a profound enabler of self-sufficiency and in the context of Cambodia, an outstanding alternative for young people who are looking for a better path forward. The school serves the poorest of children and graduates have gone on to find jobs in the tourism and hotel industry. The school teaches English as well as Japanese.
The school’s founder writes, “I have 176 students in total and I teach 3 classes. I have 24 orphans whose parents died of HIV, landmine, and the last battle between Khmer Rough and Government during 1995-98. The orphans live with relatives and with a lot of dificulties. Students keep complaining about their family situations that turn them to work on the farm instead of school. As a result, students with potentials have to give up study. As you know, books and clothing are basic needs for children. My objective is to provide those needs for them as much as I can so that they can have equal opportunities to access to education. I don’t want my potential children to end up uneducated. That would be a great loss for the country.”
When I first found the school, they had no books, paper or pens. Some children were unable to attend because their families could not even afford clothes. Community Friends purchased T-shirts so that even the poorest children could attend. We also provided school supplies, helped secure two computers and purchased bicycles. The children were thrilled.
The school’s fouder writes, “Yesterday and the day before yesterday I spent some time buying Tshirts, books, pens, 5 bicycles, teaching tools and uniforms for the children. We had a wonderful time together. We sang our favourite songs and danced together in circle. We laughed joyfully. The children were suprised to receive such gifts from you. Now they use new uniforms to go to school. They say million thanks to you, and they also want to have your address, because they wish to send you some letters and drawings, so I will send those to you as soon as they finish their work. Anyway,on behalf of the children I wish to extend my gratitude to you for the wonderful cause of the children here.”
Carsten Henningsen
19
Oct
2007
Carbon Offsets Fund Village Economy Transition
When Community Friends’ Sri Lankan partner acquired a 40-acre tea plantation in the high-elevation cloud forest, we did not fully realize what we were taking on. I was hiking on the land, following a wild boar trail and noticed barefoot Tamil women with burlap sack skirts picking tea. I said to our guide, “Who are these women?” He explained, “They work for you.” A bit startled, I then asked, “How much are we paying them?” The going rate seems to be about 25 cents an hour. I did not realize that when we acquired the land, it came with a village of 50 families who have worked this tea plantation for five generations. All they have known from British colonial times is working for the “master.” And now we are the new masters.
The first tasks were to establish a living wage, provide health care and install a micro-hydro generator for electricity. We began to convert the tea to an organic plantation. However, we realized that the tea industry is oppressive for both the people and the land. We decided to begin a transition from tea to fruit-bearing trees that could become a major income stream for the village.
Financing the economic transition requires upfront money since the newly planted fruit trees will not be producing for a few years. We decided to sell carbon offsets based on the carbon absorbed by the newly planted trees. The sale of these offsets to people in the USA provides the financing to transition the village economy from tea to fruit.
The longer-term concept is to allow the villagers to replace the master. In the future, we anticipate that we will be able to transfer ownership of the land to a land trust managed by the community.
Carsten Henningsen
28
Sep
2007
Kicking off the ventures
We have now all come to Ulla. Today I traveled with Deva, Seevali and Geeva to the Ulla school to complete the work with the girls and officially start the ventures.
23
Sep
2007
Health Clinic for Tea Estate Workers
Since September 2007 volunteers from Community Friends have been visiting the village of Waitalawa in Sri Lanka’s upcountry highlands to hold a free health clinic for villagers. This community is made up of fourth generation tea estate workers, descendants of Tamil laborers originally brought to Sri Lanka by the English during colonial times. In fact, the community clinic facility is located in the plantation overseer’s former residence.
Just like our school lunch program in Ulla, Sri Lanka, we observed that the conditions all around us spoke louder than our preconceived ideas about what we were there to do. Fortunately, Deva and Seevali, our Sri Lankan directors, have access to a large pool of interested volunteers. So we were fortunate enough to have three doctors contribute their time, equipment and broad experience in helping the tiny community in Waitalawa.
During the day, our three doctors, Ajith, Tilina and Shalika (front left to right), along with Deva and Seevali (left to right rear) visited with over 80 villagers. For many of these villagers it was the first visit they had experienced with a doctor in decades. The utter lack of medical support in the region meant that people with ailments from far and wide came looking for help as soon as word made it out. Due to the volume of patients, we issued numbers to folks in the “waiting area”.
As Community Friends grows, our hope is to meet the health-care needs of the community by offering more than one clinic per month. Clearly the demand is greater than our resources.
Jay Goodfriend
23
Sep
2007
Meeting our micro-entrepreneurs
Today we met with the folks from Ulla. A group of six of them has arrived in Kandy. Being here in the city is evidently a challenge for these people from the East coast. Besides the transition from a small community of several thousand souls, the visit to Kandy is all the more unnerving for them with the heightened security everywhere in town.
Deva and Seevali have arranged for them to stay at a hostel that is available to travelers who come here to Kandy as part of a Buddhist pilgrimage to the Temple of the Tooth, a very famous Buddhist shrine here in Kandy. This hostel is quite basic, but this seems to the least of their concerns. In fact, they seem much more comfortable staying in doors, so we have to drag them out into town for a meal.
We are meeting in Kandy with them to do two things. One is to enter into contracts between Community Friends and the collectives. Both the principal and the mentors will sign for the collectives here in town (the girls will also sign when we arrive in Ulla next week). Then, we are planning to purchase the grinding machines from the distributor, who will also provide training for both operation and maintenance of the machines.
Jay Goodfriend
22
Sep
2007
Investing in Women
I arrived in Kandy, Sri Lanka during a somewhat tumultuous time this fall in 2007. The war effort has been in full swing and the result is that everyone is on edge, being so uncertain whether a bomb blast might erupt at any time. Tension and fatigue seem to be running high and everyone I talk to just wishes the whole thing would end.
On a very positive note, Community Friends is starting a new and exciting program, and it’s my pleasure be able to do this during this visit. This program is to fund two new businesses, as part of our interest in supporting some of the folks in Ulla who we’ve been working with since the tsunami. As we have gotten to know the people in Ulla, we have noticed that a segment of the population consistently finds itself in a very precarious position – that segment is teenage girls.
By the time they reach the age of about 15-16 years old, they start to leave the school system. Very few are able to pursue education beyond this point. Many of these girls are married at this age, others become workers, and a very few are sent to the urban areas in pursuit of opportunities. Historically, many of these situations prove to be difficult, and the standard of living, or quality of life they are able to achieve falls far short of what we expect for our own children.
Through consultation with Ulla’s school principal, Mr. Piyasena, Community Friends has come up with a way to help those of these girls who want to work a way into micro-entrepreneurship. Mr. Piyasena has created a Community Development Committee (CDC), which is a group of parents and teachers from the school, which is doing the work of identifying appropriate businesses to start, and identifying individuals who would like to participate in the program. And this CDC is consulting to Community Friends and our main point of contact.
Today, in Kandy, we are awaiting a group of travelers from Ulla. Included are Mr. Piyasena, plus Malika, one of the head teachers from the school, and two parents – Shanta and Latha – who are community parents designated by the CDC as parent/mentors for the micro-entrepreneurships.
The CDC has recommended that we start two businesses that will be organized as collectives. Each of these collectives will have 5-6 girls and one parent mentor as its staff. The businesses that are to commence are food processing businesses. One will be a chili grinding business, which will use a grinding machine provided by Community Friends to convert local farm-grown red chilies into chili powder. The second collective will do a similar thing, but its output will be rice flour.
Both of these choices were made after we consulted with the CDC about our mission and interest in promoting sustainable practices in Ulla. Because the value-added of both rice flour and chili powder processing is performed outside of the greater Ulla area, the CDC came to see that bringing this processing into Ulla would keep those profits local and fill a niche. We are excited to be part of this process with our friends from Ulla.
Jay Goodfriend
