After exchanging news, we explained to Gita what had happened with the collective in Ulla. That we had taken back the rice flour grinding machine and were looking for a new group who wanted to get into that business. Gita was stunned. She said that she and a group of women in Panama had formed the Panama Women’s Cooperative Society. They worked together as a team and would find various businesses to get into. Currently, they had a baking business – making roti, pitu, string hoppers and this sort of thing. As a group, they had decided that their next step needed to be grinding their own flour, since their profits were being stifled by the high cost of ingredients.

Being both familiar to us and well established running a business, we felt this was a perfect match for the equipment in our possession. So we entered into a deal with them on the spot, ran over to Mr. Piyasena’s house, collected the grinder and within an hour the whole thing was concluded. Good luck ladies!

Jay Goodfriend

Fortunately, this incident ended well – the monk found an opportunity to escape captivity and somehow found his way home. But our inability to visit the community due to this danger created an obvious gap for us in our relationship with the two collectives. This problem was made worse by the fact that the school principal, Mr. Piyasena, who had been instrumental in overseeing the two collectives, was transferred to the school in Pottuvil. So for nearly a year we went without any reports from Ulla about the state of the two collectives.

With the war ending in the summer of 2009, travel has once again become possible to the East. And so it was with this in mind that we came to Ulla in December of 2009.

Coming here to Ulla again, it is obvious that the community is rebounding in most ways. Schools are open, restaurants and hotels are flourishing, roads and infrastructure has been rebuilt and everyone is generally back to work. You see small children everywhere. Now trees, scrubs and other vegetation have rebounded as well, giving the impression that the soil has managed to shake off the layer of salt that was deposited by the tidal floods. Still, the question remaining for us was, what has become of the two collectives that we had set in motion.

Parents from the community had volunteered to act as mentors for each of these collectives. Each also had a designated spot where the grinding machines were to be housed. The expectation had been that the mentor would supervise the four or five teenage girls in the respective collectives, one with the mission of grinding rice into rice flour, the other with the purpose of creating chili power.

The rice flour collective was supervised by a local fisherman named Shanta. His work shack, a small space standing next to the school, was our first visit. Regrettably, we found that the collective under Shanta’s supervision was not running. After much discussion, we concluded that this collective was not a good candidate for additional support from CommunityFriends, so we effectively terminated this venture.

The chili power collective was supervised by a woman named Latha. She and the young women originally set up their work in a small house located in Ulla. After finishing with Shanta, we made our way to Latha’s house to see how things were going there.

Like Shanta, Latha was very surprised to see us. After serving us tea, we explained what had been happening since our last visit. The house she had been using for the work had become unusable – she had difficulty accessing the property and the electricity was too sporadic. So, for mostly practical reasons, she relocated the business to nearby Panama.

There, the collective has been experiencing success. In fact, Latha’s group now nets 200-300 rupees/week for each participant. These are:

Shamali, aged 17, student in Panama school
Nirosha, aged 29, Panama resident
Sabitha, aged 25, Panama resident
Abehami, aged 75, Latha’s mother

The five women feel that they now have a stable business and are looking to expand. They are now saving for a second grinding machine. Latha also wants them to go into rice flour grinding business. Good luck Latha and great job with your success so far!

Jay Goodfriend

Through generous donations, we were able to purchase the land and give it to the school so that the school could continue, hopefully forever. Then the flood came and closed the school for several days. Food was scarce during this time. Community Friends received additional donations to buy food and also bicycles for the children.

The director of the school, Cha Cha, is an amazing man who founded the school to assist the poorest of the poor children in the area. He teaches them English and Japanese so that one day they can more easily find employment in the city through the tourist industry. Cha Cha supports the school out of his own pocket from working as a part-time tour guide. Cha Cha sent these photos after the children received the bicycles and food.

Thanks,

Carsten Henningsen

We have been challenged by the drought for a year now. We lost most of the 9,000 new trees that we planted last year. Now the rains are starting again and we are beginning to plant once again. It takes so much labor to plant these nursery trees that we have grown as seedlings. We have to unload all 1,000 plants at the planting location by today before the rains start because with heavy rains the lorry will not able to make it all the way up the muddy mountain road.

So far in the last few weeks we have planted 4,000 new trees. Our hope is that the trees will survive this time with enough rain water for irrigation. If we are successful, the trees will absorb tons of carbon dioxide during their lifetime and help with the world’s need for environmental restoration. We join hands with others worldwide to help the planet and its people.

Deva Ratnakara

People are worried that their crop might be ruined, and they will not have enough food to eat the following year.

The school has been closed for 7 days now. I don’t know when I can begin teaching again because the village and the school are still under the water. In the photos, you can see some of my students who are in need for help. They hope that someone can help them overcome their obstacles.

Thank you for any help,

Cha Cha
School Director

Kumara is a young man, age 25. He is the father of two; one boy, age of 5 and one girl, age 2. His wife also worked in the same biscuit factory and due to an asthmatic condition she had to quit her job. She needs daily medicines to control her asthma.

I first visited their house when the baby girl was born and. I was devastated by the scene. They live by the river and their house was built with mud, no proper floor, and a leaking roof. I tried to help them with some building materials, but this was not sufficient enough to make a decent house. I also checked the possibility of rebuilding the house through Community Friends, but there was not enough money available.

Before Kumara came to work with our contractor at my home, he was working at the biscuit factory in one of his shifts he worked with the cutting machines. There was a terrible accident and Kumara lost four of his fingers on his left hand. He could no longer work in the biscuit factory and he asked the factory management for some compensation. After many requests he managed to get only Rs. 100,000 or USD $100. This was not a sufficient amount and, factory management started to harass him when he requested more assistance.

Because of his financial situation he began working overtime with the construction project at my home. When the construction finished he was unemployed again, so I asked him to come to my house and help me with my yard work.

This morning I contacted Kumara to check his availability for working in my yard this weekend… He said that he couldn’t come because last night the rain knocked down his house and he is trying to fix it before the next rain comes.

We are doing what we can to help this young family, however, our resources are limited.

Thanks,

Seevali Ratnakara

He brings his friends to the clinic who need medical attention. I think he is doing a great service to his community. Although Tikira didn’t come to the clinic for medicine, Dr. Ajith used to check his health condition and so far we have not given him any medicine. However, Dr. Ajith suggested that Tikira use eyeglasses, but we were careful not to push him too much.

We asked what the secret is behind his sound health. He said, “I love gardening, I work every day in the garden, gardening vegetables, and after that I have a very good shower and I am very happy with my work and my life”. His work and happiness have certainly given him good health and a good life in Waitalawa. Tikira doesn’t have a complicated or stressful life. He works in the garden, eats what he grows and has a good sleep. This seems to be his secret to a long life.

Thanks,

Deva Ratnakara

Carsten Henningsen

The blueprint for the reforestation project was designed by both the local community and the local university Agro-forestry Department. Dr. Gamini Hittinayake is a senior lecturer of Agriculture at the University of Peradeniya and a consultant for the Community Friends land restoration project in Waitalawa. We are very fortunate to have Dr. Hittinayake’s expertise.

We are now hoping that the drought will be over with the coming of the next monsoon.

Carsten Henningsen

Latha has not recovered from the fear on the day Dasuni was born. According to our doctors, baby Dasuni is quite healthy but still it’s too early to say whether she will have a full recovery from the Hypoxia (lack of oxygen to the brain) during birth. We need to monitor the baby’s growth and development. Our doctors will continue to monitor the baby closely.

Thanks,

Seevali Ratnakara