National Park with Impressive Pachyderms!

In between the hard work we also managed to find time to travel to Uda Walawe National Park. This is a very exciting place, as you can see many animals living as wild in the park, including the wonderful Asian elephants. We managed to secure an early morning jeep ride to take us round the park. It was originally set up to protect the catchment area for the Uda Walawe reservoir, but it has been closed in recent months due to security concerns. The weather was a little dull, but this helped the animals to stay in the open without getting overheated!

The Elephants live in herds and family groups within the park. According to our guide, there are ten castes or classes within these elephant societies.

They have very friendly faces, but if the jeep gets too close they can get very angry as well. There are over 500 living in the park and they are kept from straying into neighbouring farmland by an elephant-proof fence.

Rattling along the dirt tracks in a jeep is quite tiring, but I think Norny enjoyed the safari experience!

We were lucky enough to see a family of wild boar in the distance.

If you look closely you may spot some spotted deer in the undergrowth.

The peacock’s colours show up as it flies past us.

There are many peacocks in the park, as well as hornbills and large numbers of wading birds.

Work Update

Unusual Sri Lankan Women

This has been a very busy week at work with two major events for me. The first was the International Women’s Day celebration at a sports ground in Weeraketiya. This was run by my organisation, and somehow I agreed to give a short speech – in Sinhala! I put together a speech that lasted about two minutes and got help with the translation from our host family. The speech itself was an introduction to me and my project, and also some warm words about their efforts to improve the position of women in this area. I was a bit nervous before hand as the audience was over 300, but I spoke slowly and clearly and got two rounds of applause, one for speaking at all and the other for doing it in Sinhala. I don’t think I’ll be becoming a fixture on the conference circuit here any time soon though!

At the event they also gave out prizes to women who were engaged in unusual occupations in the area. This ath-amma (grandmother) is a metalworker, which is very rare for females in this area. They also gave prizes to a female engineering teacher, and various community leaders.

Here I am lighting the special lamp with the local dignitaries.

The entertainment included Kandyan style dancers, who wore the traditional masks and costumes.

Get the Post-its!

An important part of my project is to help the organisation with its planning work, and for this purpose I arranged a planning day for our staff. The group enjoyed it a lot and I think we made some progress towards making better future plans.

The language barrier is a little tricky, but Ranil helped with my translation.

Here the group are busy listing their past achievements and what they hope to achieve in the future. Their ideas were attached to the wall afterwards.

One of the challenges that they face is how to respect the long history of the organisation, but also adapt to the changing society around them. Some things in the rural villages are very permanent here, but others are changing quickly. For example thousands of women now work in garment factories producing clothes for export to the UK among others. Although the pay is low by UK standards, many women choose the factory instead of the farm.

Sihnaraja Rainforest

Now for our visit to Sinharaja.

This National Park contains some of the only remaining rainforest in Sri Lanka. Large parts of it are unmodified, though some of it was logged then replanted. There is a huge array of wildlife there, but the only trouble is seeing it through the dense jungle! The leeches are also a pest and fellow CWW volunteers have written about them too.

I will concentrate on some of the more pleasing aspects of the place.

The view on approach shows tea plantations in the foreground and the misty mountains which make up the park behind.

Our guide, Bandulla, is an expert on the plants and wildlife in the reserve. He has been studying and observing them all his life.

This dragonfly pauses for a rest by the path just outside the park.

The sign tells you that you are approaching one of Sri Lanka’s World Heritage Sites.

We saw these blue-tailed bee eaters near the footpath.

Once inside the park you have to watch your feet. Here Norny negotiates a small wobbly wooden bridge.

This primitive plant is called Seliginalla.

The Kangaroo lizard (Agame Feltata) has very strong back legs. This one stayed still long enough for me to snap it.

The hump-nosed lizard (Liriosepalas Scutatus) – apparently it makes an amazing display when startled, but this one was very relaxed!

We crossed the Ging-Ganga River by rope ferry.

Later we swam with the other volunteers in the Kekuna Ella falls.

This is the Sinharaja Rest in Deniyaya, where Norny and I stayed. Bandulla was kind enough to show us his organic vegetable patch as well!

Beautiful Ella

A good place to go if you want to escape the heat of the lowlands of Sri Lanka is into the Hill Country. At the end of February we chose to visit Ella, at the eastern end of the mountains looking out over the foothills towards the sea. It is famous for its views and waterfalls, but the wildlife also kept us entertained.



A tortoise wanders through our hotel garden.

























Cheeky monkeys line the roads picking fruit and bothering the locals.
























The Ravanna falls are 6km downhill from Ella.
























Enjoying the cooler air at altitude...
























Some great views down the long valley know as the Ella Gap.
























On top of "Little Adam's Peak" with Ella village in the distance.

The view towards the North shows a tea plantation and factory. Tea is a major industry in this area.

The road back took us past lakes near Hambantota, where these fishermen were plying their trade in the evening light.

What Can a Volunteer Do

I’ve been thinking about what it is that a foreign volunteer can contribute to a local charity in the developing world. Of course it depends a lot on the skills and experience of the individual volunteer, but there are some patterns. For example, a volunteer always introduces new perspectives on the local problems and issues, and on the organisation’s strengths and achievements. Volunteers can also provide much needed services for an organisation that it would not be able to afford at market rates. In my case I am certain that my host organisation could not pay to bring in a strategy consultant for more than five minutes at international prices! Local translators can also do a passable job at writing proposals and reports, but the best ones would again charge a substantial amount.

People in Sri Lanka also have difficulty accessing technology, which is something hard to imagine in the UK where broadband, WiFi, and high-tech gadgets are everywhere. The knock-on from this is not just that people in rural areas don’t have access to word processing, email or design facilities, but also that when they do get access they don’t know how to use them! Therefore I can help with IT experience as well as through use of my computer and camera.

Of course there are other benefits for the organisation that I hadn’t anticipated. A white person is something of a novelty in rural Sri Lanka, and having a “westerner” working for you turns heads and opens doors (though some doors quickly close again when people realise I’m not about to start handing out 500 Rupee notes).

So perhaps the contribution of a volunteer is as much about where they’re from as what they can do. But having a flexible and open minded approach is essential.

I have to make use of all my personal attributes – in this case, height.


























This lady earns less than 1p per brick, but this is higher than she would get if she wasn’t part of the cooperative. She can make a reasonable living from the brick making.


























Interviewing the project participants can help gain a better understanding of the organisation’s strengths and weaknesses. In the background people are updating their microfinance records. The savers often contribute around 10-20p per week, and can take out small loans.























The funders of the project came down from Colombo to see the brick company handed over from the charity to the beneficiaries who will run it as a cooperative enterprise. Here they are telling me about work they are doing in other parts of Sri Lanka.





















During the handover ceremony




















This is the shelter that the brick company uses to keep the bricks dry before they are fired. There is no kiln, but the bricks are placed in a way that traps the heat and allows the soft clay to turn to solid construction material.





































The bricks will be used in house building, and sold at commercial rates. Many of the project beneficiaries have houses that are in part made from wood or mud, so the regular income should help them improve their living conditions.

This man is loading up the finished bricks, as they have been sold to a construction firm.