It has been regrettably a long time since my last post. I have been less motivated to sit and write since Agatha has safely arrived in Sri Lanka. We have been enjoying the last two weeks – the first week working at the CCS center and Chilaw Children’s Home, and the second week on ‘holiday’ laying on the beach and touring the ‘high country.’ I am writing this post from where it started, Schiphol airport in Amsterdam. Here are the highlights from the past two weeks.
After Agatha arrived safely in Sri Lanka, we put her to work for the first week, but not after a soft introduction to Sri Lanka via the Mt. Lavinia Hotel. There are no mountains in Sri Lanka (by our standards) and Lavinia was the mistress of a minister from back in the British era… so there is some speculation about the use of ‘mount’ that I will leave to the imagination. In any event, we lounged by the pool, sipping our king coconut, gazing out over the Indian Ocean.
One easily could, as many do, sit by the pool and never know that there are poor people… or a war occurring in Sri Lanka. I would wager that many of our Caucasian counterparts by the pool that day had precisely that in mind.
Agatha started out at the center giving a lecture on healthy nutrition to a group of pregnant mothers, and later a talk on thyroid disease to the woman’s clinic. She jumped right in and connected instantly with the frequent visitors of the center.
That following Saturday, we loaded up the KidzNet van with volunteers and headed North to the city of Chilaw to do another clinic at the children’s home there. This time we had only one day, as the travel time was only 2-3 hours. In this one-day, however, we were tasked with seeing 120 people! Fortunately we now had Agatha, and we could split up the kids… Agatha would see the girls and I would see the boys. The children’s home was amazingly prepared for our arrival. After unloading our van, they lined up in the dining hall and sang a song for us. They had constructed an addition to the commons to simulate two exam rooms. Two areas had been curtained off, each with a makeshift exam table, desk, and three chairs.
We used the same system as we did down South, but this time alternated boy and girl so we could see patients twice as fast with two doctors. 120 patients later, we were all hot, sweaty, dehydrated, and exhausted.
They prepared a wonderful lunch for all of us by hand in a traditional Lankan kitchen.
The second week we set aside to vacation on the island and see the more beautiful parts of Sri Lanka. We traveled down South along the coast to a hotel called Royal Palms. Uncle Roger went to school at St. Thomas with the hotel manager, and with this connection, we were able to get passes to the pool and beach for the entire family. The winding pool reminded me of a megahotel pool in Cancun. It was complete with snake charmer and monkey waiting at the gates to lour tourists.
The next day we headed up to the ‘high country.’ We made our way up the winding roads through the tea plantations. Coffee plants originally inhabited these hills. After a sharp drop in the coffee market, British plantation owners transplanted tea plants from India in hopes it would thrive. The result is the famous Ceylon tea auctioned and split all over the world.
We stopped for tea at the recently opened tea castle. We were served a very fancy breakfast – one’ choice of eastern or western. Lavishly decorated trays were brought to the table, more than we ever could have eaten. It goes without saying that the tea was amazing. When the bill was brought – it required only a signature. Uncle Roger also had a connection via church with a VP at the tea company. He had heard that we would be visiting the Castle and phoned ahead.
That evening we drove to Kandy – the last Lankan kingdom before final downfall at the hands of the British. The mountain fortress had withstood the Portuguese and Dutch, but would inevitably fall at the persistence of would-be plantation owners. Our hotel, Citadel, is situated along a wide river. The day’s heat and humidity culminated in giant black clouds over the mountain, punishing the ground below with constant lightening strikes. We were thrilled with the free light show.
The next day we went to the elephant orphanage. That’s right… and elephant orphanage. If an elephant makes residence in a populated area, walks over a land mine, or becomes a threatened pest, they are brought to the elephant orphanage in lieu of ‘disappearance.’ We stood on the side of the road as literally a herd of giant Asian elephants marched down the corridor towards the river for a bath. They were let loose to play in the water, and then re-collected to march back to the orphanage for feeding. The baby elephants were literally fed milk from a bottle! (Elephant milk) This was no petting zoo – and there were little to no barriers. We were mingling with wild elephants – an experience I will never forget!
On our way home we stopped off at a place that offered elephant riding. This hole-in-the-wall establishment would let you ride an elephant for the equivalent of $6. For a tip, a man would follow-us through the jungle and take pictures with our camera. At first I hesitated, worrying he might run with the camera, but then figured that this was precisely the thing we bought the camera for. If he did steel it and sell it, it would probably feed his family for a month – either way, no problems.
The elephant guy brought the elephant into the river and told us to duck our heads. We did as we were told, and then WOOSH!!! The elephant tilted his snout at my head and let loose gallons of water over my head! I needed a shower that afternoon – but never would I have considered an elephant shower. This was definitely a first for us.
5 weeks was not enough. Even though Agatha was only able to come for 2 weeks – we all agree that it was time and money well spent… and an experience of a lifetime. We already have a list of things we want to do next time we come. Hopefully next time will be for longer. When all was said and done, I figure we saw roughly 370 patients in 2 Tsunami camps, 3 children’s homes (including Lotus Buds), and clinics in 6 cities. I was happy to hear the KidzNet is already talking with local Lankan doctors, asking them to volunteer their time and continue what we had started with children’s homes all over the county. Now that the war is narrowing in the North, the next step will be to reach out to people who have been isolated for the past 20 years! They are also negotiating with Navajeevana to use their mobile dental clinic to visit the children’s homes – greatly in need of dental care. My mission is to find a dentist back home who would be willing to clean & pull teeth, as well as educated on dental hygiene for the children’s homes. So… if you know anyone – hit them up! Also, I will be distributing information on how people can sponsor children in the homes via Kidz Net. Most all the money will go directly to the kids, paying for their food, clothing, school supplies, etc. Agatha and I will be sponsoring one, if not more kids. The total cost to sponsor a kid is $10/month. That’s only $120/year! I’m starting to sound like one of those ‘save the children’ infomercials – but I have now seen with my own eyes the decaying smiles and infested skin of Sri Lanka’s angelic children. It would be impossible to see what we have seen and not act. No cup of coffee is worth $4 when it could sponsor a kid for 2 weeks! Enough all ready – but if anyone is interested, I’ll be posting the info on this blog and can also email anyone individually (especially dentists!!).
Thank you all for reading my blog – it hope you have enjoyed it! It has been fun sharing these experiences and thoughts with you all. Agatha and I will be making a photo book with these (better edited) posts as commentary – be sure to see it. Thank you all for your support. I will be home soon, but Agatha is still traveling tomorrow – so say a prayer of safe travel for her.
After Agatha arrived safely in Sri Lanka, we put her to work for the first week, but not after a soft introduction to Sri Lanka via the Mt. Lavinia Hotel. There are no mountains in Sri Lanka (by our standards) and Lavinia was the mistress of a minister from back in the British era… so there is some speculation about the use of ‘mount’ that I will leave to the imagination. In any event, we lounged by the pool, sipping our king coconut, gazing out over the Indian Ocean.
One easily could, as many do, sit by the pool and never know that there are poor people… or a war occurring in Sri Lanka. I would wager that many of our Caucasian counterparts by the pool that day had precisely that in mind.
Agatha started out at the center giving a lecture on healthy nutrition to a group of pregnant mothers, and later a talk on thyroid disease to the woman’s clinic. She jumped right in and connected instantly with the frequent visitors of the center.
That following Saturday, we loaded up the KidzNet van with volunteers and headed North to the city of Chilaw to do another clinic at the children’s home there. This time we had only one day, as the travel time was only 2-3 hours. In this one-day, however, we were tasked with seeing 120 people! Fortunately we now had Agatha, and we could split up the kids… Agatha would see the girls and I would see the boys. The children’s home was amazingly prepared for our arrival. After unloading our van, they lined up in the dining hall and sang a song for us. They had constructed an addition to the commons to simulate two exam rooms. Two areas had been curtained off, each with a makeshift exam table, desk, and three chairs.
We used the same system as we did down South, but this time alternated boy and girl so we could see patients twice as fast with two doctors. 120 patients later, we were all hot, sweaty, dehydrated, and exhausted.
They prepared a wonderful lunch for all of us by hand in a traditional Lankan kitchen.
The second week we set aside to vacation on the island and see the more beautiful parts of Sri Lanka. We traveled down South along the coast to a hotel called Royal Palms. Uncle Roger went to school at St. Thomas with the hotel manager, and with this connection, we were able to get passes to the pool and beach for the entire family. The winding pool reminded me of a megahotel pool in Cancun. It was complete with snake charmer and monkey waiting at the gates to lour tourists.
The next day we headed up to the ‘high country.’ We made our way up the winding roads through the tea plantations. Coffee plants originally inhabited these hills. After a sharp drop in the coffee market, British plantation owners transplanted tea plants from India in hopes it would thrive. The result is the famous Ceylon tea auctioned and split all over the world.
We stopped for tea at the recently opened tea castle. We were served a very fancy breakfast – one’ choice of eastern or western. Lavishly decorated trays were brought to the table, more than we ever could have eaten. It goes without saying that the tea was amazing. When the bill was brought – it required only a signature. Uncle Roger also had a connection via church with a VP at the tea company. He had heard that we would be visiting the Castle and phoned ahead.
That evening we drove to Kandy – the last Lankan kingdom before final downfall at the hands of the British. The mountain fortress had withstood the Portuguese and Dutch, but would inevitably fall at the persistence of would-be plantation owners. Our hotel, Citadel, is situated along a wide river. The day’s heat and humidity culminated in giant black clouds over the mountain, punishing the ground below with constant lightening strikes. We were thrilled with the free light show.
The next day we went to the elephant orphanage. That’s right… and elephant orphanage. If an elephant makes residence in a populated area, walks over a land mine, or becomes a threatened pest, they are brought to the elephant orphanage in lieu of ‘disappearance.’ We stood on the side of the road as literally a herd of giant Asian elephants marched down the corridor towards the river for a bath. They were let loose to play in the water, and then re-collected to march back to the orphanage for feeding. The baby elephants were literally fed milk from a bottle! (Elephant milk) This was no petting zoo – and there were little to no barriers. We were mingling with wild elephants – an experience I will never forget!
On our way home we stopped off at a place that offered elephant riding. This hole-in-the-wall establishment would let you ride an elephant for the equivalent of $6. For a tip, a man would follow-us through the jungle and take pictures with our camera. At first I hesitated, worrying he might run with the camera, but then figured that this was precisely the thing we bought the camera for. If he did steel it and sell it, it would probably feed his family for a month – either way, no problems.
The elephant guy brought the elephant into the river and told us to duck our heads. We did as we were told, and then WOOSH!!! The elephant tilted his snout at my head and let loose gallons of water over my head! I needed a shower that afternoon – but never would I have considered an elephant shower. This was definitely a first for us.
5 weeks was not enough. Even though Agatha was only able to come for 2 weeks – we all agree that it was time and money well spent… and an experience of a lifetime. We already have a list of things we want to do next time we come. Hopefully next time will be for longer. When all was said and done, I figure we saw roughly 370 patients in 2 Tsunami camps, 3 children’s homes (including Lotus Buds), and clinics in 6 cities. I was happy to hear the KidzNet is already talking with local Lankan doctors, asking them to volunteer their time and continue what we had started with children’s homes all over the county. Now that the war is narrowing in the North, the next step will be to reach out to people who have been isolated for the past 20 years! They are also negotiating with Navajeevana to use their mobile dental clinic to visit the children’s homes – greatly in need of dental care. My mission is to find a dentist back home who would be willing to clean & pull teeth, as well as educated on dental hygiene for the children’s homes. So… if you know anyone – hit them up! Also, I will be distributing information on how people can sponsor children in the homes via Kidz Net. Most all the money will go directly to the kids, paying for their food, clothing, school supplies, etc. Agatha and I will be sponsoring one, if not more kids. The total cost to sponsor a kid is $10/month. That’s only $120/year! I’m starting to sound like one of those ‘save the children’ infomercials – but I have now seen with my own eyes the decaying smiles and infested skin of Sri Lanka’s angelic children. It would be impossible to see what we have seen and not act. No cup of coffee is worth $4 when it could sponsor a kid for 2 weeks! Enough all ready – but if anyone is interested, I’ll be posting the info on this blog and can also email anyone individually (especially dentists!!).
Thank you all for reading my blog – it hope you have enjoyed it! It has been fun sharing these experiences and thoughts with you all. Agatha and I will be making a photo book with these (better edited) posts as commentary – be sure to see it. Thank you all for your support. I will be home soon, but Agatha is still traveling tomorrow – so say a prayer of safe travel for her.
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