Arrival in Galle, South Sri Lanka

Mock the blog name all you want. I'm sure there are at least 10,000 Sri Lankans who have named everything from their blog to their cat, "Serendipity". Add the fact that my family thinks I'm cuckoo for coming out to Sri Lanka by myself, and voila --> Seren-Stupidity.

So here I am. In Sri Lanka. To break it down, I'm here to:

a) Volunteer. Analyze some of the work being done, and evaluate the work to be done.

b) Gauge the post-war economic and social situation. I'll be making my observations literally in the North, East, South, West of the island.

c) Find a suitor.

d) Only joking.

e) Travel/ explore/ learn, and let you know of anything worth mentioning.

N.B: I have been briefed by my oh-so-loving family that should a ransom be placed on my head, no one shall be paying. So I'll save the chunk of my commentary - the political stuff - for when I get back.

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I touched down in Colombo on February 4th, Sri Lankan Independence Day. I learned that 1,300 petty offenders had been released from prison to commemorate the day. Woohoo! Let's celebrate with another 1,300 reasons to clutch my purse tighter when I ride the bus.

Driving from the airport with my Uncle, I got the lo-down on the general mood of the public. The price of living has rocketed, and even the middle class is feeling their pockets burn. For example, in recent months, the cost of an egg has gone from 10 to 16 rupees, and they are now being imported from India due to shortage. More astounding, the price of a coconut has gone from 25 to 60 (240% increase!). The next day after my arrival, a Saturday, there was a 12 hour planned water outage. Those fortunate had water tanks.

That said, Colombo is astonishingly different to what it was just 2 years ago. Checkpoints have almost entirely vanished. The streets are filled with people. When I was here back in 2008, people really thought twice about leaving their home. Checkpoints peppered the city, and hearing a bomb go off wasn’t out of the norm. Today, that cloud of fear has moved on and out. If I feel like a walk, I go for a walk. I can get snappy with my camera on the streets, unlike before, when I was forbidden from using it; as to not create suspicion from patrolling soldiers.

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I've spent 4 working days so far at the Volunteer Sri Lanka Project in Galle, run by Janaka de Silva.

I live with about 15 other volunteers, from England, Scotland, The Netherlands, Switzerland, The Czech Republic, Australia, and China. Everyone comes with their own unique story, skill, and interest in volunteering in Sri Lanka. We eat breakfast together around 7.30am, head off to our various work-spots, meet back for lunch, head off again, and reconvene for dinner.

The most moving place I've been working at is the Ruhunu Orphanage. I cannot begin to describe the soaring emotions I get when I enter the place, and see about 40 kids standing in their cribs, clutching onto the sides, either smiling inanely or crying just to be picked up and hugged. They are aged from newborn to 2. Most of them have been abandoned, and thus by law can never be adopted as they were never signed over to the authorities. Some of them have come from abusive homes, a lot of them have come from parents of drug addicts. Their life at the orphanage is far from a sanctuary from their traumatic pasts. The staff are unmotivated, leave the children in unchanged nappies for hours, cane the kids for playing in the wrong area, and feed them multitudes of chocolate. Worst of all, the diapers the volunteers have given, in replacement to the cloth used, have been sold on by the staff to pharmacies to the point where we now keep them at our house and take them each time we visit. The staff are hostile to us, which makes things difficult. The children, especially those from the abused homes, have come out of their shell tremendously since the beginning of the volunteer project, first standing frozen and now running around and playing with confidence. There is also a 13-year old with cerebral palsy under our care. Though there is staff 24/7, we help out by changing nappies, giving the children a bath, and giving the much needed affection to the children.

I've also been volunteering at an elderly home - where I change beds, and mop floors as the place is understaffed, and play cards and bingo with the elders. They are the sweetest people I've ever met. I've also been doing conversational English with Nurses. Some of the volunteers are trained nurses and physios so they do more technical training with the nurses. One of the volunteers, Penny, a posh British lady in her 60s, who's brimming with energy is a part-time Yoga instructor. So while she's been doing that with the nurses, I've joined in too. I also teach swimming to deaf girls - and trust me, this is more fun than work, but it gives them a chance to let loose and enjoy themselves.

A lot of the volunteers have commented on the fact that they thought the kids they were helping would have been in dire need of their help. This is true with the orphans, but for the most part the children are from a dual-parent, and able home. We are simply enhancing what they already have, and this has been a criticism of mine - but I guess it's a transition into more intense volunteer work. For instance, I assist a school teacher with her class of 30 children. At first I thought, "what am I doing here?". And then I realised how much work she has on her plate, and that me marking homework for her meant she had less to do when she got back home, so it wasn't a complete waste.

The other volunteers are fascinating. The Australian is a professional photographer who has worked for Vogue and Marie Claire. Penny, the Brit, worked in Malawi for 7 years running an S.O.S orphanage. The Scot, who is my age, is a Maths graduate who grew up in Ethiopia. And yet all have fallen in love with this Island, as I have. We plan trips in the weekend. Last weekend we went to Sinharaja Forest on Saturday. Quite a few times, I head to Unawatuna Beach, and chill out, take a swim in the sea, and read my book. As volunteers we get free access to the beach resort - Janaka, the Volunteer Manager is also the Manager of the hotel. I have 2 and bit more weeks here, and I'm sure I'll have more to write about.