Skiing in India - not recommended!!!!

Bartlett - happy birthday for 27th Feb! As promised... here the special birthday message - in case you can't read it it says Happy 30th Birthday Matt - (by the way, the 0 is made from cow poo crumbled with Grahams bare hands, the things he'll do for you....! and yes.... we had a LOT of time on our hands in les mountains. and no.... we aren't dossers ;-)


































Anyway, back to Indiaaaaaaaaa. We were sad to leave Sri Lanka (tears from one of us as we drove away from the village) but now excited about the thought of 2 months travel. Getting to Delhi was a culture shock - we had forgotten how unbelievable poor and over crowded India is. It is also coooooooold compared to Sri Lanka. We spent one day in Delhi and went to this big old Mosque but mostly shopped for warm clothes. Then we were off en route to the Himalayas.....
















Day 1: took over night train from Delhi arriving at Haridwar at 3.15am followed by 9 hour drive into the Himalayas. Twas a looooong journey and the road was crumbling away, so scary at times but amazing views along the Ganges. There were Hundeds of people working at the side of the road rebuilding the bits that the monsoon had destroyed, often women smashing up stones with babies under one arm - mental note to selves never to moan about our jobs again. Drove up through colourful towns perched on the hillside - the higher we got the harsher the climate and the more hardy looking the people were, the towns were very Tibetan looking and goat and donkey tastic.

Me loving the journey, Graham spends a lot of time on the road enjoying his own company - Sarah, this will be a familiar site for you!

Reached the "ski resort" at 3,000m by cable car and were excited about skiing in India. The resort is Auli - India's "premier ski resort" - ok... so we knew India wasn't renowned for skiing but didn't think it would be as bad as it was!!!

We splashed out on "international standard accommodation" as a treat. This is what we were expecting...

But this is what we got...

The front half of the hotel had been demolished ... so we had to pick our way through the rubble to reach it as it (Mum, it was a health and safety disaster!) - without warning the Government smashed it up to make way for a new ski run out the front (for the Asian Winter Games next year!!). Can't believe that the government get away with acting like thugs!

The luxury accommodation turned out to have no heating, which in -5 degrees centigrade was not ideal! We were given a 1 bar heater - we asked if we could have another electric heater but were told that we would soon get used to the cold! So spent our first afternoon shivering in our room wearing the entire contents of our bags.

Another bonus was that there was no running hot water... but we were given a bucket of hot water to wash in. G warming his feet...

G taking a "bath" .... (I've shunk the picture so as not to offend!)

There were also powercuts every half hour. Doing aerobics in our room was the only way to get warm (KB, you'd have been proud of our pendulum and grapevine!). The woman in the room next to us crying because it was so cold. We spent most of the time in hysterics, if we didn't laugh we'd have cried... and we hoped the skiing would make up for it!

Day 2: Our first day skiing...... up and out early doors to get the first lift up. Put on what was described as "the latest skiing equipment" - those of you who are skiers will remember this sight from the late 80's....

But we got to the bottom of the lift only to be told that the lifts weren't opening - bizarrely because of an election(?!) - you can imagine how pleased we were! The Indians didn't see the problem and told us to walk up, as if it was the most natural thing in the world! So we walked up and skiied down 3 times before giving up (walking up a piste is haaaaaard work and the ski down is over all too quickly!).... so spent the afternoon sat inches from the heater in the cold bedroom, brrrr. We thought it couldn't get much worse....

Day 3: .... it did get worse. I was sick as a dog and spent the day in bed :-(

So Graham went out and did the only run that was open on his own (no need for a piste map, even he couldn't get lost).

Day 4: Hurrah, ski lift open and both fit and healthy. Did the one run umpteen times until we were bored. It was a good day though and made up for the other days. Views were aaaamazing ...

After a good first (and last) day skiing we ended up cutting the ski trip short, we couldn't bear the thought of 2 more cold afternoons and evenings confined to our room in the most depressing hotel in the world.

Drove 9 hours back down the crumbling road, thawing out as we went. Stayed in Rishikesh last night at the foot of Himalayas on the Ganges. It claims to be "Yoga Capital of the World" and should be renamed "City with the most annoying travellers in the world". Leaving today to another religious town called Haridwar before back to Delhi. Hoping to go to Nepal next but the fuel crisis is on going so we will seeeeeee!

Goodbye to Seenigama

It's very sad that we are coming to the end of our time here in Seenigama. We have made many friends and we were just getting the hand of pronouncing kids names but we have to move on...... ;-(

It will be weird not to have kids shouting my name every time I go anywhere on my scooter - being white in this village gives you the right to wave at anyone and they will always wave back (like being on a boat anywhere, you think about it..)

We were on the beach the other day and two kids came up begging, one of them was one of my swimmers, I felt very sorry for him, but he gave me a massive grin and said "hello Gram". Its weird but when we are all in the pool training I tend to forget about what their lives are like at home and it really reminded me. Every day consist of moments like this that bring you back down to reality.

The triathlon was a success....I was worried that no one would show up because in true Sri Lankan style everything was left to the last minute - no one signed up and no one came to the briefing session, but on the day there were lots of competitors. Planning seems to be an alien concept.

The triathlon consisted of a 250m swim to Temple Island and back, then a cycle around the villages (about 5km) and finishing off with a 2km run around the sports field. The competitors were legends and predictably all set off as if it was a mad-sprint, then they were surprised when they were realing in cramps, pains and stitches by the time it came to the run...being their first ever triathlon you can hardly blame them for not understanding the concept of pacing themselves.

The starting line-up ...












What a great swim to start with, it beats the docklands in London anytime...












The first swimmers are out. That is Devil Temple Island in the background. If you are ever robbed you go to the island with some chillies and offer them to the Buddha....then something bad will happen to the robber with 24 hours (like he will get hit by a falling coconut) - its a Kharma thing...












This kid is a legend, the event was for over 14 year olds, he is only 11 yet he came 13th. His name is Nippun and I guarantee he will go pro at some sport in Sri Lanka in the future - watch this space!
























The winner in a time of 22mins 34 secs, not bad (all in bare foot too).











My last swimming session was on friday 15th Feb - I was so surprised that loads of the kids got me presents (including some valentines hearts !!) and they were asking me to sign their hands....

I got chocolates, bracelets, necklaces, hand-made dolls, a wooden elephant, some flowers, shells and little hand-written cards and letters.

The most touching, for some reason, was some hand-picked flowers wrapped up with plain paper and a 10 rupees chocolate bar. The fact that these kids have nothing but went to such an effort was so amazing, I almost embarassed myself by blubbing.



















My turn (Jo)..........

So after just under 2 months we are moving on next week - we will be sad to say goodbye to everyone and we really hope to return one day. Its been busy finishing stuff off (and feels like it did when I left work work) but lots of stuff has come together. We have actually worked long hours (those of you who think we are dossing!!!) so in some ways are looking forward to another break!

Gill (another volunteer) and I have finished our a donor leaflet which is asking for donations to replicate the Village Heartbeat Centre (a small training and community centre in another village http://www.unconditionalcompassion.com/sub/aug_2.htm ). It is such a good concept - most of my time in English classes was spent at this centre and Kushil (founder) wants to do 10 more in Sri Lanka and then ideally in other developing nations. He has already taken copies of the brochure to Australia so hopefully the money will start coming in!

We said goodbye to the pre-school kids. They did us a leaving dance and sang "My Bonny Lies Over the Ocean", ahhhhhh. Being the softie that I am I wept as I walked away - needless to say G didn't!


Working with the Womens Enterprise has also been loads a fun. About 10 graduates from the sewing classes have been beavering away (for no salary) making new samples from our designs. They keep asking our advice on details.... it feels a bit like the blind leading the blind.... but I guess inputting designs from the Western world is better than the old fashioned stuff that they were making. We bought the material and they have made loads of stuff like make-up bags, purses, cushion covers and tops with lace (although Graham thinks that the tops look like a Milkmaid...) - I am taking them to a contact in Colombo when I leave to see if they can market them in the shops there and maybe one day they will be on sale in the UK!

Beavering away making the lace for the Milkmaid tops....










Some of the new stuff...










I have also put adverts out for new volunteers so hopefully they get more people, as they seem to need outside input to make stuff happen, and finished the report with recommendations for HR stuff (to be honest at times I wished I was a swimming coach standing in the sun with G!).

But it wasn't all work work work - piccie below is a boat trip with the other volunteers to an island with temple and friendly monks....










View from the temple on the island - it was so beautiful and made us want to shave our heads, don orange robes and live with the monks!














The Devil Temple at the end of the road....











.... and we broke our no alcohol rule and had a bit of a big night on Arrak (blurgh), shame on us (sorry villagers).








This is our last weekend and we have been invited to peoples houses to say goodbye. We are leaving in style and staying at Kushils house in Colombo in his absence so we will have his chauffer and chef at our disposal, iiiideal!!!!

And on Friday we're off skiing in Himalayas in IIIiiiiiiiiiiiiindia - a bit of a contrast but also very exciting!!!

(opps, sorry this is so long, well done if you are still reading!)

Goodbye to the village people (not The Village People) ...

Tsunami

We haven't really written much about the Tsunami, but being as though its one of the main reasons the charity exists, we thought we'd let you know what it is like now.

Nearly 3 years on there is still evidence everywhere of the destruction - most of the houses along the beach road were demolished by the waves leaving behing only rubble. 186,000 homes were destroyed in Sri Lanka. Grave stones line the shore and boats that were washed in land are still where they landed. The least damaged houses have been patched up with plastic but most people have abandoned their coastal houses and many are lucky enough to have been rehomed in houses built by aid workers in-land. 3 new estates were built here in this village by KPMG, Aviva Insurance (a big hand to the insurance industry!!) and Australian Government Victoria. The last people in the village here were re-homed in December 2007, after 3 years in temporary huts - other villages aren't as lucky as this one as they haven't had the benefit of central coordination.

Most of the aid agencies have gone home but there is still lots of help needed, especially when it comes to re-building livelihoods as people had their businesses destroyed. To add to the problem, the tourist resorts are nearly empty so people are really struggling to make a living - I guess the LTTE are the main reason why tourists aren't here - they almost suceeded in bringing this country to its knees (schools have been closed in Colombo for the last week because of the high terrorist threat) but are reported to be weak at the moment so fingers crossed there will be a resolution soon.

Back to the Tsunami.... this is the Estate built by the Victorian Government - they have built it in the style of an Australian estate (Ramsay Street in Sri Lanka, bizarre!) so it looks massively out of place in the village here. Most people have now moved into these houses, but some are still in consultation with the priests awaiting their auspicious move date!!

Everyone has a tale of loss and a horror story of returning to the damage and bodies after the waves had retreated. There are so many horrific pictures of what it was like. The founder of the charity was in the village the day it happened (8 people died in his house, 220 in this village in total) and he immediately set up a relief control centre in what remained of his home - the charity developed from there. 700 people in the village were homeless - apparently supplies weren't a problem but organising people for cooking etc. was the hardest task as lots of arguements broke out... these continued as new homes were allocated.

A train was washed off its tracks in the next village along and the 1,200 passengers were killed. The battered train is still here and this chilling memorial was opened last year to remember the victims.

Children were encouraged to express their feelings through art, the following piccies are in an exhibition near the site of the train disaster (we went to the exhibtion yesterday and it made me cry).

But 3 years later and it isn't all bad - in this village a lot of good has come from the Tsunami as they would never have had so much overseas aid if it hadn't happened - so none of the new facilities such as the Bryan Adams pool, english centres, computer centre, medical centre, womens enterprise, mental health unit etc. would been possible.

The thing we have enjoyed about being here most is the people. Some people see Westerners as walking wallets (which is understandable as they have had so many handouts in the last 3 years) but the vast majority are the friendliest and kindest people we have met. Even when they have nothing they are still so giving - sharing food and buying us drinks for us that they would never buy for themselves. And I know we've said it before but the kids are so amazing - they are super enthusiastic and love any chance to practice speaking English.

The boys queuing for their English classes!

Graham's favourite little swimmer beaming away in her English lesson...

So that's us! Only 1 week left before heading on and we'll miss it for sure - if anyone is thinking of coming out we'd hugely recommend it! (after the current volunteers go there is no one else lined up for the rest of the year so there will be plenty to do!).

Girlie, the cleaner at the centre, looking cool in G's sunnies....

Me and Girlie at her house in the Aviva village...

Swimming and G's big race!!!

Swimming galore. On saturday they held the annual swimming competition in the village, which was a big event. Graham was lucky enough to spend all day standing in the hot sun starting the races.... I snuck off after about 10 mins - if you've seen one race you've seen 'em all, but Graham knew the kids from swimming coaching so it was different for him I guess.

G presenting the medals...

Sunday was another swimming tastic day - Graham and the teenagers he has been coaching entered a 2km sea-swim in Amblangoda. It was a massive event - 300 entered from across Sri Lanka.

G and the boys of "Seenigama Aquatic Club"!

Check out the cloth swimming cap....

Graham was the only white person which made it easy as a spectator - spot the pale arms...

He did well and finished in just under 23 mins, which put him 9th overall and 1st in the oldies category (over 21's). He was presented 2 trophies (we've no idea why 2) - his Seenigama boys were disappointed that he wasn't 1st overall, so we're be back next weekend for the 2 mile swim to see if he can do better next time!!

Anyway, enough swimming chat!

I am also loving it here. Have also been teaching English, helping at the pre-school and doing other stuff that is more like proper work. Am doing a donor leaflet to help raise more money to build basic computer and teaching facilities in more remote villages (as so much stuff has been done here already that they are now looking to spread a smaller version of this to other areas).

Am also working with a couple of others on the Womens Enterprise, which is hugely interesting. They offer free training in sewing but the women are finding it hard to make a living with these skills. A big problem is that most of what they make is really old fashioned or grim (like lace table cloths or garish clothes) - so we have been helping them with new designs for tops, cushion covers, bedspreads etc (and basically other stuff that we like!). We have also spoken to a guy who owns the Next factory out here (who conveniently is the founders cousin) so and he is gonna send some advisers to help. So they are making the new samples - after which the plan is to market the stuff in Colombo and local hotels and boutiques. Most of this will happen way after I'm gone, but it is good to be involved at the outset.

It is an amazing experience here but also frustrating at times - we have had to get used to "Sri Lankan time", as nothing ever happens on time... if someone arranges a meeting at 2pm it basically means anytime after lunch and before dinner. The language barrier is also a huge issue - most people don't understand English but they don't like to disappoint so they always nod or agree, so you have no idea what is going on half of the time. The work ethic also is pretty much non-existant so it takes ages to get anything done. And communication in general is severly lacking - Graham has often turned up to swim at 7am and found that the others decided upon a different time without telling him. But the positives are far outweigh the frustrations - most of the people are super friendly and welcoming. We can't walk down the road without people stopping us to say hello. And the kids are amazing and super keen to learn and they love just being able to speak English at any opportunity. We have also been invited to a few peoples houses for dinner and were taken on a boat trip by the English teacher the other day.

So thats us! We are safe and well - the LTTE are doing everything they can to cause disruption with 3 bombs in the last two days and more expected today as it is Independence Day. It really seems like the government are fighting a loosing battle - they hope to gain control by April, but it remains to be seen.... However, we feel totally safe here though and avoiding going on public transport (worry not parentals!).

Hope everyone is well at home! x