Chilaw, Wil Pother Village

I have been to so many place I’ve been has people so kind, cities so dynamic and beauty so diverse. I am in love with Sri Lanka! Best part of SL so far... two days in small house made of clay with no toilet or electricity in a village with even hotter & drier weather than Colombo.

After language training on Friday we headed out for our 2-4 hour drive to the village. (It is very hard to say how long a km will take here because of the insane traffic). Anyway, the ride was interesting because I got to see how big Colombo really was... it's such an awesome city because, for example, you will see brand new cell phone ads displayed on buildings crumbling with mildew. There are also many vibrant colours, including bright orange buddhist robes tied up like flags on branches of trees growing out of the city streets.
After a long ride of observing these sites from my window and absorbing the sound of the constant horn-honking we finally arrived to a community center in the village. The lady in the center told us that the women of the town built it in 1978 after being trained in carpentry. This is now the place where the women in the village work, making recycled paper from scraps. We asked where they got the money for the machinery (there's more involved in this paper process than you'd think) and that's when we found out it was CIDA that helped them get started! Andy and I wanted to buy some cards and such that they made and my stuff came to about 1.75 Cdn so I left 5 and same with Andy. The lady said that she wanted us to know that the extra money will go to the community. I wanted to give her all my money right then & there but decided instead that I would get their contact info so that if anyone back home wants to order more (the cards are 40 cents) then I will order a bigger batch by mail.
Next, we met our host family and it did not take long to see there was going to be a serious communication problem. They probably knew about 5 words in English combined and pretty much all we had remembered from our language training was Ayubowan. Luckily we had Andy's trusty Sinhala guide though so we set to work trying to make simple conversation. It was tough. In the first hour the only ground that was covered was that we could all agree that pineapple was hari rasi (very tasty).
I was expecting the worst but we actually had a bed to sleep in (Dibilee gave hers up and slept on the floor) and they had a solar heated lights! The people were unreal welcoming- all smiles & laughter throughout th evening as they served us snacks, then tea, then snacks, then dinner. We were very impressed during the snacking period to discover that they had the equivalent of timbits and blue pancakes! In true Sri Lankan style, we were served first and the lady came back to force feed us many times. It's rude to your plate always seems full. I keep patting my belly to say "I'm full" but we discovered quickly that to them it means "I'm fat." Which is not an insult here because as we all know, it is only in over consuming cultures like ours where thinness in valued. The lady of the house was quite big and she kept laughing about it- saying (through charades) that she took up the entire picture. There daughter was also what we would consider heavy set butsay no so you just have to eat very slowly so that they would not comprehend how eating too much is something to look down upon. Even their actors and models have healthy, round faces.
Yesterday I woke up early and hung out with the girl, Dibilee, showing her how to take pictures and such. Then I sat down and just took it all in- the palm trees, the crickets, the lifestyle. Watching the father and daughter having so much fun- he, laughing as he walks the cow and she, wading her feet in the stream- both just playing in like young children. Realizing that it was not the once a year camping exursion that we do at home (if that) but that it was their life, was pretty inspiring. If you looked at their clay house with no paint or carpet or toilet or electricity you might think that they were poor. But not even close. Dibilee may have liked my camera but she didn't really care if she had one, the father may have liked to work less but I didn't see him complain, the mother may not have turned down a new pair of shoes but she probably didn't see a problem with the ones she had.
I'm not trying to incite an old cliche about money & happiness but just trying to explain that they simply were not poor in their lives. In fact, before we left we were watching the neighbour make coconut key chains which he does as a business in his free time. After making one he handed it to us each one as a gift and would not athink thatccept payment. We didn't push it too much because perhaps that would be insulting to associate my money, useless in a largely subsistent community, with his present from the heart. I did tell him, though, that I would love to order more so I will try to make the connection before I leave. They would normally charge 80 cents which is still ridiculously cheap- even at Ten Thousand Villages it would probably cost at least $5.00.
In the afternoon we went fishing and because the sun burns so much more intensely up here, everyone had a good laugh at sudunoona (white lady) because one of my arms burned red.The people were so sad to see us go. The mother kept doing the signal for "I'm going to cry." It was sad to go but they said they will send the daughter to Canada when she gets older I will send something Candian (I'm thinking maple syrup) and the photos when I get back home.