Be the Cause

Sri Lanka – Jan 3rd noon

I left the group on New Year’s Day. I think some were a little nervous but I think it’s cool. I didn’t want to leave the group but, my dad said it was necessary for me to go ahead of the group and make sure things are ok. So far so good. The library is almost complete. It is raining alot here.

I’m in an internet cafe in Dambulla, the closest city to Sigriya. We are buying a few more things for building the library in town. It has been raining alot and it’s been trouble to get around. So things have slowed a bit.

I met the principle of the school and he is very busy as school has started again after the holidays. He is also the Buddhist monk in the village. There is a funeral he must attend too in addition to helping to manage the building of the library.

He seems like a cool guy. Very calm. He’s brought the village together to progress since he’s been here for 30 years. If you visit the north center of Sri Lanka, you should visit him. The garden in the school is very nice. The kids seem to enjoy what they have. The teachers bus in from far away. The classrooms are really open air halls with 3 classes per hall. One of the classrooms was built with Beligium during a friendship pact with Sri Lanka in the 1980s. They have electricity through solar cells and collect rain water through filters for drinking water.

People here seem to like it slow. Here are some conversations I have overheard. First in the news, people are talking about a bomb blast in Colombo that killed 4 people yesterday and also about the a minister that was killed. Right now, I don’t know if it’s confirmed but people think both were done by the LTTE. » Read more

Sri Lanka Dec 30th, 6am

It is Dec 30th. We stayed at a wonderful Hotel, the Global Towers in Colombo 6, next to the ocean. We got 2 suites fora really good price. We’ve eaten at a Indian Restaurant called “Curry Leaves” and a food court at a mall in Downtown Colombo.

I’m a bit dissappointed that I don’t see many sari and sarang on the people on the street. There’s a lot of annoying (commercial) christmas decoration with snow and evergreens (seems out of place in a tropical country).

Yesterday we visited a Meditation center run by Sarvodaya, an NGO that is very cost effective at uplifiting villages one village and one person at a time. They regular offer meditation classes in Colombo for people ranging from hyperactive kids, to prisoners, to pregnant women. Dr Ariyarante, a gandhian that founded Sarvodaya, invited us to his house. They had their annual general meeting yesterday, and he still made time for us to visit him. He’s a humble guy–still very shy to talk. But he told us about changing ourselves and having faith that if enough people are willing to work at being aware of social values, we can have the world we want. He said his organization has been working hard for 50 years and have finally started to make good progress though most of the organization is “still starving”.

We were hosted to attend a 30 minuute meditation in the beautiful Meditaion Center they have build:
Vishwa Niketan
No 72/30, Rawatawatte Rd
Moratuwa
ph: 0094 1 655653

The picture is from the mediation center.

haven’t been back for awhile

“…like memories of yesterday,
Something’s got to change.
Sounds of Laughter and Happiness
Turn my teardrops to rain.
I’ve been bearing this birth
For too many of my my days.
Seems the breezes of Autumn
Have finally blown my way,
Like memories of yesterday…”

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