ADRA Sri Lanka Annual Report

Back Cover

Front Cover

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I have finally settled for these designs here. Let me know what you think of them...

Unrest in Sri Lanka - Senior SLA Commander Killed in Bomb Blast

[TamilNet, June 26, 2006 02:59 GMT]

A senior top official of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA), Major General Parami Kulatunga, who holds the third position in the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) high command was killed in Pannipitiya, 15 km southeast of Colombo, in Homagama police division in Western Province, in a suicide bomb attack around 7:45 a.m. Monday, Police said. Maj. Gen. Kulatunga, Deputy Chief of Staff, has served as SLA Commander for Vanni High Command of the Sri Lanka Army.

Sunday at the Beach

Thank God for Another Sabbath

Shmile

Steve and Paul doing their funny pose

Bin lah (Fly high in Thai)

Polly, Kurt's wife

The whole gang on our walk to our usual lake

Kids reciting memory verses for the 13th Sabbath

Polly trying to hide, cartoon style

Little afro-sri lankan kid, good mix, huh?

More memory verses

More on Tangalle Trip

Last week on Wednesday 21st Steve, me, and a small group of other ADRA staff went down to a project location about 6 hours' drive from Colombo, the capital city of Sri Lanka. Our mission was to finalize the closure of a tsunami relief operation in the town of Tangalle (pronouced as Tango). My work down there included double checking that the material present in the office matched the invetory list that was given to ADRA and to make sure that any other equipment or material that was sent to another project was noted down and accounted for in the inventory. There was also a lot of manual labor involved as you will see in the pictures. Over all it was a great learning experience and a fun activity.

We drove along the coastline and saw beautiful beaches and others that were kinda sketchy. We also saw buildings that had been damaged by the 2004 tsunami. It's amazing to see how high the waves must have been in order to create the kind of damage that I saw.

Initially God created man to "have dominion over all creation". In the book of Psalm we're told that humans, referred to as man, were made a little lower than the angels. We were created to have power over nature but because of our lack of wisdom in taking care of nature, we are suffering the consequences of an overpowering natural world. The sea just don't convey the same message to me that it did before the tsunami.

The red dot is Hambantota, that's the district where Tangalle is located

Landlord (left) and two watchman in the container

Office equipment

Zeny and Yvonne at work

Team debriefing...

Nice leather seat, huh?

There had to be at least 15 phones there!

Paul, the new ADRA worker!

Paulito and his trophy

At the market in Galle

Tiring work...

Gyana hotel

Aritha (left) and Elisa (right) my colleagues

My trip to Tangalle (continued)

Getting ready to leave Tangalle in the morning

The Indian Ocean once again...

Spices at the local market in Galle

Sri Lankan food, lovely

Oh, la mer

My trip to Tangalle

Our "hotel"

The beach right in front of our "hotel"

water containers left over from the tsunami project

Cows on the beach

Dietmar going local

Tangalle

Psalm 46

For the director of music. Of the Sons of Korah. According to Alamoth. A song.

1 God is our refuge and strength,
an ever-present help in trouble.

2 Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way
and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea,

3 though its waters roar and foam
and the mountains quake with their surging.
Selah

4 There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God,
the holy place where the Most High dwells.

5 God is within her, she will not fall;
God will help her at break of day.

6 Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall;
he lifts his voice, the earth melts.

7 The LORD Almighty is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress.
Selah

8 Come and see the works of the LORD,
the desolations he has brought on the earth.

9 He makes wars cease to the ends of the earth;
he breaks the bow and shatters the spear,
he burns the shields with fire.

10 "Be still, and know that I am God;
I will be exalted among the nations,
I will be exalted in the earth."

11 The LORD Almighty is with us;
the God of Jacob is our fortress.
Selah

Cinamon Hotel

This is the hotel where we watch the world cup. National TV only broadcasts cricket...welcome to Sri lanka!

I Love Sabbaths

Puppies we met on our Saturday afternoon walk

Children appreciating their dads on Father's day

Sleeping beauty

Funny Dietmar

We live about 20 minutes from an air force base

Soccer Fever!

I love mexican food!

Cafu, captain of the Brazilian national team. He's a calm dude, I like the way he handles thigns

Ronaldo didn't quite perform as expected (adding too much weight)

The Aussies tried

My Brazilian friend Kurt and Pauliana

I love Sri Lankan food!

Rice

Don't try this at home....can you see the chili seeds?

Salad

ADRA Sri Lanka Annual Report (under construction)

Front cover

Front Cover

Back cover

Inside page

Inside page

My New Office Space

Some of my colleagues

My desk

Sunset near Colombo

Sabbath Afternoon Walk to a Nearby Lake

ADRA 'expatriate' community

Visit to Hikadula (spelling could be wrong)

We stopped by a fabric store on our way back to Colombo

The Sri Lankan flag

...at the fabric store

More fabric

Cute Sri Lankan kid

This guy's name is Pradip (no kidding!). I met him at the project site. He was kind enough to call me "my friend" and to hold the umbrella for me while I took pictures in the rain.

About 70% of the world's cinamon comes from Sri Lanka. In this picture, a young lady is peeling off the bark of the cinamon tree...

...the bark is later dried to form what we know as cinamon sticks.

An old woman at the project site

Salvation Army officer (left) with project beneficiary (right)

The Indian Ocean

Pradip holding a 1 Rupee coin

Anita conducting an inspection of sceptic tanks

View of the newly built homes from a distance

Anita discussing with one of the contractors

Community members

My first real Sri Lankan breakfast...I had to eat it with my hands!

Hikadula is in the area of Sri Lanka that was hit the hardest by the tsunami. The Salvation Army, ADRA Austria, and private contractors have worked together in providing homes for survivors of the tsunami. This was a monitoring trip and a hand-over ceremony for houses that were completed. Enjoy the pics and send me your commments at esperant@gmail.com

First Sabbath in Colombo, Sri Lanka

This morning when I woke up I wasn't sure what to expect from the church service. When I went to meet Steve, he informed me that he did not have access to the vehicle keys. Our plan B was to walk to the main road and take a bus to church. So we headed out - Steve, Zeny, Paul, Anita, Dietmar, and I. After walking for about 200 meters a white van pulled up next to us and offered us a ride to the main road. We thought the journey would end there but this kind Sri Lanka driver took us all the way to church and refused to receive any monetary compensation for the service. That was a blessing in itself. A good way to start the day.

The church wasn't completely full. We had a lively Sabbath school discussion - something I missed for a long time. After church was over, many people came over to greet us. Over all it was a really good church service (except for the fact that I could only understand half of the sermon because of the preacher's strong accent). I got a real blessing nonetheless (I think that's how you spell it). I'm still not familiar with the names here and I can't spell them right. But I konw for sure that the name of the church we attended today was Shiloh church. I hope you enjoy the pictures.

First Days in Colombo, Sri Lanka

Steve and Kurt at staff worship

An alley in the local market

Staff singing

Same song second verse...

Ayubowan...the Srilankan way

Sri Lankan Breakfast (texture: crispy)

Zeny at the market

Vendor at the market...cool weighing scale, huh?

I still don't know what that is...

Public transportation bus...

Some kind of Tuktuk

Fruits at the local market

Rice

Coeur de boeuf

Sri Lanka is an amazing place! Well, I guess every place I've been to is amazing in it's own way. But Sri Lanka has a special touch to it. The faces, the smiles...the language. In fact I've already learned a couple Singhalese - the "local" language. The first phrase I learned was "Ibowan" it's some kind of greeting. It's more than just a greeting, it's more like blessings on the person you're greeting. If you've flown on Sri Lankan Airlnes you'll probably be familiar with this phrase.

The people of Sri Lanka are really warm-hearted and will readily respond to your smile with a smile. Even though in many cases it's obvious that they are going through challenging times (e.g. tsunami survivors), the people here keep a cheerfull heart and try to look at the positive side of life. I pray that I can learn to be content and more cheerfull even when things aren't going my way.

A visit to the local market. After traveling around I've come to realize that the market (open air market) is a good place to discover new things about cultures. Well, I had the surprise of my life when Zeny, Athula, and I went to the market. Zeny's Steven Cooper's wife, and Athula's our kind and skilled driver. Steven Cooper's the ADRA Sri Lanka Country Director. Anway, I noticed at the market that all the vendors were men! I mean exclusively men! I thought that was kinda strange. Of all the countries I've been to (almost 15 countries now) it's the first time I've seen this. Oh well, enjoy the pictures and give me some feedback whenever you can.

More Photos from Down South

Proper Introductions

I need to introduce someone special to you all. As a matter of fact she's my special someone so she deserves special introductions....

I'm really thankful to have Sendy as a part of my life. She's a great friend and a good counselor. She's given me a lot of support and showed me the true meaning of frienship. Thank you Sendy for opening your heart to me and allowing me to take up a special place in your heart. I know that that the road will be long but if we take it a day at a time that's how long it's gonna be, one day at a time. I cherish the love and special friendship relationship that we have. Thank you for being you.

Down South

(left) Mobile Health Unit (down) Devastation, boat replacements for fishermen, beauty amidst calamity, repaired building, ADRA Staff monitoring progress.

Safe in Colombo

Second Quarter Newsletter

Surin Island, Southern Thailand

ADRA Vietnam Annual Report 2005

Setting up water tanks

Eau, source de vie...

Hey people! It's been a really long time since I've posted anything on my journal. There's a lot that has happened since Songkran. Some of the events that occured since then include the completion of the ADRA Vietnam Annual Report which is now in the hands of the printing company along with the first and second quarter newsletters (Xin Chao!). In the month of May I spent some time in southern Thailand (Pukhet, Kuraburi, Takuapa, Aoi Kei....) shooting two DVD productions for ADRA Thailand's Community Recovery and Development Program. This program is designed to help victims of the 2004 Asia tusnami to rebuild their lives. It is a comprehensive program that includes livelihood support, household recovery, adult and child psychosocial support, general health and sanitation, and the rebuilding of damaged infrastructure. I'm now in Sri Lanka where I will be designing and publishing an annual report for ADRA. In addition to that I will be designing and emplementing programs that will benefit both ADRA and the Sri Lanka Mission of Seventh-day adventists. In my spare time I will be supporting the local church with youth ministry programs and Bible studies along with occasional preaching. Alright, that was a long entry. I hope you don't find it too boring. I hope to get some feedback from you all. (esperant@gmail.com)