Sri Lanka Journal- Andew and Annette Dey: 3/2/2005

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Links from Andrew and Annette:

Pro Photographer Dixie's web site

Mondo Challenge set up Andrew and Annette's trip.

Unawatuna is the village where they're staying and working

In the north, Andrew and Annette are working with Norwegian People's Aid. NPAID is partnered with the German organization called Arbeiter Samariter Bund.

Bensonwood.com

Andrew

Rough night in the orphanage. I was able to sleep fine as long as the ceiling fan was whirring away. My theory is that the gentle breeze from the fan is enough to disperse the mosquito-attracting CO2 from my breathing. At 12:30 a.m., however, the generator must have been turned off, because the fan quit. This was the signal for the mosquitoes to begin work. I could not tell whether they were actually with me inside the mosquito net, or just outside it, but it really didn’t matter.

At 3:30, melodious but unwelcome strains of Hindi music came distinctly through our open window from across the courtyard. A late-night disco? An early morning religious ritual? Sleep-depriving punishment for misbehaving orphans? At least it was a distraction from the mosquitoes.

To my relief, the ceiling fan purred back to life at 4:30, and I fell quickly to sleep. At 6 a.m., I was awakened by the sound of a raucous bell. At 6:15, the orphans must have assembled, because they began singing in unison—lovely music. At 6:30, I heard outside our window the unmistakable and remarkably loud sound of coconut fiber brooms scratching on dry ground. We have noticed that Sri Lankans have a penchant for sweeping their yards, and the orphanage was no exception. We rose to see through the window girls spread across the courtyard, sweeping nothing in particular into small indistinct piles.

Tony arrives at 7:30 bearing yogurts and instant coffee. Although he had assured us that the orphanage is “actually quite nice,” perhaps he is having doubts. We tell him that the orphanage is fine.

At the morning meeting of our shelter team, Roy informs us that the previous evening, the carpenters had cut and assembled the first timber truss for the preschool. While we are pleased to learn of the progress, we are anxious to see whether they actually followed the many drawings that Annette had discussed at length with them. Annette rushes off to the preschool site while I stay behind to help organize the office for the delegation that will be arriving late morning.

Although the work that Annette and I have been doing here is officially under the auspices of Norwegian People’s Aid (NPA), we have been coordinating our efforts with a German organization called Arbeiter Samariter Bund (ASB). NPA’s focus in the Vanni region prior to the tsunami was demining, and ASB’s focus was development work—most recently flood relief. The combination of NPA’s existing capacity with ASB’s local connections has proven to be very effective in providing immediate and medium-term tsunami relief.

Both organizations, and many others having their origins in the European labor movement, are part of a loose confederation known as SOLIDAR. While NPA and ASB have been working on the ground to build shelters and provide other relief, the leaders of these organizations have been meeting in Europe with representatives of other SOLIDAR members to discuss post-tsunami collaboration. A Swiss group called Schweizerisches Arbeiterhilfswerk (SAH) has been providing additional funding for our work in the Vanni. We have learned that there is the possibility of much more money coming in through the SOLIDAR network.

The delegation includes leaders of NPA, ASB, and SAH. Their mission is to see first-hand the work that we have been doing, and discuss ways in which closer coordination under the SOLIDAR banner may facilitate future work.

Guy Rhodes, a recent arrival with many years of experience in international development, puts the finishing touches on his Powerpoint presentation. I update the white boards on the walls of the office to reflect the numbers of structures complete in each camp. Suji adds notes to the large map of northern Sri Lanka that he installed on the briefing room wall. Dixie hangs a dozen of his photographs that he has had enlarged and laminated onto poster boards. Tony, who is concerned about the SOLIDAR collaboration “diluting” the effectiveness of the relief effort, makes himself scarce.

The delegates come in two cars. Lingam is driving the one that arrives first, of course. The second car appears about a half hour later. I meet a spry Norwegian woman in her early sixties who has been doing development work for her entire career. She is joined by a Swiss-German man who heads the international department of SAH, and a German woman representing ASB. Two more Germans round out the delegation: a journalist, and a woman who is planning to work for SAH on the ground in the Vanni.

The delegates are appropriately impressed with Guy’s presentation, which chronicles the tsunami relief efforts of NPA and ASB to date. In the immediate aftermath of the tsunami, these groups were able to shift to emergency relief work their staff, their facilities, their fleets of trucks and Land Cruisers, and many of the 600 deminers. This contribution to rapid and effective response undoubtedly saved lives. The respective strengths of the two organizations have proven to be complementary in the relief work that has followed the initial emergency phase.

After lunch, we head out to the camps in Vadaramachi East. I catch up with Annette and ask her whether the first preschool truss looks anything like her shop drawings. She hesitates before answering, “no, not really.” Another blow struck for artistic license. Annette has spent the morning explaining to the carpenters the reasons for her desired truss details, and negotiating with them compromises that are structurally sound. She has also made a fistful of sketches to bring back to the welder in Kilinochchi, for remedial hardware components.

Annette and I lead a tour of the first camp. All 110 of the shelters in this camp have been started, and close to half are now complete. I find that it’s difficult to have an appreciation for the scope of the camp while wandering through it, but I know that the LTTE would not look favorably on a request for permission to do aerial photography. Dixie tells me that he is planning to shimmy up the tallest coconut tree for an overall photo.

We pause the tour at the preschool site, where several carpenters have begun working on the second truss, and laborers are wiring together rebar cages for the columns. I am thinking that the first truss probably looks great to anyone lacking engineering expertise and timber framing experience—and in fairness to the carpenters, the truss can be made structurally adequate with the addition of more steel straps.

After the camp tour, we pile back into the Land Cruisers for a round of disaster tourism. We travel east a half a kilometer to the beach road, and then head north along the shore. The destruction along this coastline is less spectacular than in many areas down south, because there were not as many buildings to begin with, and because the destruction here is so complete. Concrete slabs and fields of rubble are somehow not as impressive as buildings that are half- or three-quarters-destroyed.

We make the obligatory stop in Thalaiyadi at what’s left—not much—of the former NPA house. All of the residents of the house were away for the holidays when the tsunami hit. Luke points out the tree that the guard was able to climb to safety.

We are back in Kilinochchi by late afternoon. Annette borrows a bike for me and we visit first the welder, and then the internet café. After washing up at the orphanage, we ask what time the gate is locked. Ten o’clock. During dinner at the I-9 Restaurant with our coworkers and the delegation, I keep a close eye on my watch. We arrive back at the orphanage at 9:58, only to find that the gate is already locked. Tonight we climb over the gate, instead of squeezing through the fence that flanks it.